Celestron CGX-L Computerized Mount without Tripod
Celestron’s Celestron CGX-L Computerized German Equatorial Telescope Mount is designed for both observatories and travel systems, this mount is capable of carrying some of the largest telescopes with ease. The Mount Head only weighs 45 lb yet it has 75 lb payload capacity.
Key Features
Heavy-Duty Belt Transfer & Large Worm Wheels
A lot of mounts today use spur gears to transfer rotational motion from the motors to the worm wheels. The problem with spur gears is that there is an intermittent amount play between the teeth of the gears. This play introduces mechanical backlash and hinders tracking performance, especially when autoguiding. By using a belt transfer the backlash mentioned above virtually disappears and tracking accuracy is greatly improved.
The CGX-L has larger, 144 mm diameter worm wheels to handle heavier loads and track more accurately. The worm wheel is made of brass and is spring-loaded, and together with the stainless steel worm gear to provide excellent gear mesh and reduce friction.
Long Dual Saddle Dovetail
Swapping telescopes is now a breeze. Smaller telescopes often use the lighter, less expensive Vixen-style dovetail bar. Larger telescopes are often equipped with the wider Losmandy-style dovetail bar for its sturdiness. The convenient saddle on this mount clamps down on both types of dovetails.
The saddle on this mount has been elongated to 270 mm (approximately 11 inches) to better support larger optical tubes. This larger clamping surface area will reduce flexure and better stabilize a telescope.
Built-in just below the dovetail saddle is two auxiliary ports and an autoguider port. This makes it easy to plug in extra accessories like the StarSense, WiFi module or ST-4 compatible autoguider. Since the cables for the port are run through the mount, you will no longer have to worry about cable snag.
Ergonomic Carry Handles
These handles really speed up the setup and breakdown times for an astronomer who is on the go. No longer will you have to awkwardly lug around the mount head or have trouble centering it over the top of a tripod or pier.
Altitude Adjuster
Other EQ mounts are difficult and uncomfortable to polar align when a mounted telescope is mounted to it. Taking the telescope off the mount would be easier, but would give you a very inaccurate polar alignment once you put on an OTA. Celestron addressed this by using an armature that rides on ACME threaded rod. This allows you to easily adjust the mount with one hand under load!
Homing Sensors
Homing sensors are an awesome feature to have in an observatory setting. If power is lost throughout the night you can “home” the mount and resync on that position rather than creating an entirely new pointing model.
It also makes a great position to park the telescope after a night of imaging. The next night you want to observe, just turn the mount on and sync.
Internal Cabling
Cable management can get messy. Where some telescope mounts can get caught on their own cables and ruin a night of observing, the CGX-L avoids this entirely. The cables that connect the RA and Declination motor to the motor control are all wired inside of the mount.
In fact, if you wish to directly connect to the mount to a computer you no longer have to go through the hand controller. This mount has a USB 2.0 B type connector on the rear.
Celestron PWI Telescope Control Software
Celestron and Planewave Instruments have teamed up to develop a complete planetarium/mount control software. This program unleashes the full pointing accuracy potential of the CGX-L.
PWI employs PointXP mount modeling, which accepts numerous star alignment points for the best possible accuracy. PointXP (also used in StarSense AutoAlign accessory) goes beyond the pointing capability of a traditional hand control. By adding multiple star alignment points, PWI accounts for various types of alignment errors, including instrument flexure.
With a direct USB connection from your PC to the USB port on the mount, PWI’s Sky Viewer display makes for easy target selection or find your favorite deep-sky object in PWI’s extensive object database.
- 75 lb load capacity.
- Additional Aux accessory ports and autoguider port provide better cable management.
- Large 144 mm diameter worm wheels to better drive heavier loads.
- 270 mm dovetail saddle.
- Spring-loaded brass worm wheel and stainless steel worm gear.
- CGX-L Equatorial Head.
- 1 x 22 lbs Counterweight.
- NexStar+ Hand Control.
- DC Power Cable (plugs into cigarette lighter socket).
- 8mm Allen Wrench (contained in rear carry handle).
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