Tracking planets with a long+heavy scope

jermng · Post by **jermng** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:35 am

Hi, I'm just curious, has anyone used something like the Astroslew or other similar Alt-Az mount to track planets at high power with a heavy 5-6" refractor?

What are your experiences?

*Anat, I was gonna PM you this question but thought I'd post here so that maybe other pple with similar experiences can post too.

So here's your hint.

anat · Post by **anat** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 7:38 am

Jeremy:

It seems you force me to answer

ha ha.

I point my small 6" scope to a target and let it drift across a FOV. I have about 5-10 sec to observe before recentering, depending on the TFOV of an eyepiece. You will definitely need a few Pentax XW

The system must be rigid and doesn't cause annoying vibration (damping time larger than 1-1.5 second). As long as you don't have a vibration problem, observing at 200x-300x is not difficult. The vibration isolation pads help a lot.

Anat

jermng · Post by **jermng** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 9:19 am

Thanks Anat.

HAHA ... I'll try it out when the sky is clear again.

Wasted one very clear night last night cos my mount is not solid enough ..

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:15 pm

Jeremy, let us know how it perform when you use your C6R on the astroslew at high power. I have seen a 6" refractor on the astroslew... I feel that a good tracking mount gives me more productive planetary observations.