GEM question

[anthonyrobida]

I recently purchased a German Equatorial mount (and it has started raining ever since) as I used a fork mount before.

Wondering if I can leave the scope sitting in the saddle all the time or need to remove if after I am finished observing? Thought it would stress the mechanism with the counter weight attached.

However I see photos of home observatories with the scope and counter weights on.

Thanks

[Startrek]

If the mount is parked in the home position ( pointing south with counterweight bar running down in front of the front tripod leg) and the payload ( telescope) is within the maximum payload rating of the mount , then generally should be fine to leave the scope on the mount.

What brand / model of mount ?
What brand / model / type of scope ?

[astro744]

If you do take the OTA off then also remove the counterweights afterward otherwise there will be significant imbalance. Whether this stresses the mount or not may be up to the design of the individual mount. I always remove the counterweights from my GM8 after removing the OTA. When putting the OTA back I put the counterweights on first with the counterweight shaft pointing down.

[AdamJL]

Further to the above, whatever configuration you leave it in (GEMs can be left with their park position horizontal as well), just make sure it's balanced. If it's horizontal, and you usually run East heavy during your sessions, fix that when you park it.
If it's vertical, yes you can leave it all setup as it is. Just don't leave one side loaded and not the other regardless of the orientation.

[anthonyrobida]

The scope is a Celestron C11 and the mount is Celestron CGX.
I remove the finderscope/eyepiece from the OTA.

[astro744]

I only remove mine because it is a portable setup. I think having telescope and counterweights in place in the parked position, (counterweights down and OTA top pointing to SCP) is fine. If you remove the OTA but not the counterweights the there may be stress but whether it is a problem may depend on the mount.

I don’t think there are too many permanent observatory users (especially photographers) removing their OTA and weights from the tube at the end of each session and if I had an observatory I’d be leaving it in place too.