Tele Vue Gibraltar HD5 Alt-Az Mount with SkyTour Computer

With this kit, Tele Vue includes their Sky Tour Mount Computer with the Gibraltar HD5 Alt-Az Mount to provide a portable, steady platform and an accurate and versatile star computer for large-aperture refractor OTAs up to 5 inches. It features their Sky Tour mount computer, a Gibralter Head head and a custom-designed Berlebach ash wood tripod that has large bearing surfaces and thick legs that can handle heavier loads with greatly reduced vibration, especially when viewing at high power.

The Sky Tour gives you the ability to precisely align, aim, track, and find celestial objects with your mount. Using a simple 2-star alignment process to set up the controller, you will be able to choose the mode and use the information the controller gives you to manually move the scope to various objects, identify nearby objects that you see, or have it give you a tour of what is visible on any given night. While this is not a traditional 'GoTo' system, the included encoders keeps precise track of the changing orientation of the scope to provide real-time updated coordinates. And if you know an objects location, it can be entered and the Sky Tour will tell you where to move the scope to find it.

The tripod's legs raise the altitude axis from 3.5 to to 5 feet and markings on the legs allow for repeatable setting to preferred heights. A wood accessory tray ties the legs together for rigidity, and a built-in pier not only adds extra height to provide a more comfortable viewing position for the user, it allows the OTA to be aimed at or near the zenith without hitting the tripod. A bubble-level is integrated into the tripod base and metal ground spikes with rubber tips are provided to give it added stability on soft ground.

• Sky Tour Mount Computer

   

  Tele Vue's Sky Tour Mount Computer gives you the ability to precisely align, aim, track and find celestial objects with your alt-az, EQ, or fork mount. Using a simple 2-star alignment process to set up the controller, you will be able to choose the mode and use the information the controller gives you to manually move the scope to various objects, identify nearby objects that you see, or have it give you a tour of what is visible on any given night. While this is not a traditional 'GoTo' system, if you get the optional encoders for your specific mount, it keeps precise track of the changing orientation of the scope to provide real-time updated coordinates. And if you know an objects location, it can be entered and the Sky Tour will tell you where to move the scope to find it. To expand its usability, the Sky Tour can interface with TheSky astronomy program from Software Bisque by connecting your TheSky equipped Pocket PC, Windows, or Apple computer to take advantage of the software's expanded database.

   

  Performance

  • Encoder resolution: 2160 step, 0.167-degree/step (10-arcminute/step) encoders
  • Sampling rate:0.5 millisecond
  • Maximum slew rate: 160°/second
  • Sidereal accuracy: 0.01%

  Display

  • Red LED display
  • One-line 10-character
  • Five dimming levels
  • Display resolution:
    • Right ascension: 1 arcmin
    • Declination: 0.1°
  • Display modes:
    • STAR FIX: Alignment mode using convenient star list
    • RA DEC: Current right ascension and declination
    • CATALOG: Complete database of celestial objects
    • GUIDE: Shows direction and distance to object
    • ALIGN: Uses full database to fine-tune alignment
    • IDENTIFY: Identifies object by type

  Database

  • 2000+ objects
  • 110 Messier objects
  • Selected NGC objects
  • Selected IC objects
  • Selected Non-Standard objects
  • Selected Stars, colored, double, multiple
  • 31 alignment stars
  • 8 Planets
  • 99 user-defined objects

• Gibraltar HD5 Alt-Az Mount

   

  Designed to provide a portable yet steady platform for refractor OTAs with apertures up to 5", Tele Vue's Gibraltar HD5 Alt-Az Mount features a Gibralter head and a custom-designed Berlebach ash wood tripod that has large bearing surfaces and thick legs that can handle heavier loads with greatly reduced vibration, especially when viewing at high power. The legs raise the altitude axis from 3.5 to to 5 feet and markings on the legs allow for repeatable setting to preferred heights. A wood accessory tray ties the legs together for rigidity, and a built-in pier not only adds extra height to provide a more comfortable viewing position for the user, it allows the OTA to be aimed at or near the zenith without hitting the tripod. A bubble-level is integrated into the tripod base and metal ground spikes with rubber tips are provided to give it added stability on soft ground.