ServoCAT vs. Equatorial Platform vs. Push-to system

[akarsh]

Hi

I am quite excited by the equatorial platforms that Alvin posted about earlier in this forum.

However, I also want to save time star-hopping. So I was planning to build a DSC system on my telescope. However, DSCs and Equatorial platforms (as far as I can tell) don't go along well. So what do you folks do about this? I'm curious.

Do things like the Argo Navis and ServoCAT work well for hunting things like Hickson compact groups and Abell-Corwin-Orowin galaxy clusters?

Regards
Akarsh

[Atlas]

Hi Akarsh,

I have been using the Argo Navis + Servocat combo for 10 years now, first on an 18“ Obsession, then on my homebuilt 25“, and I can say that I am very happy with the system. The Argo Navis has many catalogues preinstalled and it includes a lot of exotic stuff beyond NGC/IC. But when I moved from 18” to 25”, more objects fell into my reach and I found that some of them were missing in the Argo Navis. For instance, the Corona Borealis Supercluster comprises 11 Abell galaxy clusters of which 9 are listed in Uranometria. The Argo Navis has only the two brightest of them, namely A 2065 and A 2079. Also I was surprised to find that popular protoplanetaries like “Frosty Leo” and the “Egg Nebula” are not included. On the other hand, the Abell planetaries are all there plus many of these very large and faint planetaries.
But even if some things are missing that does not really pose a problem, firstly because the Argo Navis has a user definable catalogue with room for 1100 objects. When I plan to observe very exotic objects, I first check the Argo Navis if it has them. If it does not, I type the coordinates into a file on my computer which I then upload to the Argo Navis by a simple procedure. Second, the Argo Navis has room for two “Scratch Objects”. You can key their coordinates directly into the Argo Navis. Moreover, a new firmware upgrade is announced for 2013, which supposedly offers even more catalogues and objects.

Greetings
Johannes

[Howard B]

Hi Akarsh,

Argo Navis can be used on a scope on an equatorial platform. There's a feature in Argo so every time you reset the platform it will still know where your scope is pointing. I've never used this feature (don't have an Argo Navis) but have read about others who have used it successfully.