If I were to have an astro setup in India..

[prasadka]

Folks,

Just a general topic on a setup...

If I were to have an astro setup in India where the weather is better (: sunny: and ). The primary advantage of living in India is that it gets cloudy only during the monsoons and is pretty much clear throughout the rest of the year. The disadvantage being that the weather predictions/cloud coverage predictions are pretty much useless.

I would like to have an observatory set up sometime next year, and would like to offload stuff during an intermediate holiday. As you know it is very expensive to ship stuff to India, but things like a tripod and counterweights can be obtained at throwaway prices. Building a pier is also an option, because my house is in an area with minimal light pollution and I can do it in my house terrace which is nicely elevated, so that I can overcome any obstruction from surrounding coconut trees/buildings.

So here are things that I can get cheap or get built cheap

1. Tripods

2. counter weights

Here are things that could be expensive

1. Mount and drives (prices are astronomical)

2. Telescopes

For comparison,

A skywatcher 200 Eq5 parabolic which costs 530 £ @flo - 10% SGL discount, is 1200£ in India less no discount

I am allowed to carry 30 kilos of weight by my airlines and am prepared to go only with my camera bag in my cabin baggage and nothing else. So literally around 25 Kilos is dedicated towards astro equipment (everything else will go in the missus' baggage )

I have the following questions.

1. How much will a HEQ5 or a pro EQ6 mount + drives weigh (without a tripod)?

2. Are there any precautions to be taken while making a tripod/pier (other than make sure that the tripod/pier is sturdy enough and can take the weight of mount and drives)

3. Where do the counter weights go? Is there any article on balancing? Are there any guidelines to buy counterweights?

4. How much will a 200mm skywatcher reflector scope OTA + transport case weigh?

5. Are there any precautions to be taken while sending the OTA by air? What are the possible areas for damage?

6. I presume I would knock off some collimation while shipping.. How easy is this to fix?

I have pretty reliable people in India who can make things to specification at a throwaway price. The trick is to get the specifications right!

Cheers,

Prasad

[prasadka]

42 visits and no replies?/I thought this question would be an easy to answer one for the people here

Cheers

Prasad

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

I'll have a bash, though I still don't think I understand the question.

I have the following questions.

1. How much will a HEQ5 or a pro EQ6 mount + drives weigh (without a tripod)?

2. Are there any precautions to be taken while making a tripod/pier (other than make sure that the tripod/pier is sturdy enough and can take the weight of mount and drives)

3. Where do the counter weights go? Is there any article on balancing? Are there any guidelines to buy counterweights?

4. How much will a 200mm skywatcher reflector scope OTA + transport case weigh?

5. Are there any precautions to be taken while sending the OTA by air? What are the possible areas for damage?

6. I presume I would knock off some collimation while shipping.. How easy is this to fix?

I have pretty reliable people in India who can make things to specification at a throwaway price. The trick is to get the specifications right!

Cheers,

Prasad

1.Roughly 10 and 15 kg

2. No. Just make sure the mount can be adjusted to point the right way.

3. The counterweights go on a bar that extends from the mount. They are just weights so it would probably be cheaper to get them made from scrap or offcuts than shipping them by air.

4. The tube weighs about 13kg IIRC, but I've never heard of a transport case. It comes in a sturdy cardboard box with polystyrene infills, so I'd guess around 3kg for the box. Probably less.

5. The biggest issue is the mirror. If the tube gets bumped enough the mirror will break.

6. If you get a Newt. you'll have to learn to collimate it anyway, so I wouldn't worry about that issue. It's quite easy to do anyway.

HTH

Kaptain Klevtsov

[prasadka]

HI KK,

Those were helpful. I will now have to look at slowly accumulating stuff that can be shipped..

Cheers,

Prasad