Ioptron Polar Alignment Software Download It From

Image credit: Ninian Boyle The iOptron iEQ45 telescope mount was looked at in this magazine a couple of years ago (see Astronomy Now, October 2011).

Since then it has gone through a few revisions so I thought it would be interesting to revisit it and see what, if anything, had changed or, more importantly, improved.

This is normally an optional extra and cleverly utilises the weight of the built-in lithium batteries as the counterweight.

This can be used as a replacement to the standard counterweights on the arm, or even additionally.

I found installing the altitude screw adjuster a bit fiddly as this involved removing and re-installing the locking screws, but of course you only need to do this once if your primary use of the mount is for astro-imaging.

Ioptron Polar Alignment Software Download It From

As with many such systems these days, there was no instruction manual provided, so I had to download it from the iOptron website.

This is a minor niggle, but could be more of an issue if the user does not have easy access to the Internet and it is sometimes just helpful to have a paper manual you can thumb through when you are with the hardware.

I did like the neatness of the cabling and plugging everything in was very straightforward.

Setting up the GOTO system seemed fairly straightforward too.

I particularly liked just how fast the computer booted up and was ready to go in just a few seconds.

Image credit: Ninian Boyle One of the many clever features of the iEQ45 is the telescope balancing assistance in the software.

Once you enter this part of the menu system it is very easy to follow.

The computer slews the telescope around the right ascension axis and then the onboard sensors check both axes for balance.

If it detects that, say, the counterweight needs adjusting, it will provide you with a helpful diagram on the handset screen guiding you which way to move the counterweight along the balance arm.

The saddle uses two large thumb bolts to tighten the grip of the side of the saddle against the plate located on the telescope.

I thought I had tightened these sufficiently, but when the telescope was slewed to a vertical position, it slipped and fell out of the saddle.

Fortunately no damage was done to the telescope, as it landed on soft ground.

My heart rate however, was a different matter Evidently, greater care must be taken to ensure a really tight grip with this plate, or perhaps some further engineering to install a safety lock screw would be a good idea.

Image credit: Ninian Boyle GOTO accuracy Using the SmartStar hand paddle and the GOTO system was very straightforward.

The buttons did need some determined pressing to make the system respond, but in many ways this is better than having things happen because your finger twitched Polar alignment was very quick and easy using the software assisted set-up and took only a couple of minutes.

I selected the multi-star alignment for greater accuracy when using the GOTO and was pleased to find that objects selected were always with the half-degree field-of-view of my selected eyepiece.

Swapping between the two is a little fiddly, but I can think of no other mount on the market that has this option built in.

Changing the style of the mount is not the sort of thing I would want to do on a regular basis, but it is a useful feature.