SingAstro

Hi Guys.,
My first post.

After moving to Singapore, I notice the German Equatorial Mounts can't be adjusted to 1 degree Latitude. Polaris is also never visible.

So, if I got a Celestron CGEM for example, how can I modify it to aim at 1 degree and keep the counter-weights from hitting the legs.?
I think a compass can be used to point North.

Or how is astrophotography usually done here?

thanks!

Is there a Astronomical Society in Singapore I can join to learn more about astronomy and visit some star-parties ?

Hi,
What we usually do for EQ mount is:
1) Use a half-pier, such as the one from Vixen. Should be able to use on most GP and GP-clone mount.

2) Relocated the North-peg from above a tripod leg to between two of the tripod leg and use a small diameter counter-weight, such as the Vixen counter-weight, so that the counter-weight is between the two leg, but might still hit tripod leg at certain position on some EQ mount.

As for polar alignment, we use drift star alignment for accurate polar alignment.

Anyway, Welcome to SingAstro!!

Have a nice day.

weixing wrote:Hi,
What we usually do for EQ mount is:
1) Use a half-pier, such as the one from Vixen. Should be able to use on most GP and GP-clone mount.

2) Relocated the North-peg from above a tripod leg to between two of the tripod leg and use a small diameter counter-weight, such as the Vixen counter-weight, so that the counter-weight is between the two leg, but might still hit tripod leg at certain position on some EQ mount.

As for polar alignment, we use drift star alignment for accurate polar alignment.

Anyway, Welcome to SingAstro!!

Have a nice day.

Hi, thanks for the info!
I think drift alignment isn't a problem.
Can this technique be used for Orion and Celestron mounts as well (like finding a generic pier and relocating the North peg) ? Like what's sold at the Astro Science Center?
I may need a Vixen Sphinx SXD which can align a 1 degree nativity.

EDIT: I found a Telescope Mount Extension for the Atlas. So it's possible to get this working on Orion mounts as well..

and thanks for the warm welcome

Hi,

I am using Atlas, aka EQ-6 without mount extension. It can go down to our 1 degree latitude just that large counterweights can hit the tripod legs when swinging in RA past the legs.

ML