Tracking advice

[Mark68]

Hi all,

I have just upgraded from a 4" skywatcher heritage to an orion xt10.

I am using an alt-azimuth mount.

What an upgrade!!!!!!

The problem i now have is that when I focus on anything. Because it gets so much closer, I am having to move the telescope evry 30 seconds or so to keep the object in view.

Is there a trick i am missing. Or is it something I am going to have to get used to. 

To give you an idea, here is a quick picture I took of the moon using my phone

Edited March 19, 2021 by Mark68

[EntropyTango]

I think you are going to have to adjust

longer focal length=higher magnification=more sky movement in the EP

Wait till you pump the magnification, you might be nudging every 20 seconds

Something that helps here is eyepieces with wider fields of view

as your object will have more time to traverse your AFOV

[Alan64]

Bump 'n' nudge is the name of the game with a Newtonian-Dobson, or "Dobsonian".  The larger the aperture, the longer the focal-length, and the more often you will have to play said game.  Orion(of California) and Sky-Watcher "Dobsonians", both of their parent-company, Synta of China, have in recent years been equipped with go-to systems, motors that provide automatic tracking.

On the bright side, I have read that users do become adept at the manual motioning over time.   

[Stu]

Nudging a scope is just a reality of higher powers whether it be a Dobsonian or a scope mounted on a manual alt az mount.

The only real way around this with a dob is to use an Equatorial Platform, which gives you somewhere around 45 mins worth of tracking before needing a reset. I often use one with my 8” f8 scope as it is quite tall and spindly and prone to wobbling when touched, so the EQ platform allows me to concentrate when observing at high powers.