I'm thinking of getting a new mount for my lil scope. Does anyone have any ideas what would work well with the astromaster 130, or if it's even possible to put it on a different mount.
You can start by telling us what you feel is wrong or inadequate with the current mount, then tell us what you hope to achieve with the new mount. Also put some budgetary ideas so us to frame a response.
ahh cool sorry, i should have been a tad clearer.
The original mount for the astromaster, a german equitorial mount has grown very wobbly over the year or so i've had it. The bolts that seem to hold it together have all grown very weak, the plastic worn around them, so there is no way to tighten them. Not only that, where it connects to one of the legs has become loose so that the entire tripod is completley on an angle, and has cracks in places.
I'm extremely dissapointed with the mount for this scope. The rest of it seems pretty good for a beginner.
To be honest i have no idea what would be best. I haven't bothered with polar aligning my mount yet, as i've been more interested in learning what things are in the nights sky first, but wouldn't mind learning how do do it if the new mount called for it. I haven't got a budget at this stage either.
Like i said guys, i really don't know much at this stage, so any input would be greatly appreciated.
what are you looking to do? visual or photography? if its visual, you can knock yourself a dob mount for simple alt az movement, very steady and realiable. if you wanna do photography, go for a HEQ5 mount steady and smooth tracking ability, and if you wanna upgrade to a larger scope (like a 8" newt or something) it would hold the scope and a guide scope with out buying EQ6 or G11 or something..
Thanx tony, i'l take a look at those.
I'm just starting to do some photography, but lots of visual too as i'm still learning. I can feel the bug biting though, so i've got a feeling i'l be doing more and more photography as i get a bit better.
woah, i've just looked at some mounts. Didn't realise they were quite that pricey. Would i be better off getting a whole new scope? everywhere i read says the dobs are the best, are they still ok if i want to do some astrophotography, I've only really just started so maybe i can just get a better scope and save for the mount for later.
motorised dobs are okay for visual but your gonna get field rotation if you wanna do long exposure photography cos its an alt az motion, on your previous question, if you buy the right dovetail, i think all scopes can... but i just own the heq5 and ed80 so i dont really know. if you buy a 10" solid tude dob, you can mount it on a heavy duty mount like a EQ6 or G11 for photography. but most newts needs the primary mirror moved up to reach focus with a dslr
