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This is my
patio area where the family enjoy the sunshine with cool drinks.
At night the area is transformed in to an observing area. Garden furniture in place before the transformation. |
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trying to
place the EQ mount in the same place twice was a bit of hit and miss so
I did the following. "S" with the upside down V marks the spot for the short leg of EQ mount as the garden slops. |
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I found that
if I can get 2 legs in the same place twice its not too bad for polar
aligning. This spot marks the place for the west leg. |
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Because my
garden slopes I have to have the tripod legs at different lengths but
one leg is always shorter than the other two. Short leg now in place. |
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Place the
mount down on the spots marked for the tripod feet then start to
assemble the extra bits like the bar with the weights etc. EQ5 mount with the craddle opened. |
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Closer view of
craddles. |
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Bubble level to level the tripod. Only when the telescope and weights have been added do I think about leveling the whole mount. I have found that if I level the tripod before the weights and the telescope are mounted the bubble does not sit in the middle any more and stars wander. |
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Alt adjustment (black dial) and RA cog of the motor. |
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Home built
motor focuser.
I did this as I have found that manual focusing moves the telescope off
target. This idea of the elastics works but it stretches too much so I have to come up with another idea. |
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Home built finder scope of 42mm X 8. This has since been updated to a 50mm X 8 finder made from an old pair of 16 X 50mm binoculars. |
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RA
covered. This cover protects the finder scope from being moved or
accidently damaged. |
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RA un-covered
now showing the
RA, Month dial and the polar-scope. Here you can see the Polar finder scope. |
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222mm Newtonian placed in the craddles. |
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Another view of the telescope placed in the craddles. Also now on view is the Mylar solar filter. |
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A third view of the telescope but from slightly behind. |
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Here is a closer look at the mirror cell. I found I had to update the springs as they were not holding the mirror still and the weight of the mirror use to move itself from the centre of the tube. |
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Focus motor hand box. 2 buttons for winding in and out and the dial for speed adjustment. |
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EQ5's RA motor hand box for drive correcting. I have since updated this with the 2 motors, one for the RA and one for the DEC. |