How to operate a 6" Newtonian Telescope with Equatorial Mount?

Question

New to astronomy. How do I make the telescope go up and down? It has controls for making SLIGHT corrections, but I can't move it to view high overhead or down low towards the horizon.
Suggestions?

Answer 1

These mounts often have clutches that must be loosened for gross positioning, then locked to engage the fine motions.

The altitude should be set to your latitude, and the mount positioned with the right ascension axis pointing due north. It may have a sight tube or small telescope to aid with precise alignment, but for visual observing you can just eyeball the alignment. Once the mount is properly aligned, you can track an object by adjusting only the RA axis. Or, if there's a motor drive, the mount will track automatically.

The motions of a German equatorial mount may not be intuitive at first, especially the need to flip the scope around when moving across the meridian. The link below shows how to move the mount to various parts of the sky.

Answer 2

If it's a german equatorial mount it should have two "locking screws' on it. One for the declination and one for the right ascention, or "DEC and R.A."

If you losen these locking screws you can turn the telescope mount freely. Be sure to tighten them back up though.

German equatorial mounts move in such a way to follow the path of things across the sky, not side to side and up and down. If you are just manually pointing the telescope and looking through it, then it can take some getting used to to get the telescope pointed where you want. You may have to pick the telescope up and position it in such a way that it will point where you want, as opposed to keeping the base pointing north.

German equatorial mounts cannot view at the zenith (straight up) because of their design.They can get close to it though.

Answer 3

Hi. Newtonians have the same ability as any other telescope to move in any direction. The problem is isolated to the mount. A Dobsonian mount is like a cannon. Easy to aim until you get high up in the sky. A German Equatorial mount aligns with the Earth's axis and is easier to point until you get hear the Earth's axis. I have a 6" Schmidt Newtonian on a fork mount. Same problem as the GEM. A Ball mount, which is a spherical mount point easily in any direction but can not track. "Ya pays ya money and ya takes ya pick."

Edit: I love my fork mounted, electrically driven mount because the stars and planets are always in the same orientation. And it's easy to polar align.