manual / motorised mount...

Hi Dave,
I get the idea of what your saying. Things seem a little more complex :x than I thought with removing / attaching tubes and the effect it has on mount / GoTo accuracy. I really am inclined toward equatorial mount without motor or GoTo but with the opportunity to use auto system with motor appeals also. I was thinking of getting the GoTo mount EQ-5 motorised but does this mean if I remove the mount and then attach a manual mount with setting circle ( hand control use for tracking ) slow speed tracking then attaching the GoTo again , would the GoTo auto system be inaccurate when re-attached as such would occur with a fork mount once removed then attached again ? Am I making sense of my Q :roll:

regards,

Eamonn.

Hi Eamonn,
It is a meade mount and it is not compatible with the C11, one thing you need to realise is all fork mounts (meade and celestron) are permanently attached to their telescope tubes and are never meant to be seperated. If you're very mechanically inclined, you can probabily rig a scope OTA to a celestron or meade fork mount but I would very much recommend against this as the tube andfork axis must be perfectly alligned for correct goto and tracking actions.

="eamonn o'brien"]Hi Dave,
when the wedge is used and polar alignment achieved, will the axis be parallel with the earths axis and no further adjustment required on that axis just to slide the scope along the plain of the object in view just like an equatorial mount. I've never used this type mount so I have to say I'm a little ignorant as to its mechanics of altzimuth mount.


regards,

Eamonn.

The axis is parallel with the earths axis as you state, you need move only one axis to follow an object.
If you look at my avatar, the scope is pointing just west of due south at about 45 degrees up from the horison, so the fork arms are pointing at the pole.
Where the fork joins up with the rest of the mount (wedge+tripod), this is where the RA axis is, so one movement is all that is required to follow an abject across the sky.
Take away the wedge and the scope becomes a simple altaz mount, the wedge is just above the tripod and tilts the whole telescope towards the pole.

As for the slow motion controls, if you look at where the tube is attached to the fork, you'll see a silver circle, below that you see a little silver cylinder, thats the DEC slow motion control, the RA control is not easily visible in the mass of the mount, if you want clearer pictures of these , have a look a the meade website
www.meade.com

I hope this isnt too confusing, its hard to describe it when you're not at the scope .

Hi Dave,
put eq6 skyscan into google , got alot of info. it seems quite pricy . The mount eq6 sky watcher which is on www.telescopehouse.co.uk is cheaper but not sure of its potential for manual, slow motion, setting circle freedom with GoTo. I was thinking maybe of an eq-3 or 4 mount which is defo cheaper as my second mount but would it support an 11" celestron :?: I get the inpression to incorporate what I'm looking for into one mount is hard to find. Another asset I'm keen to have the option on is medium / long term exposure for photo but at mom looking for right mount . Enough headache getting right mount :x

Hi Eamonn,

A german equatorial mount with goto sounds like it would be just right for you. Have a look at the EQ6 Skyscan mount. Its motorised and goto but you can turn all that off and use it just like your old eq5.

You definitely dont need two mounts.