EQ Mount

[riogrande100]

I have a CG-3 Celestron EQ mount, i know it's not the best. But all instructions I read talk about setting up the mount to face magnetic north. However if the mount is facing North how do i view objects in the south sky. For example right now in the UK the moon, mars, jupiter and orion are all to the south. How do I view these objects if the mount has to afce north?

The mount has latitude, RA & DA adjustable axis.

[greenkat]

I dont have a Celestron mount but I'm sure there should also be two locking knobs or levers for R/A & DEC, losen them and move the scope manualy to point south, then tighten again (not too tight)

Try this link, it may help

http://www.themcdonalds.net/~themcdo/richard/index.php?title=Finding_and_Tracking_Objects_with_an_EQ_Mount

[John]

Once the locking knobs / levers referred to by greenkat are loosened the mount will move around 2 axis and you can point your scope to just about any part of the sky - the motion takes a bit of getting used to though - it's not the straight up and down / left and right of an alt-azimuth mount. Also your eyepiece and finder will be in some strange positions at times so get ready for some interesting body positions !.

[Cornelius Varley]

The mount has two axis - right ascension and declination - as you have noticed. Slacken the clutch locking the RA axis and you will see the telescope follow an arc as you move it. Lock the RA axis and then unlock the declination axis. The telescope can now rotate around the dec axis. Using a combination of RA and dec you can point the telescope to anywhere in the sky.

EQ3 EQ5 manual

AstronomyBoy Equatorial mount animation

Peter

[riogrande100]

Thanks guys, what would i do without this forum...the internet is a blessing!