tracking saturn ??

[phil m105]

just wondering if im looking at buying the right bit of equpiment,

ive had my first scope now for 5 days & its awsome but as a complete novice i didnt realise how fast the objects move across the ep so im looking at a tracking motor & as i got my scope from flo i saw this on there web site (Dual-Axis D.C. Motor Drive for EQ3-2)

which would fit my mount is this what i need to keep a planet in centre of ep? & are they complicated to fit? & do i need to download softwear to track or would this do it all for me? any advice much appreciated.

[WaveSoarer]

Phil,

I've just bought the EQ5 dual axis motors (I think its the same type that's used for the EQ3) and it's very easy to fit. It's also very easy to use - though the instructions could be better. When it's switched on (by selecting N on the power switch for Northern hemisphere rather than S) it immediately starts tracking. The buttons on the keypad then adjust the DEC axis (up and down buttons) and the position in RA is tweaked using the left/ right buttons. The speed of the adjustments is controlled by another switch for x2, x4 and x8 the tracking speed. The EQ5 mount is designed to accommodate the motors, which attach very easily and the tools are supplied, and I expect that this will be the same for the EQ3. There are a pair of cogs which attach to the fine adjust controls (worm gears) of the mount and these are locked/unlocked via friction clutches, so that the motors can be disengaged and the fine adjust knobs used in the normal way. It's quite an easy setup really, which my clumsy description has probably made appear quite complicated, but for accurate tracking you'll need to ensure that the mount is correctly polar aligned. If it isn't you'll need to tweak DEC, and to a lesser extent RA, to ensure that the object your tracking stays in the centre of the field of view. I'm a bit of a novice also but the polar alignment only takes me a couple of minutes now and the tracking is good enough not to need any tweaking (even on a high mag) for many minutes.

I think that it's a good option for the price and the goto conversion is quite a step up in price. I would have been tempted by goto but I really like the challenge of trying to find things by star hopping so the dual axis is a good option for what I want to do. I've only just started to use mine but I'm happy with my decision.

I hope this helps.

Dave

[phil m105]

thanks for the reply dave,

just ordered it today (damn bank holiday.......grrrr)

you explained it very well thank you & might be able to get some nice amatuer images of saturn now instead of chasing it round the ep lol,

if the clouds clear that is.