Astro Tutorial #1.11: Telescope Mounts - ALT/AZ vs EQ

[@dasfreshyo]

Thank you for the great tutorial. I watched it 5x to memorize the parts, terms, functions of my mount.

[@catchingphotons]

Cool ;-) Yea memorizing the terms is quite important as it will make further pursuits much more easy! Greetings -Chris

[@Hari2897]

You are literally a gem ! Amazing content. Thank you for putting so much efforts . Greatly appreciated! ❤️

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks a lot Harikrishnan! Your encouraging comment means a lot to me! Clear skies!

[@Hari2897]

@@catchingphotons Started watching your channel with this video. Got hooked ! Past two days I have been watching this series and just completed. Can't express how grateful I'm to you for providing such amazing quality content with very simple explanations. Keep on making these videos! You deserve a lot! Love from an new amateur astronomer.

[@ElGrecoDaGeek]

You can mount most alt az on a wedge and get the best of both worlds minus a need to balance with counterweights. CPC Deluxe 1100 is a great example of a very effective setup. After years on a Newtonian GEM an AltAz+wedge made viewing with small children (no wedge) and AP (wedge) easy with a single scope.

[@catchingphotons]

Yea ElGreco that' true! My next planetary scope/mount will be on a wedge I think... See Chucks astro-photography channel for his images through a scope on a mount. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpeqoYSVfdhpfNU Keep in mind, that wedges compensate for field rotations... so for short planetary sessions (no animation over hours) you will be fine with a ALT/AZ. Greeetings Chris

[@paydenmacdougall2977]

I was trying to find a good explanation online and everyone was just super technical and as a beginner, I did not totally understand so I decided to search for an answer on youtube and this was the first one that came up. I want to say thanks for giving such a detailed but simple explanation that was easy to understand. Very much appreciated.

[@catchingphotons]

Thank you very much for the encouraging comment! Your words are very much appreciated!! Clear skies to you! -Chris

[@melindamercier6811]

Thank you. I couldn’t find a simple explanation of EQ mounts that I could understand. Appreciate your work!

[@catchingphotons]

You are very welcome!!

[@rbondi]

Super super clear, great explanation. Thank you!!

[@catchingphotons]

You are very welcome! Cheers!

[@tredi2]

I got EQ6 mount recently, this was extremely simple explanation of eq mounts, thanks!

[@catchingphotons]

I have the EQ6-R Pro and it's an amazing mount once you figure out how to use it ;-) Greeting and clear skies!!

[@Sun_Tzu10]

The video was really great ,it gave me clear picture of the different mounts

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks for the comment! Glad you liked it. Clear skies!

[@abdulbasit6718]

Excellent tutorial. Many thanks

[@catchingphotons]

You are very welcome Abdul! Thanks for your kind words. Cheers and clear skies!

[@LA6507a]

WOW! THANK YOU!! I'm new to astronomy and wish I found your channel prior to purchasing my Celestron 127 SLT. I'll make the best of it and I'm already thinking about how to properly purchase a future scope. Thanks again for the great tutorial!!!

[@catchingphotons]

You are very welcome OP 507A! Greetings Chris

[@stevegillman1999]

Hi Chris, Arrived here via your link on Astroshed. Simple and clear explanation. Excellent video Well done. Steve

[@catchingphotons]

Hey Steve, thank you for your encouraging comment! It's quite a fun to create those videos, I like it a lot. Greetings Chris

[@rsubbarayabhat1663]

Simple and good teaching. 🎉

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks so much!!

[@eloniewordan8890]

Omg this video makes me understand! All other ones I was confused

[@catchingphotons]

That's great Elaine! Glad the video was of any help ;-) clear skies!!

[@tamurhaq]

Excellent visual presentation and great advice. Good work!

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks a lot! Glad you liked the video presentation. Clear skies!

[@SleepySteve79]

Why did I only just now find your channel. This video was very good, last week I ordered by first telescope -same as you demonstrated the newtonian, and after checking the product page again it says max 5kg and the scope is 5.5kg. They come together but I have doubts I ordered the right thing after watching your video. It's a Skywatcher Telescoop N 150/750 Explorer 150P on a Skywatcher EQ3-2 mount.

