Mount portability

[tnorthy92]

Hello stargazers. Quick query. Is eq5 (pro) portable. by this I mean I would be carrying it a mile from my uni house to the top of the physics building and reassembling there.

Or would eq3 (pro) be more feasible.

I would also be carrying a DSLR+kit, and probably a 2kg scope+kit. Managed it with eq1 this year but that's not exactly heavy. Cheers

[Davie]

That all depends on you to be honest

Only thing I'd say is that the Pro will need a power supply so unless there's one available at where your going and if you choose a power pack that's a lot of extra weight to lug about.

[tnorthy92]

In theory there is a power supply on the roof. However depends on whether I can reach it.

[E621Keith]

I don't know about the weight of the current EQ5 tripod, but when I was a undergrad, I used to carry my 120f8.3 refractor, a EQ4(5) head, DSLR, and counterweight in a 75L rucksack and the tripod by hand. I've walked a few miles with that set up, so it's definitely portable, but I'd say it's at the upper limit of what I'd consider portable.

The mount had single axis motor which used 4x D cells instead of a substantially heavier power pack.

Nowadays I use a lighter system for backpacking, a C6, a GP2 and SXG-S71 tripod.

hope this helps

[ollypenrice]

Why the top of a building? The heat from the building will play havoc with the seeing.

Olly

[tnorthy92]

it's where we keep all the Astro Society kit, and because there aren't many scope don't want to spend ages carting them downstairs. I'm the only one who is interested in imaging as well. The uni kit is a bit rubbish

[E621Keith]

Why the top of a building? The heat from the building will play havoc with the seeing.

Olly

It's probably to do with how university clubs are run. Some times the club meeting needs to be on university ground but the ground level will be well illuminated with street light and office light. The roof usually have the least stray light issue in the whole university. I don't know where the OP studies, but when I studied in London, the roof of the physics building is the 'darkest' place in a few mile radius. Stray light will kill contrast at any magnification, while thermal current only becomes a problem at high magnification. I think this is also the reason why my current uni's physics department have their 3 teaching telescopes on the roof.

In addition, most Universities have minimum memberships for clubs, if a club cannot attract enough members it loses its funding. The club needs to be active and have regular meeting to attract members and the meeting needs to be convenient. If they only meet once a month and need to travel to dark sites miles away, the club will quickly loose its casual members and usually there won't be enough active core members to keep the club alive.