Problems getting EQ mount stable

[beermat]

Hello all,

I'm new to astronomy and recently purchased a Skywatcher 200p with an EQ mount (not motorised).

The difficulty I am having when observing is that I find it impossible to keep the telescope stable, by that I mean it always slowly falls downwards when observing objects and I have to constantly adjust the thumbs screws to keep the object in view. 

I have polar aligned the tripod and balanced the telescope with the counter weights but I am unable to prevent the scope from slowly drifting away from the object being viewed.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Ted

[nmoushon]

Not to sound daft here but are you sure its the scope that is moving and not the object your viewing? I have a 114mm reflector @900mm focal length and with a wide eye piece of 25mm Jupiter only stays in the eye piece for about 20seconds. Only in the center for about half of that. So with your scope at a much longer focal length object in the eye piece will move very quickly out of view.

[JamesF]

Not to sound daft here but are you sure its the scope that is moving and not the object your viewing? I have a 114mm reflector @900mm focal length and with a wide eye piece of 25mm Jupiter only stays in the eye piece for about 20seconds. Only in the center for about half of that. So with your scope at a much longer focal length object in the eye piece will move very quickly out of view.

This was my first thought.  The Earth is moving, and your telescope with it.  The stars and planets appear to drift as a result.

James

[jambouk]

With a non-motorised mount, you will have to continually turn the right ascension knob to keep the object in the field of view. A motorised mount does the knob turning for you.

Does the object drift out of the field of view quicker if you use more magnification?

James

[beermat]

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't thought of that. I have been viewing the moon using a high magnification eye piece and find that it slowly drifts out of view forcing me to continually adjust. When viewing the moon (I think the eyepiece is 25MM) it will stay in the centre of view for about 15sec. I didn't realise that I would need to continually adjust the RA but that makes sense now given that everything is moving.

Just a thought, is it possible to retrofit a motor to this mount and if so any recommendations?

Regards,

[Schorhr]

Hello Ted, yes, you can buy motor sets for most EQ mounts, or even build one if you like to tinker and if you are on a budget (Servo with continous rotation mod for example, or stepper motor + circuit...)

[Cornelius Varley]

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't thought of that. I have been viewing the moon using a high magnification eye piece and find that it slowly drifts out of view forcing me to continually adjust. When viewing the moon (I think the eyepiece is 25MM) it will stay in the centre of view for about 15sec. I didn't realise that I would need to continually adjust the RA but that makes sense now given that everything is moving.

Just a thought, is it possible to retrofit a motor to this mount and if so any recommendations?

Regards,

The EQ5 mount has 3 motor options.

1. A single RA drive http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/single-axis-dc-motor-drive-for-eq5.html

2. Dual axis drives http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/dual-axis-dc-motor-drive-for-eq5.html

or

3. A full synscan goto upgrade

[jambouk]

Or sell your mount and but a second hand mount with motors already fitted; this is the option I would go with as i'm not so much of a tinkerer with these things, and i'd like the idea that the motors were factory fitted rather than DIY fitted.

James

[Oily]

Just a thought, is it possible to retrofit a motor to this mount and if so any recommendations?

Regards,

Having the same mount and knowing what I know now I'd buy some decent stepper motors/belt drives instead of the Skywatcher items,both cost around the same(£100) but you have to make some brackets to mount the motors.I'd also buy Tom Carpenters AstroEQ(£90) for a full GOTO system.