Skywatcher az goto

[Biggazza88]

I poped into my local astronomy shop today and got talking about mounts.

According to the guy in the shop it is perfectly acceptable to use a alt az mount for low power AP. apparently the mount can track so accurately that even long exposure shots will be fine and deep sky stacker will be able to deal with the field rotation? Anyone have any experience with using alt az mounts and photography? Why do you think?

Cheers, gazza

[DoctorD]

Hi,

I use AZ with my video camera, limited to 10 second exposures - however most people will say 20 seconds max for AZ which will not get you very far.

It all depends upon what you are trying to do - some people are happy to get any kind of image, others want incredible detail and pin point stars.

So yes you can take astro photos with an AZ mount but do not set your expectations too high.

To say an AZ mount is capable of Astrohotography given what is achievable with more appropriate (and expensive) equipment is probably a bit of an overstatement.

HTH

Paul

[dph1nm]

You can do at least 30secs almost anywhere in the sky with alt-az - if you pointing in the right place you can do 1min and more. However, if the Skywatcher AZ is anything like the Celestron Nexstar SLT, don't expect 1 arcseond tracking accuracy, more like 10x that!

NigelM

[Biggazza88]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm in two minds about the skywatcher az goto and the eq3-2 but the alt az is winning at the moment due to the goto and helping make the most of a 10min break in the clouds!!

Gazza

[lensman57]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm in two minds about the skywatcher az goto and the eq3-2 but the alt az is winning at the moment due to the goto and helping make the most of a 10min break in the clouds!!

Gazza

Hi,e

I have an SW 127 MAK with AZ go to mount, even though I level the tripod as best as possible and use two star align method the result is not that great, It seems that the mount tracks some objects better in the sky depending where they are, using a 9mm EP it takes Jupiter about 15 seconds before it needs correction to keep it centred, yes the field of view is very small but for AP it won't do, if you use an EP of 20~25 mm you may have a chance with objects for about 10 seconds. I wish that I had bought a better mount as I had first intended. Now I am trying to justify spending over £600.00 on a HEQ5 pro syntrek. EQ3-2 was my original choice and you can get it with a go to already installed for about 380.00 from the usual suspects. As far as my 127 is concerned it deserves a better mount than the flimsy thing they ship it with. Hope this helps.

Regards,

A.G

[spektrumdx8]

Hi,e

I have an SW 127 MAK with AZ go to mount, even though I level the tripod as best as possible and use two star align method the result is not that great, It seems that the mount tracks some objects better in the sky depending where they are, using a 9mm EP it takes Jupiter about 15 seconds before it needs correction to keep it centred, yes the field of view is very small but for AP it won't do, if you use an EP of 20~25 mm you may have a chance with objects for about 10 seconds. I wish that I had bought a better mount as I had first intended. Now I am trying to justify spending over £600.00 on a HEQ5 pro syntrek. EQ3-2 was my original choice and you can get it with a go to already installed for about 380.00 from the usual suspects. As far as my 127 is concerned it deserves a better mount than the flimsy thing they ship it with. Hope this helps.

Regards,

A.G

Out of interest, I too have a 127 mak and feel that the supplied mount isn't quite right- I'm getting a SW Explorer 200p/eq5 next week and was wondering if the 127 will fit the eq5 mount,, will I need any extra pieces to do this??

[lensman57]

Out of interest, I too have a 127 mak and feel that the supplied mount isn't quite right- I'm getting a SW Explorer 200p/eq5 next week and was wondering if the 127 will fit the eq5 mount,, will I need any extra pieces to do this??

Hi.

I think that all SW scopes have the Synta- Vixen dovetail so technically it should go on the saddle with no problem, but the focusing knob and the finder's orientation will be different due to the tubes rotation, I don't think it is auch a big deal but it is best if you checked it out first.

Regards,

A.G

[spektrumdx8]

yeah, hadn't really thought about that aspect- got a few days off work coming so may pop down to the Widescreen centre in Central London with the mak and see if it will fit,,

Thanks !!

[sgazer]

deep sky stacker will rotate each frame so they align with each other, however it will not be able to sort out the rotation during a frame (exposure) so you will get elongated stars around the edge depending on exposure length and which part of the sky is being imaged, but irrespective of focal length.

Using a Celestron SLT ALT/AZ it'll track ok for about 30s exposures at 250mm, but at 600mm I've converted it to EQ mounted so it only has to track in 1 axis, ie. RA, making it easier. I've also added auto guiding as even the RA tracking is not fantastic, there's no bearings, just teflon pads, which can make it a bit jerky.