EQ5 motor

[S Kehoe]

Hi,

I have a Skywatcher 200p with an EQ5 mount. I am interested in Astrophotography using a Web Cam, and would like to know if I need to upgrade my EQ5 mount with a motor so i can follow the allignment of target objects automatically with the webcam. If so, could anybody recommend equipment for me to upgrade my mount. I have only been into astronomy for about a year so please forgive my ignorance on this subject.

many thaks in advance.

kind regards

Steve

[JamesF]

Unless it's a webcam that's been modified for long exposures then you're presumably looking at planetary/lunar/solar imaging, in which case as long as you get reasonably good polar alignment what you already have should be sufficient.

Or do you have an LX-modded webcam?

James

[JamesF]

Ah, I realise I may have misread. You have no motor whatsoever at the moment. Is that correct?

James

[S Kehoe]

Ah, I realise I may have misread. You have no motor whatsoever at the moment. Is that correct?

James

Hi James

yeah thats right I have no motor at all, I am looking for the basic equipment to upgrade my EQ5 to allow me to get images via a webcam. I dont have a webcam at the moment but i am considering getting a decent quality one for around £80.

planetary/lunar/solar imaging, is my aim for the time being so a good setup for this would be what I am after.

thanks for the reply much appreciated

kind regards

Steve

[JamesF]

Given good polar alignment (for which you'll need a polar scope if you don't already have one) you can get away with just a single motor for the RA axis. The dual set of motors such as this:

http://www.firstligh...ve-for-eq5.html

does make life a bit easier if you care to spend the extra cash. I use basically the same thing on my EQ3-2. (You should see a link to the single-axis version for the EQ5 on the same page.)

If you're feeling fairly hard-core you can mod the dual motors for DSO imaging too. Quatermass is the man when it comes to doing that with the EQ5 I think.

I'd still recommend getting the polar scope though. It takes a bit of effort to get the hang of using it, but makes a big difference to the imaging process if you have reasonable polar alignment to start with. The EQ5 polar scope isn't illuminated which makes the reticle tricky to see. The usual fix is to shine a red torch down the barrel whilst looking up through the bottom end, but if you hunt through the DIY section you'll find lots of examples of DIY polar scope illuminators.

James

[S Kehoe]

Given good polar alignment (for which you'll need a polar scope if you don't already have one) you can get away with just a single motor for the RA axis. The dual set of motors such as this:

http://www.firstligh...ve-for-eq5.html

does make life a bit easier if you care to spend the extra cash. I use basically the same thing on my EQ3-2. (You should see a link to the single-axis version for the EQ5 on the same page.)

If you're feeling fairly hard-core you can mod the dual motors for DSO imaging too. Quatermass is the man when it comes to doing that with the EQ5 I think.

I'd still recommend getting the polar scope though. It takes a bit of effort to get the hang of using it, but makes a big difference to the imaging process if you have reasonable polar alignment to start with. The EQ5 polar scope isn't illuminated which makes the reticle tricky to see. The usual fix is to shine a red torch down the barrel whilst looking up through the bottom end, but if you hunt through the DIY section you'll find lots of examples of DIY polar scope illuminators.

James

Thanks James , thats just the advice I am after. I will go for the dual motor and polar scope setup ( I will have a look through the DIY section as I would like an illuminator).

This setup will be more than adequate for now until I get some experiance.

hopefully (when this rotten weather goes) I can try this out

much appreciated