EQ6 GOTO

[lunator]

After quite a period of thought I will be changing my approach to observing. I have avoided using goto as when I take double star measures I have to switch the drives off let the star drift to show the PA. This would mean that every time I took a measure I would have to re-initialise the goto.

On the 20th I managed to get observations in of several doubles and this worked out at 10 minutes per pair. This broken down into 3-4 minutes tracking the object down and 6-7 minutes sketching/note taking.

I have come to the conclusion that the only way to increase my productivity is to use goto and I believe that re-using my external PA dial I can take measurements without having to switch off the drives.

I am interested to hear peoples view on the EQ6 goto.

Cheers

Ian

[Ant]

On the handset under the setup menu, is the tracking option.

You can turn tracking on and off from in there - would that help?

Ant

[lunator]

Ant

I don't know if that would work, it may do.

I am interested in hearing people views on the EQ6 goto user friendliness etc.

Cheers

Ian

[Whippy]

As Ant said, you can turn off the tracking if you need to without resetting the GOTO if you need to plus you can enter in RA and DEC co-ordinates instead of the usual Messier, NGC etc etc that wouldn't be much good for your double star work. As a GOTO system, it's slightly less friendly than the Celestron system but it's no huge issue. Once you've entered the details and done the star alignment it's dead simple to use.

Have a look at the maunal Ian and see what you think: http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtsupport/Instruction_Manuals/SynScan%20240406V2.pdf

Tony..

[tooth_dr]

Hi Ian

My first goto was the Meade autostar, then I bought a SW EQ6 goto. If I'm honest the Autostar is more enriched and more user friendly, the EQ6 is barer. Now I'm no expert at all, just my view. With the EQ6 tracking I've turned it on and off and that is pretty straight forward and works well. I also preferred the autostar alignment procedure as it automatically picked the stars, but I'd imagine for you knowing the names of stars shouldn't be a problem

Adam

[GazOC]

Going back a few years the Skyscan double star catalog was known to be very faulty, I've no idea if they fixed this in the firmware/ handset updates.

[lunator]

Cheers Everyone, this is very useful info

Gaz I would use the RA/DEC from the WDS to look for the doubles I after. I would still have my laptop running as Comparing the FOV between the laptop & the eyepiece is vital to track down the neglected pairs

Cheers

Ian

[Greg]

Ian,

You can play with my HEQ5 Pro when you come down after Christmas..Same handset and set up as the EQ6 Pro.

[MikeP]

Ian,

If you are considering an EQ6, why not go direct to EQMOD and use a planetarium program? Once your program is driving the GOTOs, you can go to anything that the planetarium knows about. SkyMap (my choice) lets you add catalogues ad nauseum, so you could certainly add the double star catalogues you use. It would save you from entering RA/Dec manually.

Mike

[lunator]

Greg

Cheers for that It would be good to check out.

Mike I hadn't considered EQMOD, that might be an option

Cheers

Ian

[Merlin66]

I use the HEQ5Pro GOTO with AstroPlanner. You can access ALL double star catalogues available and set up an observing plan for the night as well as record your observations.