manoeuvring the scope

[prbaxter]

ok so you've set your scope up and you're looking up at the Pleiades, and then later you swing round to see Cassiopeia, but later still you spot Saturn rising. So you swing the scope round but find that now your eyepiece is pointing down to the floor.

It it normal practice to loosen off the tube rings and rotate the OTA back round to the eyepiece is at a comfortable point or is there another method that I'm missing? like a meridian flip or something?

[Horus]

Like you I have had this problem,I just pick up the whole set up and point it in the general direction that I want to view if its the complete opposite direction. If needs I do rotate the the OTA. Wether this is right or wrong I don't know. (BTW I,m not tracking when doing this ) its just general observation work with my Evostar 80ED DS-PRO on the EQ3 mount

[prbaxter]

baring in mind I might want to track with the motor drives for imaging...

isn't that a meridian flip?

[synapse]

Me and my mate (he has the same scope as you) both loosen the tube rings and twist the OTA to get the ep to an comfy angle. I don't see any other way round it. Maybe someone more experienced may know another way round it.

[prbaxter]

I think you're right.

My only concern with this if if you don't get it back where it was it might upset the balance so a little care needs to be taken there.

[altec]

mybe you could make some rotating rings

Andy's Shot Glass - Wilson Rotating Rings - Astronomy & Astrophotography for Non-Gazillionaires

i just need to get the pipe to make it

ive just asked in DIY Astronomer Forum for some help

[shaunster]

Its normal for a reflector yes, and this is one of the problems of using one on an EQ mount.

With a refractor you just rotate the diagonal around...

[John]

This is one of the reasons that I use alt-azimuth mounts - the eyepiece and finder are always in an accessible position.

I've seen newtonians where the whole top section of the scope rotates (Sir Patrick Moore's 15" for example) which is a neat idea but difficult to execute properly I believe.

One of the Russian manufacturers (Intes Micro perhaps ?) used to market special tube rings with bearings in that allowed the scope to be easily rotated then quickly locked into place. There would be a market for this sort of thing I think.

A lower tech approach is to buy a single extra tube ring and place it above the other two with some teflon pads where the new ring rests on the top of the current one to act as low friction surface . You should be able to leave the 2 main tube rings slightly loose then and rotate the tube, which won't slide down because the extra ring keeps it in place.

[Jiggy 67]

I allways loosen the rings and twist the OTA so the ep is in a comfortable position. I think that if you're carefull and don't let the tube slip you're not gonna alter the balance, you've got a centremetre or so either way where its not going to affect you're balance

[Mik3]

mybe you could make some rotating rings

Andy's Shot Glass - Wilson Rotating Rings - Astronomy & Astrophotography for Non-Gazillionaires

i just need to get the pipe to make it

ive just asked in DIY Astronomer Forum for some help

That looks like a nice simple solution, where did you get your large hose clamps from?

[altec]

i was lucky i had some off a mate

try a washing machine repair shop or a car parts shop or there is some on ebay

[Astro_Baby]

Rotationg the tube is how its done - if you want something more elegant than Wilson rings (I think they look ugly) take a look here.

Rotating Rings for Reflector Telescopes