What mount it this?

[bendiddley]

Does anyone know what mount this is? I know it's a Celestron AZ mount but don't know the model.

Edited February 26, 2021 by bendiddley

[Robindonne]

nexstar?

[Cornelius Varley]

Possibly an early AZ GT mount (pre SLT).

[Cornelius Varley]

AKA Nexstar GT

NexStar Resource Site - Celestron NexStar Telescopes (nexstarsite.com)

[bendiddley]

6 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

AKA Nexstar GT

NexStar Resource Site - Celestron NexStar Telescopes (nexstarsite.com)

Thanks. Mine has a silver top though. Have looked up the nexstar gt and those ones have black tops, see photos I found on google

[Robindonne]

Maybe an old version or a skywatcher with a celestron handbox?

[Cornelius Varley]

I assume that the handset and mount work together and you can confirm that the mount is a Celestron ?

[bendiddley]

On 27/02/2021 at 14:11, Cornelius Varley said:

I assume that the handset and mount work together and you can confirm that the mount is a Celestron ?

The controller can operate the mount so I'm assuming the mount must be Celestron? Or can a Celestron controller operate another make of mount ie. skywatcher? Maybe the mount is a very old Celestron model but I can't find any photos of it on google.

[Cornelius Varley]

The mount looks very similar to the old Skywatcher Supatrak (the alt scale on the arm). If you remove the black cover from the arm you might be able to see some information on the motor control board. The Skywatcher Synscan mounts can use the older Celestron Ascom drivers so there might be some compatibility with the early handsets.

[bendiddley]

42 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

The mount looks very similar to the old Skywatcher Supatrak (the alt scale on the arm). If you remove the black cover from the arm you might be able to see some information on the motor control board. The Skywatcher Synscan mounts can use the older Celestron Ascom drivers so there might be some compatibility with the early handsets.

Thanks. Yes it does look very similar, can't find any with the silver top, maybe the top came from something else. Interesting to know about the Celestron skywatcher compatibility. I have taken it apart and here are some photos. No clues on the control board or from the serial number but I've looked up the patent numbers and the us and eu numbers are showing results for a company called 'PACIFIC TELESCOPE CORP [CA]', have attached screen shot. Can't find any link to skywatcher/celestron on the patent application though, but I'll keep looking and see what I can find.

Edited March 2, 2021 by bendiddley

[doublevodka]

It looks almost identically to the Nexstar GT mount I have apart from the silver cover, however skywatcher do / did an almost identical looking mount with the silver covers so maybe it's been swapped out at some point.

 

Nexstar GT would certainly be what my money would be on anyway at this point looking at those pictures and it wouldn't surprise me the patent being in another name other than Celestron, most of the skywatcher and celestron kit seems to come from the same factories and just get badged appropriately...

[Cornelius Varley]

I googled Pacific Telescope Corp and I got this Sky-Watcher USA - Putting you at the center of our universe!

[Cornelius Varley]

1 minute ago, doublevodka said:

It looks almost identically to the Nexstar GT mount I have apart from the silver cover, however skywatcher do / did an almost identical looking mount with the silver covers so maybe it's been swapped out at some point.

 

Nexstar GT would certainly be what my money would be on anyway at this point looking at those pictures and it wouldn't surprise me the patent being in another name other than Celestron, most of the skywatcher and celestron kit seems to come from the same factories and just get badged appropriately...

I suspect that the SW Supatrak and older Az Goto are loosely based on the original Celestron/Tasco Nexstar GT.

[bendiddley]

Great stuff guys. Many thanks.