[@catchingphotons]

Hey Zazzarama, This combination is a quite common one in astronomy shops. And to be fair it's reasonable combination for visual beginner astronomy. Width 150 mm aperture you can see the brightest deep sky objects like the Andromeda Galaxy and the Orion nebula and width 750mm focal length you can also spot planets quite easily. This is why I love that combination of aperture and focal length. As I see the EQ 3-2 is the UN motorised version of the EQ3-Pro. The letter would be my advice because actually the EQ3 is a very solid mount. Astronomy the weight limit is reasonable enough to secure somewhat stable observation conditions. For astrophotography though I found that you at least should divide the weight limit by two. Your scope would be too heavy than. I made that experience using the same scope as you do and the EQ 3-pro in combination. It was just too much. But for visual astronomy and imaging the planets using a celestron smartphone adaptor through the eyepiece of your telescope eq3 will do a great job. I assume you can even buy the upgrade motors to make it a full goto motorised mount, but I would have to check on that. Can you put simply add a second scope in the years to come, a small refractor for that reason and the EQ3, with abilities to connect the motorised components while EQASCOM to your computer we'll do a great shop and keep you busy for the years to come. So yes for photography there might be upgrades necessary but for visual astronomy and for imaging the planets it's a good starting point. Cheers and clear skies!

[@SleepySteve79]

​@@catchingphotons Yea this is good to know for me, I did not know that and assumed the weight and weight limit would be fine. Gonna start with just looking and see what I want to do next. Going to follow your channel for more tips and tricks, thank you.

[@jacobhiller9183]

Channels like this are rare. Subbed 👍

[@catchingphotons]

Cool 8-)

[@regezas]

this is such a good tutorial, literally learning what mount to get.

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks for your encouraging words! Glad the video was of any help! Clear skies!

[@SuperBuickregal]

Thanks again Chris for the video. ✨☕️

[@catchingphotons]

You are welcome! Thanks for sticking around here!

[@jorymil]

When I was learning about spherical coordinates, I wish I would have known about telescopes: alt = theta, az = phi, focus = r. Now that I teach it, I'm going to start using a camera with zoom lens and tripod so it's immediately visible.

[@catchingphotons]

Great idea!! Teaching is also the best way of learning (says me as a teacher) 😄 cheers!

[@asgio27]

Excellent presentation.

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks a lot Anthony!! Glad you liked it!

[@charimuvilla8693]

Random fact of the day. It's not precisely one full rotation every 24 hours. That's a solar day, not the same as a sidereal day because the earth is also moving around the sun. The mount will actually make a full rotation every 23h 56m. Thought this would be interesting to mention.

[@catchingphotons]

true story, thanks for the info! Greetings - Chris

[@adampisula6432]

If I were to make a super-precise mount, would it make any difference if I made it rotate precisely every 24 hours or should I set it to full rotation every 23h 56min? Asking just out of curiosity :)

[@charimuvilla8693]

@@adampisula6432 Did some questionable math and figured out a mount that rotates every 24 hours would drift 0.0007 degrees every minute. Which is 0.21 degrees in 5 hours if you are shooting multiple exposures to stack or if you are just visiting multiple objects. This is a pretty significant error, like half a moon.

[@heroes559]

This is a very useful and good video, thank you!

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks a lot! Your comment means a lot to me. Clear skies!!

[@tantotonto]

EQ mount - at last it dawns! Thanks

[@catchingphotons]

If I get this comment correctly: sry for my accent, English is not my native language. Cheers 🥂

[@hoaithanhnguyen7178]

hi Chris, thank you so much for tutorial. my problem is, i live near equator, polaris atitude around 10 deg, looking polaris is impossible. i have trouble for polar alignment, i am still learning. Is the HEQ5 mount can be used in my location, please advise me, my scope and gear total around 5kg only. thank you in advance.

[@catchingphotons]

Hey! The HEQ5 should be usable from your location as the altitude scala goes from 0-90 in the images I stumbled across. If you have no sight to Polaris: Set the altitude to you current location as a first approximation. Than you can use either the SyncScan polar alignment methode where you point at 3 stars and than the scope will center one star and then drift off by a margin telling you to recenter the star with alt/az to perfect polar alignment www.cloudynights.com/topic/670096-skywatcher-synscan-pro-app-polar-alignment/ Or you can use: Software like phd2 using the "drift alignment tool" to exploit the drifting of the stars due to imperfect alignment to figure out your current alignment status. openphdguiding.org/man-dev/Tutorials.htm Clear skies!!

[@hoaithanhnguyen7178]

Hi Chris. Thank you very much for advice. Clear skies.

[@jimlahey5354]

Good explanation and excellent video.

[@catchingphotons]

Thank you very much! It was a lot of fun creating it. Next video about "Seeing" is in the pipe - stay tuned! Greetings Chris

[@SpaceFactsWax]

Thanks for sharing. I had the chance to view a rocket launch in 2018. Amazing experience. I shared a pretty fun montage of the trip to my channel.

