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Old 07-07-2008, 05:50 AM
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gaa_ian (Ian)
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Cairns Qld
Posts: 2,405
Pier In Use again - Thanks Beren !

Our Club (GAA) had some years ago gone to a lot of effort to install a very solid pier mount to try and get some use out of our 150mm Longtube refractor.
In spite of this it never really worked well on a EQ5 mount, the eyepiece ended up in a ridiculous position at times.
Beside that it never tracked well, which I believe was to do with the excesssive weight on the EQ5 drive clutches.

Enter Beren to the rescue
Beren has very kindly donated a 120mm Skywatcher Short tube refractor to our club.
I had this set up and tracking for the first time last night.
It worked an Absolute treat
I could walk away from the scope for 10 to 15 minutes and it would still be tracking Eta Carina, Southern Pleaides etc, in spite of my rudimentary attempt at polar alignment.
As a wide field scope for bright objects this scope will be Ideal for Public Viewing nights.
We don't really have a shortage of scopes in the club, what we lack is sufficiently skilled people to man the scopes and find stuff for people.
This scope will go a long way towards fixing that AND open up the possibility for some of our members to get started in Astrophotography
Thanks Again Beren
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