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Nice photo Tony!
Something I always pondered - is the rated carrying capacity of a mount expressed as a measure of what upper limit the OTA + counter balances included it can carry? I always presumed it was not - that it talked only about the OTA limit. So if a mount says max load is 20kg - that is talking about the OTA alone - not 10kg for the OTA and 10kg for the counter-weights, but 20Kgs for the OTA and possibly 12kg for counter weights. Is this your understanding of the convention used to classify load capability for a GEM mount - to state only the OTA in the calculation?
PS
I took have gleaned that the 11" SCT on a CG5 is a strech - probably just capable under still conditions for visual work. So my C9.25 + 80mm Megrez on a CG5 is a real strech for astro photography - even extremely well balanced, aligned, on a rock solid pier and housed in a fully protected dome astro-lab. If I wanted to spend a bit more I would have gone the EQ6 route, but I wanted the cheapest possible, barely capable goto mount as a start to learn on - call it the trial piece. Meanwhile I read alot and ask folk about the Losmandy G8, 11 and Titan, the Vixen Atlux, the Celestron CGE and the Takashi EMM 200 or NJP as a serious step up from the EQ6 - at between 2 to 5.5 times its price (for the Titan). The Losmandy's below the expensive Titan I hear from owners have real exposure to motor burnout, but beautiful gears. The Vixen is back-logged waiting for the newest version of Atlux to come out and this sensational mount might be right at the limit of its significant capability to carry a C14 + ED80 as my ultimate dream set-up. An NJP could manage all this - and look what StronManMike has achieved with his 5" APO on an NJP, the CGE is newer than the Losmandy and has far cleaner lines and more carrying head room, but its gears aren't quite the quality of the Losmandy's I'm told.
But once you're into this quite high end equipment you may as well include a Astrophysics 900 GTO or a Mountain Instruments MI 250. If I won the lottery, sure I'd get a Paramount ME and put a 20" RCOS RC on it with $50K of imaging CCDs, but that's unlikely to happen - even in my dreams!
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