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Old 02-03-2010, 06:44 PM
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pmrid (Peter)
Ageing badly.

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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Cloudy, light-polluted Bribie Is.
Posts: 3,760
A lot will depend on how high you set your tripod/pier. But assuming that your mount's base it about 900-1000 above ground/floor level, a 1700mm wall will lose you a bit of horizon. This can be good in areas with light pollution problems etc but also can be a negative in a couple of situations. You will generally want to keep as much northern and southern horizons as you can and be prepared to sacrifice east and west (missing sun/moon rise/set). I suggest you set up your scope and do a couple of simple tests:
1. try to find something worth while in the north (M31,33 for example). You don't want to lose that sort of object.
2. USe the polar scope on your mount to help with alignment.
When you have the scope lined up in 1 or 2, drop a tape measure under the front end and see where your 1700mm cutoff would be.
But a quick question? By portable, do you mean demountable or truly portable. If the latter, why not just use an observing tent? Probably cheaper, lighter, takes little time to set up and so on ...

Peter
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