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Old January 19th 04, 01:43 PM
HAVRILIAK
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Default Quality of Losmandy G11 Mount?

Do you think the tracking accuracy and other characteristics of this
mount are appropriate (with Gemini system)? Any experience in this


My experience is with the Meade 12" SCT (fl=3M) and without the Gemini system.
As I understand it The Gemini system improves performance by about 50%. My
experience is with film cameras where exposures are rather long, i.e. upto 1
hr., with guiding, though most recently with a CCD camera and exposures of
around 30 sec. In addition the performance depends on focal length. At 3M,
less than half of the CCD exposures at 60sc are unsuitable. With a f/6.3 and
f/3.3 reducer almost all exposures are suitable. For planatary work where I
use a 3.5 zoom, exposures of 1 sec. are fine.
The problem is periodic error of the mount. PE in my mount is not exactly
a sine/cosine wave but seems to spike around 30-60 sec every 4 min. In a
series of exposures you will catch these spikes as well as the lul points so
you pick and choose.
There is a Losmandy Discussion group and they disscuss ways of minimizing
PE, I have tried every one of the suggestion.
If you dont like these inconviences then be prepared to spend $5k to $10K.
I don't believe that there is a better mount for the price.
Hope this helps.