Fornax 10 LighTrack II Portable Tracking Mount

The amazing unguided tracking accuracy of the NEW Fornax 10 LighTrack II is in its own league. Capturing pin sharp stars at 200 mm or more focal length has never been easier. The LighTrack II also presents the best available value-for-money price without any compromise. Most DSLR camera exposures are around 6 minutes or less.

The peak-to-peak unguided tracking error of the LighTrack is around 2 arcseconds, and sometimes it gets as low as 1 arc seconds peak-to-peak. This is a significantly lower value than most competing products feature and is comparable to tracking precision of very serious, observatory level heavy-duty telescope mounts, like a Paramount.
All LighTrack units are individually calibrated at the factory, so you do not have to worry about the tracking rate. Measuring and adjusting the tracking rate is not an issue anymore, since this unit runs at just the right speed to prevent your images trailing.

The LighTrack provides you with optimum tracking accuracy due to strict production tolerances and it is guaranteed to stay reliable for years to come. At the heart of the LighTrack is the precision motor and friction drive.

The Fornax 10 LighTrack Mark II can be powered by a 12V DC source with a center positive 2.1mm/5.5mm jack plug widely used for powering astronomy equipment, i.e. Celestron, Skywatcher telescopes, Astrotrac and other devices.

A 12V cigarette lighter-type adapter cable is included, but there are other ways of powering it as well, i.e. when you travel you might want to use a mains socket.

At first we started supplying it with a 12DC Mains Adapter (PSU), but as using mains power supply doesn't really make it mobile, we decided that a car adapter cable is a better choice to include. A mains puwer supply adapter is available separately, but if you decide to buy one, it will be your responsibility to use it safely. These are usually designed for internal use, so when you use it outdoor, make sure that you use a socket (or extension) that provides RCD protection. Stand alone RCD masterplugs are also available from various suppliers, so for your maximum safety we would recommend to use one of those between the extension (if you use an extension) and the property's mains supply.

The Fornax 10 is also compatible with our 12V AC Adapters, 12V power tanks from Celestron and Skywatcher and with the Astrotrac Battery Holder.

A polarscope adapter ring that allows to use a Skywatcher EQ5 polar scope is included for free.

The housing of the Fornax 10 LighTrack Mark II is made of a extremely strong carbon composite material that is also very nice, soft to touch.
The rest of the body is made of high quality aluminium alloy that makes the whole construction rubust, but lightweight.

Center positive, 12V DC connector, same as used in most Celestron and Skywatcher telescope mounts.

An Autoguider port has been added to the new, Mark II version of the Fornax 10 LighTrack, but due to lack of space on the electronics, a smaller jack socket had to be used. An adapter, providing a standard ST4 port will be shortly available and included with the device.

A Mini USB port makes it possible to upgrade the firmware in the future. There are plans to add a "Polar Align Assist" function that would be very helpful for those customers who cannot polar align using Polaris, i.e. customers near the equator or if view of Polaris is simply blocked by a building or trees from their location.

Some items that are showing as in stock are in stock at our holding warehouses, not at the shop. To double check the stock levels at the shop, please contact us on 01909774369 or sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

The delivery times for most items is 1 - 2 days but again, please double check stock levels on important orders before placing an order via the website.

The delivery costs for courier next day are for mainland UK only. If you live in the Scottish Highlands/Islands, Channel Islands or Northern Ireland, then a shipping surchage will apply. please contact us for prices. Smaller items can still go 1st class via Royal Mail.

Please note that if you are wanting to take advantage of our Saturday and Sunday timed services or next day pre 12 or pre 10:30 services, you MUST check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. Also, orders using the Saturday and Sunday services must be placed before 1pm the previous working day. Also, please remember to check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. If the stock is not at the shop, we won't be able to ship on any of the timed services. 