[@catchingphotons]

Sounds great! Clear skies :-)

[@luigicastagnola7760]

Excellent channel, excellent explanation, you get a new subscriber 😊 I'm thinking on getting a new scope, I'm interested on a 200/1000 newtonian and the Heq5 go to mount... Do you think that could be enough to do some observation and astrophotography? Not very long exposures, just 30 or 40 seconds

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks!! 1000mm focal length is considered long. The HEQ5 will get to it's limits but 30-40 seconds will be doable especially including auto-guiding to the system. 200 mm aperture will collect a lot of photons for you in that timespan. Add a 2x-3x Barlow to the system to gain access to planetary imaging! What will be your main imaging camera? Clear skies!

[@catchingphotons]

But if you are just starting out: maybe consider a smaller scope for convenience? Shorter focal length = wider field of view and thus more objects will fit. Shorter focal length = less accurate tracking needed.... Maybe go for a Redcat (equivalent) plus DSLR but still choose the HEQ5 for further upgrades? Clear skies!

[@keeplookingup911]

Very well explained 👍

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks for your encouraging words!

[@sunetaragriculture4537]

Best explained 🎉🎉🎉

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks so much!!

[@happykittenmeow]

This was very helpful, thank you ☺️

[@catchingphotons]

You are very welcome! Thanks for commenting! Clear skies

[@texdoms]

Thanks for this great video. I just got myself a Celestron Nexstar 8SE. It is a fantastic telescope. It can track stars but watching your video I realized that it doesn’t compensate for the rotation itself though. I mean, tracking is great but you also have to spin on yourself in order to have the object you’re observing stay completely still.

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks for the comment Dominique. The thoughts about the ALT/AZ mount is correct. You can add a fork though to compensate for the rotation. Then tracking will be fine. Clear skies!

[@TheSpacePlaceYT]

Is RA axis Rotational Axis? Although I already know all of this, I showed my friend and they loved it!

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks Josh :-) Yea, RA is what I called "rotational axis". Greetings and clear skies! Chris

[@TheSpacePlaceYT]

@@catchingphotons I just subbed! Thanks. Josh.

[@adampisula6432]

Shouldn't it be rectascension?

[@catchingphotons]

@@adampisula6432 To my understanding RA means " right ascension". In German it is called "Rektaszension". Clear skies!

[@adampisula6432]

@@catchingphotons Oh, yes, you're right; in Polish it sounds very similar to German, that's why I got them wrong :) Cheers!

[@zoomcomir]

Awesome video! Can you recommend a specific Alt/Az mount that it light (for travel) and works with a Celestron C5 (about 3kg) to use primarily for nature and moon observation? Would appreciate your feedback!

[@catchingphotons]

Sry, I don't have much experience in alt/az traveler mounts. Look for something light but rigid enough. If it's too shaky it'll ruin your observation.... Skywatcher mount AZ-4 + Aluminium tripod? Something around 250 bucks online... 🤷 Cheers and clear skies!!

[@eren_guneri]

Helpful video, thanks.

[@catchingphotons]

You are very welcome! Thanks for your comment, SelfishThunder3!

[@RobBob555]

excellent video

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks a lot!!

[@MansHobbsInterests]

Excellent tutorial 👌

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks, mate!

[@toraparatodos]

Great video. THANKS.

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks a lot! Clear skies to you!

[@toraparatodos]

@@catchingphotons i have a entry level celestron and unfortunately broke the mount. Now with Covid and the kids at home it is a wonderful time to get them into stargazing. Your video helped me make a good choice for a new mount. Thank you.

[@catchingphotons]

@@toraparatodos Glad, the video was of any help! It's so cool to get the feet wet and go out to stargaze... Enjoy! Greetings!

[@vnarayan18]

I wish to have a tracking mount for my newtonian :( simply too expensive

[@catchingphotons]

You are right AlfaCentauri - modern mounts tend to be quite expensive. But keep in mind: they are the foundation for any further progress within astro. I started with a Skywatcher EQ3-Pro. It is one of the "cheaper" mounts and fully computer compatible (EQdirect cable). Liked it a lot. Clear skies!

[@vnarayan18]

@@catchingphotons anyways, my dad allowed me to get an RC 8” GoTo scope by GSO. Thanks 🙏

[@giannistatis8626]

I'm having a problem on the simple alt azimuth mount. When I turn it unscrews it'self and making very unstable

[@catchingphotons]

Oh no! Are there "hold brackets" on your mount that you can loosen for more easy mount movement?

