Piggy Back Mounts

[jr_simpson (Australia)]

Hi All,

I've been searching for some tips regarding adding a piggy back mount to my Telescope for my DSLR. I've got a Celestron Nexstar 130SLT. I know Celestron has them for their SE series scopes, but damned if I can find one for the SLT. Has anyone got any tips, or know if its possible to make one ?

Thanks in advance,

Jason

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

You can make a piggy back mount for any telescope. The problem is that your scope has an ALT AZ mount. People do use alt az mounts for photography but they are not ideal. You have to do many short exposures, rotate and align the images then stack. You can't optimize the exposure length to the camera noise level or sky brightness.

The best place to put the mount is around the middle of the tube and on the ALT or AZ axis. This position puts minimum torque load on the motor drives and minimizes the need to add counterweights but the eyepiece & finder position makes this difficult.

If you put the piggyback near the top of the tube, you'll need to put another 1+kg of counterweight at the other end of the tube. Even if you do this, you are greatly loading the drives putting two relatively big weights at each end of the tube.

Joe

[jr_simpson (Australia)]

Thanks Jo,

I was well aware of the weight restrictions and the ALT/AZ issues. I've decided to make a bridle using an old Tripod mount and some cable ties, so it is not permanent to try it out.

Jason