Telescope mount

my son bought me a mirror telescope. Can someone tell me the types of mounts that I would need to be able to follow say the moon?

It was from jessops shop and the mount with it is too wobbly.

Brian

Google "Stargazers Lounge", which is great site for amateur Astronomers; you will find a lot of good information about equipment there and advice from experienced observers.

Have a look at stubmandrel Neil gives a lot of advice about mounts and telescopes.

http://www.stubmandrel.co.uk/

Hello Bri,

Are you thinking of photography, or just visual use? Also, how big is your scope?

Neil

Hi Niel

It's about 100 x 800 in length. I set it up and we had a good session looking at the moon the grand kids thought it was fantastic. Trouble was if they kicked the legs it moved. I have some decking with four inch posts sound so I thought I could make a mount and fit it to the posts. Nice and strong like. I would like make the mount so that I can follow the moons arc with out it shaking all over the place. Any help and guidance would be appreciated.

The scope is in Wales at our cottage so I can not give specific details of it. I will check it all next weekend.

Brian

I did a lot of celestial navigation in the 70s 80s before sat navs took over and the worst body to track with a sextant was the moon because it goes like a Ferrari compared to anything else

It might be easier to start with a slower celestial body until you get some practice at it and get any niggly bits sorted out

Hi Brian,

The page Micky T. was thinking about is probably THIS ONE.

An EQ3 tripod with an RA motor is the traditional way to do what you want.

For a modest scope you could use a supa track mount at about £179, but for £209 you can get the goto version which will help you find all sorts of things and is even good for basic astrophotography of 30 seconds to a minute with a scope.

The advice to visit 'stargazer's lounge' is good but don't abandon us!

Neil

Thank you. That's fine. Where we are in Wales it pretty dark compared with West Yorkshire so we can see a lot more. I will investigate the options and see how I get on.

Brian

You pays your money......

A good scope on a poor mount will show little.
Conversely, a poor scope on a good mount will show a lot more.

Lots of scope dealers around the country with similar prices.
Will you need a larger mount in the future?

Try your local astronomical society, they will point you in the right direction and maybe have a used mount for sale as members improve their equipment constantly.

I'm currently helping restore an AE 15" fork mount, formerly used at Sheffield uni, it weighs best part of 250kg complete

In my (limited) experience the TRIPOD is more important than the MOUNT.