[@Rainy78]

Is that the Skywatcher EQM-35 with Quattro 130pds? I just bought the same setup, literally! Am I in for trouble? Nothing but problems? I was afraid I should get a mount with heavier payload capacity.

[@catchingphotons]

Hey man! How did your setup play out until now? I would like to hear some details! Cheers!

[@astrotan]

What about the nexstar 4se/5se with a computerized alt az tracking capability and the built in eq wedge? Will it be able to track somewhat decent like an equatorial?

[@catchingphotons]

It's not the same, no. The wedge will compensate for rotational errors, but as far as I understand it, the polar alignment needed for this is extra painful with a wedge attached. www.cloudynights.com/topic/680807-maximum-tracking-time-with-nexstar-on-4se-wedge-tripod/ The guy from this post pulled 90' with his tele-lens. Well done! -Chris

[@arbiankarim3194]

Amazing explanation :O Thought of buying the celestron 70 AZ for my first telescope, do you think its good?

[@catchingphotons]

What do you wanna see in the night sky? That is the most important question! With the 70AZ there will be some moon-views and maybe some planet sights possible. For everything else the scope is too slow. I can't say if the ALZ/AZ mount can handle the scope well enough. I for myself would get me something like the Skywatcher 150 Dobson or something. It is easy to use and has a bigger aperture. Will do a video about the decision of the first scope ;-) Greetings and clear skies! Chris

[@SB_0017]

Do all mounts fit all telescopes? I have a Celestron PS1000 that came with an equatorial mount that recently broke.

[@catchingphotons]

Yes, the mount and the OTA are interchangeable (not so much the mount and the tripod). The Scope (OTA) will have some sort of mounting plate (there are two main types) and these fit onto the mount. The more interesting question: Can your new mount handle the scope? 1000mm FL is quite long. If you want to do DeepSky photography you'll need a sturdy mount. With the ~8kg you should at least aim for a Skywatcher EQ5 or similar. Clear skies!!

[@s3k1m]

How about the ballhead mount? Is it considered an alt-az?

[@catchingphotons]

Ball mounts are considered to be alt/az mounts as you can go "up-down-left-right". But better than that: you can put ball mounts on top of a RA axis and get an easy to use EQ mount for your camera 📷 Cheers! Chris

[@arindampramanik209]

IS EQ3 good for carrying Explore Scientific 130/600 scope with a canon 60D dslr ?

[@catchingphotons]

So that depends on what you wanna do with it. The tube weight is around 3-4kg witch is ok for the (Skywatcher) EQ3 and you can definitely do visual astronomy with that BUT if you wanna do long exposure deep sky astro imaging than I personally (!) think that the scope is "too big" for the mount. The weight limit is not the only thing that concerns me but also the focal length. Longer focal length means greater need for precision. I got images with my 750mm FL and the EQ3-Pro but: it was a pain! Clear skies!

[@pritamsaikia288]

I have a German equatorial mount....I find it difficult to track deep sky objects......after getting the mount polar aligned we fix the azimuth and the altitude .....now to track the celestial bodies we need to make changes in terms of right ascension and declination......but in most of the apps I found ....they have fixed RA and declination .....and are showing changes in coordinates in terms s of azimuth and altitude ....how can I use that data ....can u please guide me?

[@catchingphotons]

Hey dude! Maybe my video about coordinate systems of the night sky might help? kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKLKaJWrl7WFbNU In short: RA/DEC are fixed for every star. So what changes are the ALZ/AZ coordinates because they are relative to you. Using a German Equatorial Mount is pretty straight forward: You perfectly (!) align the RA Axis with the ALT/AZ bolts (at the bottom) to point at the Northern/southern celestial pole. Than slew to your object. From this point you only (!) need to slowly turn the RA axis in order to follow the skies motion. No changes in DEC should be needed if the initial polar alignment was ok. Greetings and clear skies! Chris

[@ridleyroid9060]

You say that alt az mounts are easy to use yet I can't make any adjustmenets in mine. It just simply doesn't turn well when released and then doesn't lock in place when tightened, I can't view much if anything with it!

[@catchingphotons]

Well, that is quite unfortunate... What mount do you own?

[@ridleyroid9060]

@@catchingphotons An alt az mount I got with my refractor telescope. I am not sure if it has a manufacturer all on its own, it came with the telescope itself. My biggest issue is that I cant make small adjustments at all, If a planet is just slightly on the top of my lens, or on the bottom of my lens, and I want to bring it slightly down or slightly up, I would nudge the telescope, but instead of moving the distance, it will kinda whiplash defiantly. It is likely Im doing something wrong, but it has been difficult to figure out.

