iOPTRON - Astronomy Technology Today

THE LITTLE
MOUNT
THAT
COULD
Image 1 - The iOptron iEQ30 carrying an
Explore Scientific AR152 f/6.5 achro
refractor.
The iOptron iEQ30
By Mark Zaslove
I am a born-again astro-newbie.
Back when I was a kid (after the wellused
Tasco refractor), I had a 6-inch
Newt from the legendary Optical
Craftsman Company. Great optics, but
the mount, solid like a Russian tank, had
only a “clock drive” in RA and setting
circles that were about as accurate as wetting
your finger and holding it up to see
which way the wind blew. Then
…decades went by.
The CCD revolution erupted, and
all those wonderful images done by the
professional astronomers back then were
suddenly within the capability of amateurs
now. Hooray for Hollywood! I
bided my time, studied up, read like
crazy and finally set achievable goals for
getting back into the nighttime fray.
Because the learning curve would be
steep, my time limited, and who knew if
I would take to it or not, one of my
parameters was bang-for-buck. Too
cheap, and the travails of getting a good
picture would be so ugly I’d quit in frustration;
too expensive just for expensive’s
sake, and if I didn’t “take” to the hobby
again, I’d be out big bucks.
Basically, I wanted really good midrange
items that shined at what they did.
If I were a boxing manager, I’d be looking
for a solid welter weight with a
punch.
After much research, I narrowed it
down between the Celestron CGEM and
the Orion Atlas, with the far-end hope of
finding a used Tak, maybe. But then
iOptron came out with the iEQ30. Light
but “wiry,” perfect for the wide-field
astrophotography (AP) I wanted to do
(under 20 pounds of gear), but still with
sophistication and good finish. Or, at
least that was the theory … they weren’t
out yet.
I ordered one of the first ones, along
with the very first pier that came out (I
had a pier when I was a kid; no tripods
for this boy; tripods are for wusses). After
a very fast slow boat from China, it
arrived (the pier came a few days later).
Let me digress for a moment and
build the, as Popeye says, “suspensk.” My
AP rig was going to be built around –
after much research again – the brand
Astronomy TECHNOLOGY TODAY 29