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Track the Stars (TTS160) mount from Astrosource (UK)

This innovative mounting is based on a stable, compact alt-azimuth design comparable to those used on all new large professional telescopes. This design provides an optimal ratio between stability/capacity and physical size/weight.

Please contact us to check availability or to place your order. Price £Contact us for the very best prices

Product overview

The TTS-160 mounting is designed for transportation. Due to the smooth round shape the mounting is easily handled and packed. When packed the mounting and pier consists of only two compact cylinders.

Set-up of the mounting is fast and simple, as only a few easily handled individual parts need to be assembled. Exact leveling of the pier is unnecessary, as this will not affect the alignment of the mounting.

The mounting will automatically goto any celestial object selected on the hand pad. Afterwards, the objects are tracked across the sky. The mounting database contains all the standard object catalogues. The user can add more object catalogues to the 128 MB flash memory. The use of high quality Swiss servomotors ensures an extremely silent movement combined with the high precision tracking. Due to the unique alt-azimuth design the mount can point to any part of the sky without the need to perform a meridian flip.

The hand pad introduces a unique type of user interface. A rotational knob controls the movement of each of the mounting axes, - the telescope moves the same direction as the knob is turned. Speed and distance is controlled in one single operation. The rotational knobs are also used for all selections and inputs on the hand pad. The use of rotational knobs is a clear advantage when used in darkness or with gloves. The large graphic VFD-display with 4 text lines presents all necessary information. Contrarily to traditional LCD-displays, it works flawlessly down to -40 degrees C (-40 degrees F).

The mounting makes a sturdy platform for all types of telescopes. The pier height can be adjusted to be used with all types of refractors and mirror telescopes. The mounting comes with a standard dovetail saddle to accept the wide (75mm, 3inch) dovetails. To use the narrower type of dovetail an optional saddle plate is available. The TTS-160 mounting will give you full flexibility in selecting any telescope of your choice.

The TTS-160 mounting is produced from high quality materials ensuring longevity and solidity. The mechanical construction is produced from black anodized aluminum and stainless steel. The worm wheels are produced from a special bronze alloy and the mated worms from stainless steel. Two Swiss precision servomotors drive the mounting.

The mounting has a PC interface that enables controlling the mounting from most planetarium software packages. In addition to this, ports for connection to autoguiders and auxiliary equipment are available.

• Pier and mounting housing: 160 mm black anodized aluminum
• Legs: Glass blasted stainless steel
• Altitude head: Arms from 10mm glass blasted stainless steel and dovetail saddle plate from black anodized aluminum
• Dovetail saddle: For 75mm (3 inch) dovetails
• Counterweights: 2x4 kg (9 lbs.) stainless steel with black anodized locking handle
• Altitude shaft: 30mm stainless steel
• Altitude drive: 120mm worm wheel drive
• Azimuth shaft: 100x100x5mm aluminum section
• Azimuth drive: 120mm internal worm wheel drive
• Backlash free spring loaded worm assemblies. No adjustment needed
• Motors: High quality Swiss servo motors with planetary gears and encoders
• Encoder resolution: 0.10 arc second per pulse
• Slewing speed: 0.5X - 800X sidereal
• Telescope weight capacity: 20 kg (44 lbs)
• Weight mounting head: 16 kg (35 lbs)
• Weight pier: 12 kg (26 lbs.)
• Power supply need: 12 V, 2A
• Hand pad with large user friendly rotational knobs
• Two-star alignment for precise goto function
• Contains object catalogues: Messier, NGC, IC, Caldwell, SAO (over 100.000 objects)
• 50MB free memory for adding user object and catalogues
• New firmware upgrades can be downloaded from the Internet
• New object catalogues can be uploaded to the internal memory
• Large graphic VFD-display with 4x20 characters (operational in very cold conditions)
• Integrated 'Real Time Clock' keeping time and date while the mounting is powered off
• Patents pending *

*Specifications can change without prior notice