New to the forum and to Astronomy in general.
After doing a large chunk of research as well as speaking with someone at my local telescope shop I am now the proud owner of a new SW 6" mak mated to a SW EQ5 GOTO mount. I forsee its main uses as:
- Planetary observation.
- Some DSO (narrow AFOV may hinder this for some widely spaced objects but meh I'll live).
- Astrophotography of anything I can focus on from the first two points
I've read the scope instructions as well as a few beginner articles (including one here regarding GEM setup which taught me more than all the manuals which came with my scope!) but I still have a few questions I'm hoping someone can help me with.
- The OTA has what I take to be a long mount plate on the bottom running most of its length. This appears to be permanently fixed. I'm assuming this is meant to go straight into the EQ5 head bracket and I can ditch (err..., 'store') the short plate that came with this setup? IIRC the short plate was packaged with the EQ5 rather than the OTA.
- My OTA is secured to its mount by one (
) screw knob. The second smaller screw doesn't actually make contact with the plate. Is this a secure configuration? It appears to be OK so far but I'm reluctant to trust the safety of what for me was a rather expensive OTA, to a single bolt. Especially if I'm moving it about for short distances at the observation site.
- Once setup, can I leave my scope assembled and only pull it down for transport? So far I'm using it on a balcony, removing the OTA and brining the whole lot in at the end of each evening. I'd much rather leave the whole thing setup and move it inside as a unit however I'm not sure if this is prudent given point 2 above.
- Not yet being familiar with GEM, are they meant to have limited azimuth movement? I assumed the whole unit would rotate horizontally through 360degrees however it does not. I have an inkling this may be something to do with alignment as part of setup and that a full range of moment is acheived via the two most obvious axis' of rotation on the head? Not sure if I'm being clear enough with this question...
- What sort of base inputs are people using to build rugged transportation cases for their SCT/MCT's, mounts and tripods? I am motorbike mobile but alas no car. I'm thinking of doing up my own secure luggage to fit my astro kit similar to normal panniers/top boxes. GIVI luggage may also be an option, at least for the OTA, head and accessories.
Thanks in advance for any help!