Mounts

[P1gzM1ghtFly]

Hi, I'm new to everything to do with Astronomy but I've been wanting to get a telescope for years and now I'm retired and an opportunity came up to get a telescope kit. So here's my. question: it's a Celestron 6SLT with a motorised mount but to me the Tripod seems a bit flimsy, is there any way of stiffening it up? I've looked at a better mount from Celestron but it's way outside my price range having just forked out for the telescope. Any help will be useful. 

Trev

[Cornelius Varley]

On 15/09/2023 at 15:58, P1gzM1ghtFly said:

Hi, I'm new to everything to do with Astronomy but I've been wanting to get a telescope for years and now I'm retired and an opportunity came up to get a telescope kit. So here's my. question: it's a Celestron 6SLT with a motorised mount but to me the Tripod seems a bit flimsy, is there any way of stiffening it up? I've looked at a better mount from Celestron but it's way outside my price range having just forked out for the telescope. Any help will be useful. 

Trev

Hanging a bag of rocks/bricks/heavy weights underneath the tripod can sometimes aid stability.

[happy-kat]

Welcome

And sitting to observe with the tripod legs not fully extended

Stellarium is great planetarium app

[Cosmic Geoff]

I have a SLT mount, and can confirm that the mount/tripod is on the wobbly side for this OTA.  (similar weight to my 127mm Mak OTA).

You can try various stabilising tricks but the only real answer is a sturdier and more expensive mount/ tripod.  The  EQ5 or the AZ4-2 will be like scaffolding by comparison with the SLT.

If you can track down a used  Celestron SE 6/8 mount that somebody doesn't want, your OTA will work with that nicely and the Nexstar software will be the same.