1 reply to this topic

[steve.rosenow]

Hello!

In light of the LX200 deal's possibility of not going through next weekend I am going to be looking at getting the Meade LT 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain model telescope.

Is it possible to set this up and operate it using a polar mount or does it have to run in alt-azimuth mode? I would like to use it as an astrophotography platform in polar mode and was wondering if the polar mount option is present on it.

Thanks in advance.

[tmohr36]

Steve, Meade has not made a Wedge for the LS/LT that I've seen or heard. Also, because of it's single-arm mounting, it would be very difficult to balance in wedge polar mounted configuration. Though I am quite fond of the LS 8", I now use it mainly as a second telescope for when my CGEM rig is imaging to keep myself occupied during long exposures. In my opinion, the fork mounted LX200 on a wedge (and polar aligned) will do you much better than the LS/LT for astrophotography. Obviously, it can be done. You'll be limiting yourself to 45 to 60 second exposures before star trailing occurs and you'll also need to deal with field rotation apparent in alt/az images taken over an extended period of time. (Deep Sky Stacker does fine with that).

Tom Mohr