Alt-Azi mount slipping when viewing high altitude objects
Hi, now the owner of a Skywatcher 4.75 " refractor. The mount is an alt-azi type and altitude is controlled by what is called a "friction bolt", basically a nut on the end of a bolt holding the telescope in the up and down position. I have the telescope well balanced but when viewing objects at a high altitude it starts to slip from position as inevitably the centre of balance of the scope changes. Tried various movements of the scope to re-balance but to no avail and the best way seems to be a
I've used just about all the different variants of Giro mount, and they all suffer to a greater or lesser degree from imbalance when looking towards the zenith. It is worse with long, heavy eyepieces and when using a Barlow, and the bigger mounts handle it more easily than the smaller ones as their clutches tend to be more progressive. It's there in all of them though, just a fundamental balance problem which the mount can't compensate for. This is my 'highly elegant' solution which I sometimes