Hello:
I am doing some investigational work for the Prairie Grass Observatory here in Indiana. http://www.indianastars.us/
PGO is looking for recommendations on what type of high quality equatorial mount is needed for a circa 1990’s Meade 178ED 7" Refractor. The overall weight of the tube is estimated in the 40-50 pound range.
This is an f/9 long tube refractor that was originally mounted on the LX750 equatorial mount. However, this old mount is now having drive problems.
Primary use of the refractor is visual with GOTO capability. However, at times PGO would like to do long-exposure imaging and remote video feeds from the telescope. Therefore, low periodic error is highly desirable.
Although PGO has not defined an exact budget, they realize this mount will be in the $5-$10K range and will be writing a local educational grant application in the future.
They asked me about a MyT mount, but I am skeptical this mount is adequate for this long-tube refractor. I was going to recommend the MX+ mount instead. The ME II mount may be better, but is most likely out of their budget range.
Any help you could offer on the best mount would be appreciated.
Thank you,
John
West Lafayette, IN