4-6 Week Lead Time on all Track the Stars Products
Note on Shipping: Because individual TTS products ship directly from Denmark, shipping is calculated and invoiced separately after checkout. Please contact Cloud Break Optics for a shipping quote, if desired.
Overview
- Set up and aligning in 7 minutes
- Mount and pier in two compact bags
- No Leveling or polar alignment needed
- Perfect equatorial tracking for astrophotography
- Flexible mount system for all your telescopes
- High Quality Danish Design
- 100% Hand-built and skytested
Description
Setting up and aligning in 7 minutes – no leveling or polar alignment needed.
With the Panther Mount, the setup and alignment is easy. No leveling or polar alignment is needed. Just set up the pier, mount head and telescope. No tools are needed and there are no loose screws or other small parts to handle in the dark.
For visual observations align on just one object and you have goto and tracking.
For Astrophotography align on just two objects and you have precision goto and tracking.
Observe from the darkest places – mount and pier in two compact bags
The Panther mount has been designed for the easiest transport – no matter if it is into your backyard or remote dark sky sites. Utilizing the compact and stable Alt-Az design it has been possible to create a telescope mount much more smooth and simple than competing high end mounts. The design with no protruding parts leads to that the mount can be transported safely in two compact lightweight bags. NO need for bulky transport cases.
A flexible mount system for all your telescopes
The Panther mount system can be configured to match many needs.See some of the possible solutions below:
Top Mounted TEC-140 APO with Mini Pier
Top Mounted Bino Telescope Takahashi FS120
Mammoth Mount with Top mounted C14, side mounted TEC140, Side mounted TV 102 is
Side mounted without counterweight arms. Lunt 152mm THA, Meade 8″ SCT
Equatorial Tracking for perfect long exposure Astrophotography
The many benefits of the Alt-Az mount usually means you can’t do serious Astrophotography. For the Panther Mount we have invented a completely new solution to this by introducing the telescope rOTAtor. With this unit installed on the mount head the telescope will track equatorially for long exposure Astrophotography. Everything is controlled by the internal software based on the initial alignment.
High-quality Danish Design
All Track the Stars mounts are 100% hand-built from high-quality materials.
Every detail is carefully designed and engineered to guarantee top quality combined with elegant Danish design.
We skytest all mounts to ensure perfect performance for both visual use and high quality long exposure astrophotography.
Configurable telescope mount system
The TTS-160 Panther telescope mount head is the heart of the highly flexible and configurable mount system. It’s possible to configure mount set-ups for visual observations, for long exposure astrophotography, several telescopes in parallel or ultra compact travel set-up. See the configuration chart for details.
Alt-Az telescope mount for stability, compactness and fast setup
The professional astronomers has known for years that the most compact and stable telescope mount is the ALT-AZ configuration. Now it’s available for you too. The benefits is a mount that’s stable, very compact and easy to transport, and very fast to setup.
Fits in just one compact transport bag.
Precise goto and tracking
The mount can automatically goto any objects selected from the handpad or a connected PC, Ipad, Iphone, etc. Precise tracking for astrophotography with autoguiding capabilities.
Perfect eyepiece position, no meridian flip
The Alt-Az movement pattern of the telescope mount ensures the eyepiece is always in a perfect viewing angle. This is especially important when using Bino Viewers.
The mount never needs to perform a meridian flip (unlike German Equatorial Mounts). Therefore all your installed equipment (finders, guide scopes, cameras, filter wheels …) always stays in the best position where you can easily acces it and you avoid cables being twisted unnecessarily. Finally keeping the optical tube assembly in the same angle minimizes the risk of destroying a good collimation of the optics by turning them upside down.
Simplicity on the outside, technology inside
All the technology and delicate working parts are sealed inside smooth anodized aluminum cylinders, so dirt, dust and moisture stay out. The streamlined, compact design also protects the mount from damage during transport or storage.
Convenient hand pad and intuitive user interface
enable easy operation – even with your gloves on! – The hand pad is specially designed to ensure simple operation. No need to search for the right button. Roller knobs make it possible to navigate through the interface quickly. Goto function lets you track any object in the extensive object catalog.
Interface connectors
You can connect a PC via the ASCOM (LX200) compatible connector to control the mount with any astronomy software supporting the ASCOM standard. Autoguiders can be connected through the dedicated ST4 standard connector. Finally the mount has a connector the the control of the optional telescope rOTAtor and a connector for the handpad.
Exact Drive – high precision tracking in a compact design
To be able to track the sky very precisely over long periods of time it is necessary to have a drive system with low and very smooth periodic error. Most high quality German equatorial mountings on the market tries to solve this problem with large diameter worm gear drives. These large diameter worm gear results in mountings that are large and heavy. For the TTS-160 Panther Az-drive we have created a drive system we call “Exact Drive”. A unique combination of a worm gear and a roller drive ensures optimal tracking performance – with lower periodic error values and no sudden changes in tracking speed. And, unlike other worm-gear drives, the TTS-160 is lighter and easier to carry.
Shipping
$200. Please select "Panther Head Shipping" at checkout. Contact Cloud Break Optics if you need expedited shipping.
Specifications
Included Items
- Mount head
- Handpad
- Handpad cable
- PC connection cable
- Power cable with cigarette lighter connector
- Large transport bag for mount head
- Small transport bag for handpad
- NOTE: Power supply is not included
TTS-160 Panther Specifications
Buy risk-free: When it’s time to trade up you’ll get the most value for your used gear.
