EQ mount and Dec. controls ?

[celestron8g8]

In the past I have read where some amateur astronomers never use their Declination control on their EQ mounts. I've read where some even disconnect their Dec. control completely . Does anyone here also use that technique and if so have you ever imaged that way and got good images ? Just curious myself . I have never done that . I have the old German EQ-5 mount with tracking motors that came with my Celestron C8 SCT setup and have never changed or bought a Go-To mount . I've always manually polar aligned for the challenge . ANyone use their EQ in the way I described ?

[ronin]

Seems no reason to disconnect them other then to not have a flexible cable or whatever hanging around. You have to adjust Dec simply because the assorted objects are not all lined up. I suppose they would release the clutches and manually move the mount head to acquire the next target but that would almost exclude looking down the eyepiece to center the object, whereas the Dec adjusters mean you could look down the eyepiece and center the object. Have done that a few times. So in that respect removing them or not using them seems a case of making life either difficult or impossible.

How would you acquire or reacquire a target if you were not looking through the eyepiece - scope or finder? It might be possible but cannot see it being feasible.

By the way how you wrote the second lto last sentence aout the EQ5 and motors really managed to confused me.

[newbie alert]

Goto is star alignment..not the same as polar alignment..

And I've read the same thing but don't fully understand it really..but think tracking is done throu RA..

[celestron8g8]

29 minutes ago, ronin said:

 

By the way how you wrote the second lto last sentence aout the EQ5 and motors really managed to confused me.

 

I'm probably one of the last or maybe the last old timers that has always manually did polar alignment using a 12mm Illuminated Reticle . I bought my setup back in 97' . Came with an German EQ5 mount with tracking motors I had to install myself . Setting up is no problem but it takes about an hour to get a good polar alignment but even then if I image using a DSLR I use a Celestron Off-Axis Guider or I use my Illuminated Reticle to manually guide with cause no guide scope is used with this setup . I've heard there is a way to make this kind of mount use a guide scope but don't have the info and don't know it will work anyway . Are you still confused ?

[celestron8g8]

43 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Goto is star alignment..not the same as polar alignment..

And I've read the same thing but don't fully understand it really..but think tracking is done throu RA..

New GoTo-scopes today use a Star Alignment procedure . In the past before that was made easy a person had to do a manual polar alignment using a Illuminated Reticle . That's how I learn to align a Non-GoTo scope . Starting in the year 2000 Star Alignment scopes became very popular but with new technology it kept getting easier and easier . Now all a person has to do is hit a alignment button and sit back and wait a few minutes for the scope to self align all by itself . Basically when I image if I want a long exposure I sit at an Illuminated Reticle and manually guide on a guide star I have chosen and I do this by constantly adjusting the R.A. and Dec. control buttons to keep a star centered until i'm finished . Even with that type guiding I don't always have the greatest of round stars   . This image of Uranus at PF my C8 using the IR for guiding is an example of one decent shot I did back in 2008 . Manually guiding after manually polar aligning .

IMG_5935_Uranus_copyCombo_22-images_11-7-08_RLH by Ron Hodges, on Flickr

 

[Charic]

I got rid of the whole system because of the GEM ( German Equatorial Mount ) on my Celestron 127EQ, I don't favour the method for my use, visual only observation.
When on target though, manually tracking with the slo-mo controls, I recall  it was easy, but change target!.........all those adjustments, unlock, move, re-set, rotate?....... no thanks. The mount  itself was capable of being motorised, not sure if clockwork or battery powered? but I never got that far!

If I ever go down the photographic route, my outlook will change, as there is a real requirement for solid and reliable tracking system.

[newbie alert]

Now all a person has to do is hit a alignment button and sit back and wait a few minutes for the scope to self align all by itself

not quite...and on the scopes that have that feature who's to say it's accurate? I bought a starsense to enable me to do just that..didnt work 100% of the time..

 

[celestron8g8]

7 hours ago, newbie alert said:

Now all a person has to do is hit a alignment button and sit back and wait a few minutes for the scope to self align all by itself

not quite...and on the scopes that have that feature who's to say it's accurate? I bought a starsense to enable me to do just that..didnt work 100% of the time..

 

 

So how do you align , do you have the Go-To scopes with self align or do you manually align  ?

[newbie alert]

I have a goto but I manually align..then I use a polemaster to get it perfectly aligned as poss

[celestron8g8]

16 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

I have a goto but I manually align..then I use a polemaster to get it perfectly aligned as poss

This is all new to me . Looks like an excellent piece of equip to have . Can I ask how does it work , is it hooked into the scopes computer and the scope makes the final adjustment or do you look in it and manually adjust the R.A. and Dec. ? WOW , new technology is really neat if only I had the pocket book to go with it  !

[newbie alert]

It's great so far...heres a u tube link..

 

[celestron8g8]

So basically the Polemaster has to be used with a computerized scope , not a manual scope like mine . Am i correct ?

[Alien_Photons]

When auto guiding with a DEC axis on an EQ mount that has a lot of slack in the gears can result in large jumps up and down in the image. So for guide cameras that plug straight into the drive controller normally using an ST4 interface like the old SBIG camera or the new ones the way to avoid this problem is to just unplug the DEC axis lead from the motor. These days this is a problem that can be better managed in guide software running on a computer.

I drift align myself but don't get involved in astrophotography anymore.

 

[celestron8g8]

Ok I got it . I haven't imaged in a long time . Not sure I ever will anymore but I do still love observing . But i'm amazed at the technology how easy things are now . Back when I first started I used film cameras on a piggy back mount and used a Crosshair EP . Can't remember the size , I want to think it was a 25mm and I used a 2x barlow with it . That was a job cause sometimes the crosshairs were hard to see ! Now I have a IR with double cross hairs and that's a lot easier to use . Just hard to keep the guide star centered most times .