Astronomy tests two tracking mounts

Astroimager Tony Hallas looks at two highly portable accessories — Takahashi's Teegul Sky-Patrol II and AstroTrac's TT320X-AG — that will let you shoot the sky without straining your back.

Contributed by Tony Hallas

Published: December 28, 2011

The Takahashi Teegul Sky-Patrol II is a miniature equatorial mount that features fine-motion controls and runs on 6 volts DC. The AstroTrac TT320X-AG combines a long lead-screw with a tanget arm and offers high rigidity and a tracking length of two hours.

Photo by Tony Hallas

Earth’s rotation creates a problem for photographers who want to image the night sky. A time exposure results in stars that look like arcs, and any object larger than a point will appear blurred. Furthermore, most imagers don’t want to expend the effort needed to transport and set up a telescope’s drive system, which would correct the problem.

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BARRY JOHNSON from TEXAS said:

The Takahashi is definitely over priced, but for what it does, I think the AT is very fairly priced. If I JUST buy the parts that it would take to build a (very) rudimentary tracking mount, I've already spent ~$300... For a couple hundred more, I can buy something apparently very well made that works with extremely low PE and can be aligned in a few minutes. That doesn't seem over-priced to me considering how much many pieces of Astronomy equipment cost these days.

WILLIAM NEFF from CALIFORNIA said:

I have had this little AstroTrac for several months now, the goal was to assemble a portable observatory in carry-on luggage for travel, I was able to compact two cameras, all needed equipment plus extra items for remote imaging except the tripod in a check-in luggage, have been in Nicaragua centeral america for a month, only prolem is Polaris is only 12deg. above horizon, sometime difficult to find opening in jungle, but five minutes exposures are not a problem with proper alignment.

RICHARD REYNOLDS from LOUISIANA said:

Grotesquely overpriced.

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