Testar Australia is a technical assistant dealer for 10 Micron. Our staff has been trained at the 10 Micron factory to provide assistance, repairs and maintenance on their products.
The CENTAURUS II is designed to support the mobile HPS-encoder technology exclusively found in portable 10Micron GM2000 mounts. This tripod offers the very best ratio of load capacity versus portable weight and is absolutely safe against leg sink. Only now, after the 10Micron HPS-technology has found such widespread recognition, it becomes obvious how important it is not to destroy the ultimate guiding accuracy provided by 12 million code increments (equivalent to a resolution of 0.15 arc seconds) for each mount-axis just by using inappropriate equipment, such as an unsuitable tripod, the mirror-flop (or lens flop) of the telescope optics, thin or poor optical tubes of many commercial telescopes, wobbly economy-focusers, as well as light connections between main- and guide-telescope. Any source of flex appears like being “magnified” 20-fold, while the resolution does improve by the same degree.
Thanks to the absolute HPS-Encoders, now we can also measure that a variation in length of 1/10 of a millimeter (0.0042) in one tripod leg directly equals up to 10 arc-second displacement of the object observed. This also holds true in case one tripod leg is sinking into the ground just by this small amount during an imaging session. With these encoders you can see what had been not measurable before – and it makes all aspects of an improper telescope set up show up mercilessly. For this reason, the legs of the new tripods are made of ultra hard aircraft aluminum, fastened with over-sized spread-clamps and each tripod tip is equipped with a tiltable, hard, zero play contact plate. The Centaurus II tripod is optimized to the utmost, to bring the ABSOLUTE 10Micron HPS-accuracy straight into the ground – without compromise. Any chain is just as strong as its weakest link.
When using a CENTAURUS II tripod, your 10Micron HPS mount chain stays rock solid.
A special adapter (#10M1091) allows to fit the GM1000 mount for an extra sturdy configuration.
