Old CW4
BANNED
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
- Messages
- 870
Ordered and received an Orion-Atlas EQ-G mount and tripod. Together, this pair weighs close to 80 pounds and the tripod has two inch diameter steel legs. It is sturdy.
A computer and motors are built into the mount portion and you can hang any scope up to 40 lbs on it using a variety of mounts. Then the fun starts, hooking up a 12 volt power supply and figuring out the computer system.
There is a small 8 power scope built in to the mount with an inscribed star chart for the Big-Little Dippers and Polaris. You unscrew a bell shaped cover on the bottom and pop out a lens cover on the other side, then view through the scope and set your latitude. I ordered the additional GPS 'mouse,' a little tiny thing on a long cable which plugs into the hand controller for the mount. In about one minute or less, the controller says, 'Hey! I know where I'm at and what time it is via GPS.'
After that, you select one of several choices for the mount to precisely locate itself. I choose the three star method and it quickly goes to three different and widely spaced stars. You center each one in the scope and go on to the next. After the third, the system can 'goto' any of 40,000 objects in space, precisely center on an object and then track it for as long as you want to view or take pictures.
To me, it's a bit spooky to press the 'enter' button and then have this rather large machine almost silently turn and swivel to line up the scope. This kind of technology would have cost millions not too long ago, now it's relatively peanuts for cost.
A computer and motors are built into the mount portion and you can hang any scope up to 40 lbs on it using a variety of mounts. Then the fun starts, hooking up a 12 volt power supply and figuring out the computer system.
There is a small 8 power scope built in to the mount with an inscribed star chart for the Big-Little Dippers and Polaris. You unscrew a bell shaped cover on the bottom and pop out a lens cover on the other side, then view through the scope and set your latitude. I ordered the additional GPS 'mouse,' a little tiny thing on a long cable which plugs into the hand controller for the mount. In about one minute or less, the controller says, 'Hey! I know where I'm at and what time it is via GPS.'
After that, you select one of several choices for the mount to precisely locate itself. I choose the three star method and it quickly goes to three different and widely spaced stars. You center each one in the scope and go on to the next. After the third, the system can 'goto' any of 40,000 objects in space, precisely center on an object and then track it for as long as you want to view or take pictures.
To me, it's a bit spooky to press the 'enter' button and then have this rather large machine almost silently turn and swivel to line up the scope. This kind of technology would have cost millions not too long ago, now it's relatively peanuts for cost.