Spotted this mount... Looks Brilliant..

[AlexN]

http://www.astelco.com/products/ntm/ntm.htm


Stumbled across this on Cloudy Nights, Thought I'd bring it to everyones attention.. Looks Fantastic to me... Rob Gendler achieved 2 APOD's using it...

A few preliminary specs:
Slew Speed : 20 degrees a sec
Pointing accuracy : <5 arcsec rms
Tracking accuracy (without autoguider) : 1 arcsec/2hrs

And apparently.. the most impressive of all..
0... ZERO - Period Tracking Error.

Everyones thoughts..

[Kal]

Looks awesome, but no price I can see, and I'd hate to ask!

I wonder of this is using the same technology that the Chronosmount (http://www.optcorp.com/Manufacturer.aspx?mid=241) uses?

[AlexN]

apparently not.. the chronosmount uses harmonic drives.. this uses standard drives (hence the need for counterweights)

The chronosmount also looks very nice, but at the price, I'd be looking at buying an AP1200/Paramount ME....

I'd be interested to find out the price... might be worth sending them an email....

>60kgs load capacity sounds nice too.. 16" RC scopes wouldnt be a problem on that baby..

[AndrewJ]

Gday Alex

There is a German site advertising the "Amateur" version for
only 27000euro ( plus shipping )
http://www.astrocom.de ( put ntm-500 in the search box )
With the Aud at 0.51 thats say Aud 53,000
Dunno how much the "extras" to make it work add on :-)
but a 13kg counterweight appears to be 220euro

Andrew

[Max Vondel]

Looks like another morgage to me
But this may not be the right time........mmmmmmmmmm.....
:P

[Terry B]

I like the way they spell "sidney" on the chronosmount site.:P

[Bassnut]

Things are changing fast, direct drives are here (NO gears), chronos are already in trouble methinks :P.

[AlexN]

The chronos looks pretty good, but direct drives in the NTM and in the new ASA DDM60, DDM85 and DDM120 definitely look exciting too!

[allan gould]

How long before the Chinese copy this?

[vash]

have you seen the video of the go-to on this thing, geez you'd be collimating all night, I'll try and find the link.

[AlexN]

Hopefully soon Allan! :) I'll raise my hand for a direct drive mount on the cheap!

[AlexN]

Slewing video.

http://www.astrosurf.com/sguisard/Video_astro/ASTELCO_NTM_mount_100_deg_per_sec.a vi