The mount configuration that we are going to talk about today is for those who have a manual altazimuth mount. This is a bit similar to the configuration in our previous post ( SLT130 + Astroid) but this time without motors, fully manual.
Configuration of the day
The manual mount that we are going to use today is Noh's Mount. This masterpiece mount was all hand-made by South Korean Steel master Mr. Norh. Its state-of-the-art internal structure makes a very smooth movement as well as lets the users move the telescope in 0.1 degrees accuracy level without extra worm gears and much effort. He only makes few mounts per year but we were lucky to get one this time.
Today's setup is pretty similar to the previous one. The same mirror telescope and A7s were used for the visualization of the main lens lighting. The phone will display Astroid's web interface and the battery is mounted on the center and right. The center located phone clip is actually quite convenient considering it will make your both hands free. Last time with SLT130, I have to hold the phone and the mount controller on both hands which makes quite many miss clicks.
Experiment
After 3D printing a couple of parts, I take it out for the first lighting. The following video shows my trial to find NGC6530.
In short, it took me about 2 minutes to put the target object within the main lens view. The final error was 0.3 degree but I have to stop because reducing this error further wasn't easy in the first trial. It was only later that I learned that I have to adjust the knob for the fine movement. But still, first time use and 2 minutes to the object is not a bad record at all.
Take Away
It was another pleasant finding that Astroid and manual altazimuth mount goes along pretty well. Compared to the motorized mount, putting the object within 1 degree was quite prompt as both axis is free. But the fine-tuning was easier on the motorized mount side. Anyway 0.1 degrees level was quite meaningless in this case as the target was already in the view when it was in the 1.0 degrees level and it was getting way from the view quickly. That's the fate of all manual mounts.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this configuration to the Astroid users and the good news is that you will see the Astroid kit for Noh's mount soon.
Comentarios