I'm thinking of purchasing either a Celestron 9.25 or the 11 inch Celestron OTA and mounting it on my CG5 equatorial mount. The equatorial mount will be fixed on a very study, heavy duty pedestal. Will the CG5 support either of these OTAs satisfactorly?
Mounting Question
Started by scopeking, 11/22/2006 01:03AM
Posted 11/22/2006 01:03AM
Opening Post
Posted 11/22/2006 01:29AM
#1
I don't see how the 11 could be happy, and have my doubts about the 9.25.
Celestron sold the 9.25 on a CG-5 for a few years (maybe it still does). I found mine inadequate for anything but the least demanding visual.
The weakest point is obviously the tripod. But there are other weak points. One is where the head mates to the base. It just is not sturdy enough. You can see the head itself flex, completely setting aside where it mates to the tripod.
In short--you might get by by replacing the tripod with a pier/pedestal, but I doubt you will be happy for long. ANd at least in the version of CG-5 I had, there was no real provision for autoguiding, so the mount was really not good for astrophotography.
Alex
Celestron sold the 9.25 on a CG-5 for a few years (maybe it still does). I found mine inadequate for anything but the least demanding visual.
The weakest point is obviously the tripod. But there are other weak points. One is where the head mates to the base. It just is not sturdy enough. You can see the head itself flex, completely setting aside where it mates to the tripod.
In short--you might get by by replacing the tripod with a pier/pedestal, but I doubt you will be happy for long. ANd at least in the version of CG-5 I had, there was no real provision for autoguiding, so the mount was really not good for astrophotography.
Alex
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