Can I use a goto with a skywatcher explorer?

[Stars in Their Eyes]

Hi All,

I recently bought myself a skywatcher explorer 130pm with an eq2 mount. I have since been amazed with seeing a goto mount in action and wondered if i can use one with my existing OTA. I've read something about dovetail or vixen plates that i may have to buy but to be honest i'm not sure what i should be looking to buy in order to help me convert to using a goto. Any suggestions and advice will be greatly received - Thanks!

[Ant]

I'm pretty certain that you cannot upgrade an EQ2 to GOTO.

But you can use the OTA (tube and rings) to mount on a EQ3 or higher. These can be bought with GOTO.

The Skywatcher - Skywatcher NEQ3 Synscan GOTO is the cheapest mount with GOTO from Skywatcher.

But for an extra few quid you could go for Skywatcher - Skywatcher EQ5 Synscan GOTO - this would be a little more future upgradeable.

The advice is always to buy the very best mount you can afford and worry about the telescope part later!

HTH

Ant

[scotastro]

Keep an eye on the secondhand kit on SGL or website U.K. Astronomy Buy & Sell for GOTO mounts, much cheaper than buying new.

All you will need is to remove the tube rings on your current mount and attatch them to a dovetail bar (costs about £10).

A GOTO system can make finding objects easier, but a 130mm scope is still quite small so there are a lot of objects in the database that will be beyond your scopes capabilities.

Mike

[Astro_Baby]

The EQ2 cant be upgraded BUT trhe 130 is light enough I would have thought to put on an Alt/Az GoTo mount and I have seen a few of these come up for sale second hand - I think someone was selling a Celestron one quite recently.

The scope and its tube rings have a vixen style dovetail which most mounts can accept so you shouldnt have any worries there.

Sky-Watcher do a GoTo Alt/Az mount as well but as far as I know they only sell it with a telescope attached. It might be worth a call to Firlst Light Optics and see if they can get a mount minus the scope - you never know.

[The Warthog]

It doesn't have to be a Skywatcher goto system. Sometimes you can get a mount with a scope on it for very little more than the tripod alone would cost, so if you want to pick up a refractor as well, you could get one on a goto mount, and have it do double duty.

[Stars in Their Eyes]

Thanks everyone for your helpful advice. Jason