[@catchingphotons]

@@ridleyroid9060 maybe you can send me a picture of your telescope via Twitter or Instagram? I'll have a look. Clear skies!

[@kavi410]

Super thanks ❤️

[@catchingphotons]

You are very welcome Kavee!

[@kavi410]

catchingphotons I need some help with the mount I am new here..

[@catchingphotons]

@@kavi410 What mount do you need? What astro stuff do you want to do? Clear skies!

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

I like catching protons

[@catchingphotons]

I like encouraging comments :-)

[@AstroRoxy]

Awesome

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks Astro Roxy!

[@Mallu_Astro]

Is that same for planets

[@catchingphotons]

Unfortunately I don't understand your question. If you frame it differently, I'm happy to answer it 😊 Cheers! Chris

[@BennyKleykens]

EQ mounts are just so darned expensive .... and you need at least an EQ4 mount for just about anything above 'beginner' level.

[@catchingphotons]

Fundamentally true, yes. On the other hand: If you use a SW EQ3-Pro you can easily put a small refractor on top. I used my 750mm Newtonian with the EQ3-Pro but that little thing was heavily overwhelmed with that bazooka ;-) But the lighter refractors would work just fine and you can get amazing images from say a redcat 400mm quadruplet. See Trevor Jones of AstroBackyard. He produces beautiful images with the small refractors. Pro: Guiding doesn't need to be spot on, alignment is not that important (though should be good)... But in general: Yes, astro can be quite expensive. Clear skies! Chris

[@BennyKleykens]

@@catchingphotons Thank you for your series. It's truly the best beginner course I've seen.

[@catchingphotons]

@@BennyKleykens Thanks Benny! I really appreciate your encouraging comment! Clear skies!

[@gloubiboulgazeblob]

Once again, and like in all other videos I've seen on the net : the graduations of the main axis are HOUR ANGLE, NOT RIGHT ASCENSION ! Think about it a second : what would it mean if you fix the circle of your so called RA graduations ? It's simple : you've stopped the Earth's rotation ! All amateur astronomers are wrong when they speak about RA graduations, and this is because they forget something very important : their local sideral time. RA (Right Ascension, HA (Hour Angle) and LST (your local sideral time) are part of one very simple equation : HA = LST - RA When your telescope is parked (telescope pointing due north, counterweight down), hour angle should show 6H. When your telescope points a star at the meridian (due south), hour angle is OH (telescope is east of your mount) or 12H (telescope is west of you mount) and your LST is equal to the right ascension of the star : HA = LST - RA 0 = LST - RA LST = RA If you look for a celestial object, or you need your LST or simply use an application like Stellarium which gives you the correct hour angle of all objects at any time (if your latitude/longitude parameters are correct of course). Bear in mind that there's always 2 ways to point at a star with a telescope, like said M. Small Optics, chose one that put the counterweights below the telescope. If you're looking for an object that is in the east part of you sky, its hour angle will be between 12H and 24H : subtract 12h to the hour angle given by Stellarium, use that value on your graduations and then move the telescope in declination to reach the east part of your sky. If you're looking for an object that is in the west part of your sky (its hour angle is between 0H and 12H) , use directly the hour angle value given by Stellarium and then move the telescope in declination to reach the west part of the sky. That being said, the smartest ones will understand that a polar scope is theorically not needed : you can use your telescope directly knowing the polaris hour angle... Clear skies !

[@catchingphotons]

Thanks for your detailed comment! I still have to think about the last sentence and may one day do a "fine tuning" video about the celestial/ star coordinates. Clear skies! -Chris

[@gloubiboulgazeblob]

@@catchingphotons Concerning polar alignment, hour angle won't be of much help if you want a fine tuning : you have to know classic methods like Bigourdan's method or King's method. King's method is the fastest but assumes the rate of your hour axis motor (the main one of course, wrongly called "RA axis") has to be quite accurate.

[@johnparr5879]

Quility.. Presentation.

[@catchingphotons]

?

[@stevenj4556]

Germany is an awesome country

[@catchingphotons]

Greetings! Thanks for stopping by trough.

[@revision19]

i want to follow you on twitter , your Twitter handle plz

[@catchingphotons]

Catchingphoton1, it's linked in my channel description. Feel free to contact me via Twitter or on Instagram. Clear skies!