I managed to get away and take a trip to San Jose for the Advanced Imaging Conference. This conference is a gathering specifically for astrophotographers. You’ll find all the essentials of a hobby based conference. There are a few new product announcements, vendors showing off their equipment, and talks covering all the most important issues facing Astrophotography. All these talks will be published for free in the next few weeks by AIC on their YouTube channel.
For new product announcements Pegasus Astro has their new NYX-101 Harmonic Mount. Taking on the latest trend of adopting robotics based strain wave gears for astronomy use has led to smaller more compact telescope mounts that can carry a hefty payload without the need to use counterweights. Almost all of these newly announced mounts are very portable, compact, and priced anywhere from $1900-$5000. Pegasus lands right in the middle at around $2900. It’s not the smallest of these new mounts, but is portable enough that you can pack it in a single travel case with a 60-70mm telescope, and tripod. Control will be via an iOS or Android app for your phone which connects with WIFI. Pegasus has provided some initial tests with a telescope as large as an EdgeHD 11”. Which is pretty impressive for such a small mount. It also aims to address some shortcomings of other mounts in this category by placing power, and USB connectivity on a non-moving part at the back of the mount. Additionally it includes a break for power loss as a safety measure. The gears are always engaged, and an unbalanced load can cause these types of mounts to back drive as weight shifts without power which can lead to a collision with the mount if you don’t have a break mechanism.
Another new product at the show was the PrimaLuceLab automated scope cover/flat panel for larger sized scopes called the Giotto. These covers have a clever design where the robotic arm mounts to the lower or upper dovetail on the scope. They come in an array of different sizes and work on scopes as large as the 11” EdgeHD model. These should be available mid to late summer.
Last but not least, was Super Mount. They’re a Korean company who makes high end carbon tripods. They pair really well with the Rainbow Astro mounts, but they can scale up in physical size to handle larger mounts like 10Micron or Astro-Physics mounts with an adapter. The newest Super Mount is an ultra portable, short Astrophotography specific tripod. These tripods are very modular, and they offer a few different foot designs from flat metal anchors with adjustable height, steel tips, or rubber feet.
