User: Westminster School, London
TTS-300 Mammoth mount with telescope rOTAtor and side mounts.
TTS-300 Mammoth Mount with CFF telescopes 160mm APO, Altair Astro 100mm solar telescope and on the top a 250mm truss newtonian.
In Autumn 2017 Westminster School in London opened their brand new “Hooke Observatory” in the science building. The facility is setup inside a Pulsar dome installed at the roof top overlooking House of Parliaments, Westminster Abbey and London Eye. An amazing backdrop for an observatory.
The TTS-300 Mammoth Mount is installed exactly in the center of the dome. The alt-az movement pattern of the mount is ideal for an observatory used by a large audience. The mount takes up less space than a traditional German Equatorial Mount of similar capacity and the eyepieces and other instruments are always situated in a good observing position. With groups of students in the observatory in complete darkness it is an advantage not having a long counterweight shaft performing a meridian flip.
There are three telescopes mounted on the mounting.
- At the top is a 250mm truss newtonian. It is installed on a telescope rOTAtor and permanently fitted with a CCD camera for deep sky imaging.
- On the left side of the mount is installed a 160mm CFF Telescopes APO. This telescope is ment for general visual observations and planetary imaging. A spectroscope is available for this telescope.
- On the right side of the mount is an Altair Astro 100mm telescope setup for solar observations in H-alpha light.
The mount, cameras and the dome is all controlled from an Eagle Control unit.
Peak2Valley Instruments from Buxton was main supplier of mount and telescopes.
