Ultimate mount for telescope

[bojan]

This mount is absolutely amazing....

http://www.astrosurf.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/014525.html

There is a link to video as well on the website.

http://www.astrosurf.com/sguisard/Vi...eg_per_sec.avi

[KG8]

elle est une beauté pour sûr. Mais hors de ma échelle de prix.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Geez that thing moves fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd hate to be gonked on the head with it flying around like that

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Here's their website if anyone has a million bucks to throw around

http://www.astelco.com/index.html

[iceman (Mike)]

That's incredible! The video is amazing.

You'd want to make sure the telescope is secured tightly!

[Dennis]

Gulp - that is amazing. I'd be executing GoTo's all night long just to watch this behemoth throw the OTA around so quickly.

Cheers

Dennis

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

But why...? I don't see where there is a need for a mount to move like that, or is a guy thing that this girl just isn't getting?

[Starkler (Geoff)]

The first goto mount that faster than a pushto with argo navis

[Dennis]

Can't speak for the others, but for me, it's simply a guy thing.

In reality, I wouldn’t actually want one – I’d be terrified about the potential for tearing or fouling the plethora of cables that drape over my current mount.

Cheers

Dennis

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

I think it is to show how strong the gears are.

[mill (Martin)]

Ok that mount is just a lethal weapon.
Put a 10" or 12" dob on it and just imagine what happens standing close by

[bojan]

It is a bit of overkill, yes... Personally I would be happy with 10 degrees/sec :-)
But I can also imagine application of something like this for supernova search, when a number of targets (galaxies) can be searched quickly (of course, with a careful planning, much slower slewing mounts could be equally useful).
Another reason for using such a fast scope is GRB hunting: afterglow lasts only couple of seconds to couple of minutes, so every second counts.
I am amazed with this because it uses direct coupled stepper motors - that means those motors must be really something, just imagine available torque and positional accuracy (<0.5"!!!) Also, no periodic errors (because there are no gears).
Well, this is highly professional equipment, designed with no compromise of any sort - US$35,000 is most likely out of question for majority of amateurs..

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

Originally Posted by bojan

Another reason for using such a fast scope is GRB hunting: afterglow lasts only couple of seconds to couple of minutes, so every second counts.

Now that's interesting. I wasn't aware that amatuers were in that game, I thought the GRB's where just for the big scopes!

[higginsdj]

Yep, amateurs are in this game of spotting afterglows - but GRB afterglows can still be visible in amateur scopes for up to 5 hours after the event (5hrs ~ mag 21) - they just fade rapidly..... Lets face it, the standard notification of the GRB event is going to be the biggest time delay - normal pointing rates are not going to significantly affect the results!

Cheers

[RB (Andrew)]

Imagine mirror flop on the C11 at those speeds!