Equatorial mount - am I missing the point?

[Avocette]

Spending my time alternating between two countries, I was yearning for my Dob and so looked for a scope on the local second market. Not much of interest until an SW 150p on an EQ3-2 came up for less than half the new price. 18 months old and everything important in great condition.

But after several nights of use I'm really ready for my Dob again!

I set the EQ mount pointing roughly North (sighting Polaris through the polar scope hole from which both caps are missing) and then searched for objects of interest. Fine for Saturn and things in the South semicircle and on the ecliptic but really difficult to the North or overhead. The slow motion drive lock levers and the slow motion control knobs never come easily to hand for adjustment, and the finderscope and eyepiece are never quite where I want them. I seem to spend a lot of time struggling to make the scope point where I'd like to look and then standing on tip toes or stooping to get my eye to the right place to view. At one point I frustratedly moved the Latitude bolts to try to simulate an Alt-Az mount and then worried the scope would unbalance and fall over.

Is there something I'm missing here?

[rowan46]

I don't think so. I find alt/az much more intuitive and easier for visual the only good part of an eq that I can see is you can stick a camera on it.

[Steve Ward]

I started off with a Dob but very soon got fed up with all the nudging about and having the target constantly moving through the FOV.

Having the target in the centre of FOV indefinitely ( with good PA ) takes away soooo much frustration . . . especially at higher magnification ....

Someone will be along soon to put me right though . . . .

[swamp thing]

I always felt like I was fighting against the scope all night when I used to use GEM,s. Tube rings can help alleviate this a bit though.

Personally, since upgrading to a Dob, I wouldn't go back to a GEM

[Steve Ward]

Told you so . . .

[Avocette]

Wow two Steves at once with contrasting views! As swamp thing said 'fighting against the scope' was how it felt for me. I guess I would like to have automatic object tracking, but I don't feel sufficiently motivated by my present experiences to think investing in motor drives would be such a life changing experience. I suppose they do remove the need for the clutch levers and would put the remote control for mount steering close to hand, but would the investment (FLO £95) be worthwhile? Is it really the GoTo and PC control of your HEQ5 that makes you the long term GEM supporter Steve? (Ward)

[Steve Ward]

The main reason for going over to EQ for me were the frustration I found as a newbie in trying to find objects that I wasn't sure that I could see or not .

I know that the general advice seems to be get a big dob and learn the sky but with the somewhat limited viewing time we tend to get I found I was wasting loads of time hunting down fuzzies only to find that they were beyond the reach of my set-up , with the Go-To set up properly I can be confident that what I'm looking for is actually in the centre of FOV and therefore quickly work out whether I can see it or not , if I can then I stick with it , if not then I can rapidly move onto something new.

The other big factor for me was when I made the inevitable decision to stick a camera on the scope and start taking photos , something that is nigh on impossible ( apart from possibly planetary webcam imaging ) with a Dobsonian , having a mount that can track a target for half an hour or so with the Synguider plugged in is a pretty good platform , I don't use the computer to control the mount just the DSLR / Webcam / focuser .

At the end of the day there is no right or wrong answer , it's all down to your needs and desires , I have to admit it was quite a wrench getting rid of the 250px as it was my first scope , but I'm more than happy with the HEQ5Pro and a selection of glass to stick on it depending on the task in hand.

[Avocette]

I'll be back to the Dob soon so we'll see if I suddenly miss the (manual) tracking of the EQ3-2!

Clear skies!

[nicks90]

as a newbie here are my thoughts with owning an eq3-2

i hate fighting the scope, trying to just go left 5 deg is not easy with the angled axis wanting to go diagonally only, overhead is a major chore, constantly rotating the ota for eyepiece comfort etc etc etc

i yearn for a dob!

but then i finally got my RA motor working the other night and the shear delight of being able to sit at the ep for 10 mins watching saturn at high mag with only touching the dec slo-mo control once (only roughly pa'd) was an absolute delight!!!!!!!!!

so now i am getting used to it and can see some of the benefits, i am in a quandry!!!

[JamesF]

There are a number of different features people are talking about here. EQ vs. alt-az is only one of them. Tracking is different, but related. (Some) alt-az mounts can track and if you can't get on with "nudging" a dob that may be a solution without going to EQ. Of course it's rather more expensive than manual EQ

If you're happy using non-tracking alt-az I think it's fairly tough to make a case for EQ mounts for visual use.

James

[Peter Drew]

Quite a lot of alt-az tracking mounts don't do anything if the power source fails!

[Moonshane]

personally, it's not mainly about az or equatorial it is about carrying capacity.

it's simply impractical for many people to put anything larger than an 8" newtonian on an EQ mount unless it's in a permanent observatory. if you want portability and stability for apertures of 10" or more then you need a dobsonian mount, there's not really another option. for a low cost it offers excellent stability, smooth motion and intuitive use.

I accept than an eq mount for smaller apertures does allow tracking and AP but I also find that I am struggling with the mount and breathe a sigh of relief when I use a dob again. from experience this also applies to the Skytee, although not the Giro type mounts.

[John]

An equatorial platform seems to offer tracking while retaining the no frills dobsonian approach and accessible eyepiece position:

[mdstuart]

Perhaps we could arrange for the earth to stop rotating for a few hours every night and then we could just point and look at things..

Mark

[JamesF]

Perhaps we could arrange for the earth to stop rotating for a few hours every night and then we could just point and look at things..

I'm sure that would lead to some nasty creases somewhere.

James

[John]

Perhaps we could arrange for the earth to stop rotating for a few hours every night and then we could just point and look at things..

Mark

Thats kind of how I think of the EQ platform. A small flat space where we can turn the rotation of the Earth off for an hour

[brantuk]

I find manual alt/az mounts are great for skimming round increasing your object count - they move easy, only go up/down and left/right, and the eyepiece stays in a useable orientation - so it's all pretty intuitive and quick to get into for a beginner. But it does depend on knowledge of the sky and ability to star hop.

Manual EQ mounts on the other hand take some time to master. The movement in both axes is alien to a beginner and the eyepiece goes into some wierd positions. It's dead easy for a refractor with a rotating focuser - but pop a newtonian on and it's not long before you're doubled over underneath the mount trying to look up through the eyepiece. But you get a lot more choice of which scope(s) to mount.

For newts, one (or two) tube rotating rings is the answer. Also an RA tracking motor makes things infinitely more relaxing - with a single slo mo dec cable there's only one control to find in the dark. Viewing a bunch of objects in a small section of the sky also helps - you don't have to adjust so frequently when moving to another sector for the next bunch of objects and hanging round there for a while - a session needs adequate planning for that. One thing a lot of folks overlook is adjusting the tripod legs for their own height so the eyepiece can be reached in most positions. Take a caravan step for kids and "short of leg" adults lol.

Just my opinions but hope it gives you a few ideas for a more relaxing session.

[gkec]

Having owned a Newtonian and an undriven eq mount I know what you mean.

Some things I would suggest you try are:

Make sure it is allign roughly North with the aid of a compass and then polar align using the finderscope/scope with the scope set to 0h 0m 0s and 90 0m 0s.

Move the finders to where you find them most use. Having a straight through finder next to the eyepiece is just wrong. Get a right angled eyepiece for it A red dot finder mounted at the mirror end will help enormously to point it so that you can get the target in the finder scope. You sort of point it like a big gun looking from the mirror end which is usually accessible.

I'm not entirely familiar with the eq3 but with the eq2 the way you out the scope on the mount determines the position of the RA control. I found it easier if it was pointing up the scope as then the control would be in the vicinity of the eyepiece.