Fork Over That GEM? Never!!!

As you may or may not have gathered from the title, I will be addressing mounts today.There are a few mainstream mounts to consider. They are the Alt/azimuth Fork mount, The German Equatorial Mount (GEM) and the new upstart the Dobsonian Mount. Almost all scopes use these mounts. All three can be found with Go to /Push to.You might ask: So which is the best Steve? A stellar question indeed.(pun may or may not have been intended) Lets start this mini adventure with the Dobsonian mount. This simple and sturdy mount made its way here in the 1960's The purpose being to build an affordable telescope in big to OMG Big sizes, have it easy to transport and light in weight. The bailiwick of this alt azimuth mount are very large Newtonian Telescopes.They ride on Teflon so they are very smooth to operate. They are very limited in the type of scope it will handle. (Newts) I have seen a couple of SCT put on a Dob mount. It is such a beautiful design. I love them. Bottom line is if you have a case of aperture fever and you want to spend the money on mirror this is your ticket. Stop right here and order it or even better build one!



The next up on the hit parade is the Alt /Azimuth Fork. This Mount is extremely popular with SCT fans as well as short tube refractors Many, oh so many a Schmidt Cassegrain scope reside on a fork and with good reason they are a rock solid sturdy mount. They can easily be made a go to scope or set up with setting circles to get yourself around the sky. The one shown here is a Celestron CPC Series. It has all the bells and whistles GPS Go to. If you decide you want to use it for Astrophotography You will need a wedge. The reason is this. The mount has to move both motors to stay on track with an object which is no problem for visual work.The problem occurs when you put a Camera on it A problem called field rotation happens and you will get star trails. not good... Plan on spending about 800 dollars on a good wedge. The wedge makes it so the mount moves smoothly using one motor. As a result, Pictures can be exposed for longer times.This is a great mount if you plan visual work most of the time with some stints of astrophotography. It will grow with you but you must drag it kicking and screaming:)


The King of mounts is the very flexible(in uses)German Equatorial Mount This thing is a beauty to behold. You name the Scope, Catadioptric, Refractor,or Newt. All three will go on it and for the most part do well. The exception being big newts. They are so long they tend to mess with the mount in stability. To the oh so serious astrophotographer there is no other mount to consider. The reason for this is design. The mount is lined up with the pole it then has only one axis to turn on to keep any scope on target because it follows the sky The Celestron/ Synta CG5/EQ4 , CGE, CGEM EQ6/ Atlas, Takahashi, Vixen, Losmandy and some Meade are all great mounts with different weight loads and costs. (No I did not include Paramount or Astrophysics plus others.... They are research grade / Insanely expensive mounts and quite frankly will not be hitting your or my door step any time soon.) They will carry just so much weight so decide what scope you want, figure in astrophotography equipment, Possibly a bigger scope later. Think about all of this before plunking down the cash. The CG5 can handle an 11 inch SCT but not much camera stuff added. CGEM has no problem with that scope and camera gear. These mounts are very accurate after they are aligned. Think ahead to what you might like to do in the years ahead. save your money up and get a mount that will grow with you. Keep all of your scopes and then mix and match on your GEM. There you have it, a crash course on mounts. Just a few things to think about when looking for that scope of a lifetime !

Clear Skies and good seeing to all

Steve T

What to look at ?

My oh my! That's a big question. I am always looking forward to my next turn at the ocular (eyepiece). I have grand plans for the night but seldom get it done. Now for some like me it's all good. My problems is I will be gazing at say... the Swan Nebula M17 and spend hours on that thing using every filter I own, every eyepiece I have with me, and even swap in a barlow. Do not ask me why I used the barlow on a DSO (Deep Space Object)... I will then sweep the area around said wonder looking for "stuff"and after what seems like a few minutes, I look up at my watch and it reads 5:30 AM! Well crap that was fun but unproductive. Hey sometimes I am totally OK with that. I might have had a list in my head that I wanted to see that night but went up in smoke the second I see something amazing in the eyepiece.On the other hand there are those who are agenda driven folks. They make out a list using the sky software or Celestron touring feature or any of a dozen different programs out there or grab there favorite star atlas and pick a region and write down a list of objects to gander at. They set up the scope and proceed to knock them off one by one till they throw up the touchdown sign Done!!! Sure, they look at all of those bits of heaven but did they drink it in, use averted vision ( looking to the right or left of an object to see finer detail of the target), sketch it? The bottom line is did they have fun and get fulfillment from the run? If that is a Yes then there ya go, another satisfied customer!!! Most folks stand their ground somewhere in the middle. Shoot that is where I want to be. To make that happen I have learned to make a list of objects in a certain area of the sky. I use an Atlas or a chart or sometimes a application on my Computer. I still love to pour over a Map (on paper) Old school Man! I make a list of ten or so items that will be observed on that night. Some will be challenging to find some will be just show stoppers I might try to add to my Hershel list or the Hickson compact group list of objects found. As maps go, I always take my Orion Deepmap 600. It is 33" X 21". The map is easy to read and gives enough objects to look at for just about anyone. The map is also reasonably priced. As atlases go, there are many to choose from. For the beginner just starting out in the world of Astronomy I would pick the Cambridge Star Atlas 2000 field addition. You might want a more better one down the road but this one will carry you far and well. Now as for applications for the computer, Cartes Du Ciel is my pick. Number one, the program is free. It can drive most goto scopes out there via ASCOM drivers. Yeah I know... If it is free, how good could it be? Very good is the answer. The controls are pretty straight forward. I have only good things to say about it. Now, If you just have to spend money on an app. pick Starry Night Pro or Pro Plus You will not regret it. It will do just about anything you need except grill a steak for you! There are thousands of reviews on this application so you do not need another in depth one from me. Check it out. Look at all the features it has to offer you. Then, throw down the cash. It will grow with you. You might want to start astrophotography one day. In the beginning phase of all this, I would stick to the first three. All of that for under a hundred. The Cambridge star atlas field addition is a tad expensive but worth it. I know lots of folks that get the loose leaf maps version and do very well with them for way more cheaper. Now all that said, there are many choices out there and we all have our faves to be sure. Those are mine. I think they are solid and not too expensive for you as I know you are eyeballing that Ethos !!!
Clear skies and good seeing too!!!
Steve

Steve's Astro corner first light!

Welcome !!! I am glad to share my little corner of space with all that share my love for all things Astronomy

So... First a bit about my self. I have been kicking around the third planet of our solar system for almost 49 years. In that time, I have been everything from a roughneck to a logger to a construction superintendent. I have a degree in construction management. I know Wow what a diverse career path! My love of astronomy has followed me nearly all my days. I started this blog to help new comers to astronomy get more comfortable with some of the finer points of astronomy This will be a place to learn and to ask questions. There are no stupid questions. If there were I would have been declared a raving lunatic years ago. I will be posting to this blog every week with an article. In the mean time if you need an answer to question related to Astronomy you can always eMail me astrono@aol.com