4-6 Week Lead Time on all Track the Stars Products

Overview

This package contains everything needed for an imaging set-up:

• Mount head with handpad
• Top Mount with counterweight arms
• 2 x 4 kg Counterweights
• Telescope rOTAtor
• Folding Pier
• Pier Adapter

• Setting 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

Mount Head Description

The astrophoto package contains all the parts needed for a high quality Astrophoto Mount (see tab Included Items). With the included telescope rOTAtor long exposure astrophotos can be taken very easily and with a limited setup time.

The included counterweights can balance telescopes weighing up to 20 kg (including all accessories).  Please contact us to get precise advice for your setup.

The package comes complete with transport bags and makes up a high quality transportable mount system. The Astrophoto package fits refractors up to 6 inch, SCT’s up to 11 inch and newtonians up to 10″.

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.

Topmount Arms Description

Adjustable clutch on altitude axle

The Topmount easily installs on the mount head via two conical brass bushings inserted into the ends of the altitude axle. The two lock handles works as clutches that can be released completely when balancing the telescope and locks completely when only running the mount via the motors. If wished the clutches can be set so that the mount can be moved manually and still stays in position.

3 inch dovetail saddle

The top dovetail saddle is 3 inch wide (Losmandy style) and locks securely onto the dovetail bar via two brass cylinders. The finger screws are small and compact designed to give the necessary force on the dovetail bar without taking up to much space.

Magnetic handpad  holder

On each side of the Topmount is a magnetic holder for the handpad. Additional magnetic holders can be delivered if you want to place the handpad elsewhere on the telescope.

Adjustable counterweight slots

The Counter weight slots on each side can receive 2 counterweights.

Telescope rOTAtor Description

Equatorial tracking but NO polar alignment

Long exposure astrophotography without polar alignment. To good to be true….  No – with the Telescope rOTAtor installed on the TTS160 Panther mount that’s exactly what you can do. And it’s so simple that beginners can use it and yet so precise that it can match the most experienced experts.

Install and forget

The Telescope rOTAtor easily installs by inserting the bottom dovetail into the saddle on the telescope mount. The top of the rOTAtor has it’s own dovetail saddle where the telescope is mounted. Connect power and signal cable and you are ready to take images. The internal software in the mount head controls speed and direction of the rOTAtor.

rOTAtor

The telescope rOTAtor rotates the entire Optical Tube assembly OTA. This means that any equipment installed on the OTA is rOTAted too. Therefore you can use a piggybacked guide telescope for guiding or take long exposure images with telephoto lenses mounted on top of the OTA.

Set-up, point and shoot

When using the TTS-160 Panther with the Telescope rOTAtor astrophotography is fast and simple. Setup the mount with the rOTAtor without doing any levelling. Align on two stars and the combined system is ready for imaging. The rOTAtor will automatically wind to the correct side and start derotating when the object has been centered. Guiding is done via the ST4 compatible port on the mount.

Folding Pier Description

Extremely compact and easy to transport.

The Folding Pier comes in one single compact transport bag. It will fit in the trunk of even the smallest cars. When folded down the pier is completely smooth with no protruding parts and can be transported in the soft bag without any risk of damage to the Pier or surroundings. With a weight of only 11kg the Pier is easy to bring to the darkest places.

Fast setup and great stability

It takes only a few seconds to unfold the legs and mount the pier tube. The three support rods are easy to tighten and secures a very stable pier. With the Panther mount head there is no need for leveling the pier making the setup even faster.

Pier extension

Sometimes for visual observations you might want a higher pier. This can easily be achieved by installing one or more Pier extensions.

Fast adapter for Mount Head

To attach the TTS-160 Mount head to the folding pier you need a Pier adapter. This adapter attaches the mount head to the pier with a flick of  finger.

Using the Pier with other Mount Heads

The folding Pier can be adapted to be carry other mount heads. Installing the Pier adapter onto the mount head secures the same fast and easy assembly as with the TTS-160 Panther mount head.

Counter Weight Description

Easy balancing

With the azimuth axle being vertical there is only the altitude axle to balance on Track The Stars Mounts. The counterweight can easily be positioned and fixed on the counterweight arms. Just release the altitude clutch and feel the balance and adjust the counterweight position.

Balancing extra equipment

If you install a piggyback camera or guide telescope it’s very easy to balance again just by lowering the counterweights. No need for extra tube mounted counterweight as needed on German Equatorial Mounts.

Shipping

$825. Please select "Panther Bundle 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
• Topmount, Arms
  • Dovetail Saddle plate with counterweight arms
  • 2 Magnetic handpad holders (installed on arms)
  • 2 Brass bushings
  • 2 M8x60 Stainless steel screws
• Counter Weights 2 x 4 kg
  • Small transport bag
• Folding Pier
  • Large Transport bag
• Pier Adapter
• Telescope rOTAtor

TTS-160 Panther user manual 2017

TTS Firmware Update Manual