[AZ-Observing] Re: Astrophotography

Jim,
I just ordered the tabletop EQ mount & EQ 1 Drive motor from Orion for just 
the same purpose. Basically its a light weight EQ Head for small refractors or 
cameras. I have a barn door mount, but frankly I'm getting tired of sitting by 
it during an exposure to turn the crank. The EQ head has a 1/4-20 bolt for 
mounting the Camera and 1/4-20 hole on the bottom of the head to mount to a 
tripod. The head & Motor cost $49.95 each, A bit pricey for some but I'm 
willing 
to pay for the convenience. Factor in that I drive a dob (albeit on an eq 
platform, but I really don't want to mess with trying to piggy back on my main 
piece of glass. Driven or not I don't think dobs are the best platform for 
piggybacking. If you have an equatorially mounted scope like an SCT, I think 
Al's 
suggestion would be a better (and cheaper) solution.

Clear Skies
Rick Tejera
Editor SACnews
Saguaro Astronomy Club
Phoenix, Arizona
SaguaroAstro@xxxxxxx
www.saguaroastro.org

In a message dated 8/26/2004 05:50:40 US Mountain Standard Time, amst@xxxxxxx 
writes:
Barn Door will work, also if you have a motorized mount on your scope, most 
can be fitted with an adapter to allow piggybacking on your scope using the 1/4 
20 thread hole in the base of your camera.
I personally use piggybacking on my 8" SCT. 
The practical limit is star trailing and noise from the camera. This is a 
function of the time and the magnification of the lens. With a digitial camera 
you have the ablity to stack several images to improve S/N ratio and avoid 
trailing. 


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