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Greyhaven
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 05/11/04
Loc: Greater downtown Maine
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Might as well make a fool of myself here
#5376302 - 08/19/12 05:17 PM
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7 Years ago I purchased a Star hoc 90mnm-F11 on a GEM mount w/ single drive motor. The motor has directional control and single,2x and4x speed control. The gist of the story is I've been too lazy to use it properly I tend to use it as an alt as scope for grab and go and used it as such for the transit of Venus this June and i was really pleased with the few AP I got. The scope preforms well optically . I'm concerned with its quality. I know that the scope is a GSO
the drive motor has no markings but the hand control is numbered GS280 so I assume GSO also. I also know that mounts are rated 1,2 3 3a,.... Can anyone tell by the Photos which GEM style this seems to fall into
I've taken some shots of the mounts components.
and
and yes my son's dog ate the mounting ear off the metal housing of the drive motor
rear connections to drive motor
hand control
The scope completely assembled and balanced in alt & az as far as I can tell clutches loose and scope stays in any position I place it.
and
Power supply
counter balance weight
I would appreciate knowing if this set up would handle short exposure AP < 30 seconds if I can get a good polar alignment it is equipped with a polar alignment scope.
I may have been under estimating the abilities of this scope in favor of my 5i and Hardin DSH 12. I only paid $254.00 for the scope w/ mount, 6x30 finder, drive motor assembly and 3 eyepieces so I figure it's a keeper.
Edited by Greyhaven (08/19/12 07:51 PM)
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rmollise
Postmaster
Reged: 07/06/07
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Re: Might as well make a fool of myself here
[Re: Greyhaven]
#5376309 - 08/19/12 05:26 PM
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Yes, if you keep it well balanced, are careful with polar alignment, and keep the focal length reasonably short.
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Falcon-
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/11/09
Loc: Gambier Island, BC, Canada
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Re: Might as well make a fool of myself here
[Re: Greyhaven]
#5376336 - 08/19/12 05:37 PM
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Quote:
I also know that mounts are rated 1,2 3 3a,.... Can anyone tell by the Photos which GEM style this seems to fall into
Well if by "rated" you are talking about some of the common designs then I can tell you that this is not an EQ-1 nor an EQ-2. Beyond that I can not narrow it down too much other then to say it is also not an EQ-5 - perhaps the experts here can chime in on that....
Quote:
I would appreciate knowing if this set up would handle short exposure AP < 30 seconds if I can get a good polar alignment it is equipped with a polar alignment scope.
This will depend entirely on the focal length used. I can tell you that with poor polar alignments and a very much beat-up old EQ-2 I was able to get reasonable results at very-wide FOV imaging using camera lenses. I would be very surprised if your mount does not perform better then my old EQ-2. 
I highly recommend that you do use the mount as a tracking platform to do wide-field AP. Lots of nice big targets out there to be imaged that way!
As for imaging through the scope - hard to say given I do not have any experience with that mount type. I would *guess* that given a good polar alignment you should be able to do at least short (30s) exposures though. 
Have fun with it!
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Midnight Dan
Postmaster
Reged: 01/23/08
Loc: Hilton, NY, Yellow Zone (Bortl...
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Re: Might as well make a fool of myself here
[Re: Falcon-]
#5376447 - 08/19/12 07:15 PM
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Looks to be in the vicinity of an EQ-3.
-Dan
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Greyhaven
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 05/11/04
Loc: Greater downtown Maine
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Re: Might as well make a fool of myself here
[Re: rmollise]
#5376484 - 08/19/12 07:48 PM
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A big thanks to Uncle Rod, falcon and Dan I feel better that the set up looks like it should give me usable results and is worth trying at least some AP. Wish the skies would be clear tonight  ain't gonna happen.
Be Well
Grey
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