Please note International customers will need to contact us for a shipping price prior to ordering via the website. We don't ship all items internationally. It is at our discretion what we ship outside of the UK. This all depends on the size and weight of the items. Please get in touch with us for any postage costs. Please note we do NOT ship telescopes or heavy items outside of the UK. This is due to massive postage costs and problems regarding returns.

If you have any questions regarding stock levels or delivery, please get in touch.

Zygo Interferometer Testing For ED Refractor Telescopes!

We are extremely pleased to announce our Zygo Interferometer is now installed and ready for use! Our experienced staff can test refractor lenses up to 120mm aperture and provide a comprehensive 2 page report showing the optical quality and Strehl ratio, plus much more information. We are using the very latest Zygo MX software to provide a more detailed report compared to other standard reports.

The interferometer is essentially a measuring instrument. Within the interferometer is a calibrated laser that is pointed through the optical test surface, then onto a high quality reference sphere, then back through the test subject then to an internal camera which gives us the measurement on the screen. From this, we can adjust the position of the test optic and the reference sphere to obtain a perfectly calibrated system. The more central the laser to the test optic and then on return, the better and more accurate reading and measurement we can take. This takes a lot of adjustment to get the best results from the optical surface. Once the measurement has been taken, we are provided with a series of results that show the optical quality of the surface plus other information. Continue reading for an explanation of the individual values and you can also see a test report that was done on one of our RVO Horizon 60 OTAs. 

We are offering certain telescopes with a Zygo test at an extra cost. Mainly ED doublets and triplets. All available telescopes with a Zygo test report are listed here. Just select Zygo Test Report from the drop down box at the top of the listing and we will test the optics in house and provide a full 2 page report with your scope. This will show you the optical quality of your telescope optics. We can also offer this service on your refractor telescope. Please get in touch for more details about this. 

At Rother Valley Optics, one thing we pride ourselves on is customer service and quality of our equipment. When we test your telescope, we will ensure that it is of the highest quality otherwise, we will reject the scope under our strict quality control and test another model for your peace of mind. One of the main values to look at when testing a refractor is the Strehl ratio. The higher this number, the higher quality lens you have. At Rother Valley Optics, we will guarantee the highest possible Strehl ratio for your telescope.  We will aim to provide 0.95 Strehl or higher on Takahashi, RVO Horizon, William Optics and many more! Generally, the higher the Strehl ratio, the lower the Astigmatism and Coma meaning a better image quality from your instrument. 

Other measurements such as the PV and RMS are important too. With these measurements, the lower the number the better as it shows less curvature on the lens. The flatter an optical lens, the better it will perform. The PV rating (Peak To Valley) is a measurement from the highest point (Peak) to the lowest point (Valley). From this we get the RMS (Root, Mean, Square). This is a similar figure to the PV and measured exactly the same way. The RMS is basically an average height difference from the PV so again, the lower the better. As you can see form the example below, we measured an RMS of just 0.027 wave which is a very good value.

We also measure the Power with our systems which is essentially the error from the reference sphere to the test optic. The reference sphere we use on our system is a very high quality sphere so the closer to zero the Power, the less error between the 2 elements thus ensuring a higher quality optical surface. 

You will also see some more values such as Astigmatism and Coma. Again, these are measured by the interferometer when we take measurements of the optical surface after adjustment. These are values which ideally would be at 0 but as our test optics are all curved lenses, there will always be astigmatism and coma present. The lower the number, the less of these aberations you will effectively see but with most refractors, you can buy field flatteners which will compensate for the coma anyway. The astigmatisms value is explaining the error between the symmetrical curvature of the lens. Basically, no lens will be perfectly symmetrical, the lower the astigmatism, the more symmetrical the lens surface is. 

Once the Zygo test report has been completed, the optical alignment is thoroughly tested and tuned to ensure they are spot on before they leave us. 

All available telescopes are on the website at the link below and ones we've tested already that are available straight away are also listed.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/zygo-tested-refractors.html

Here is an example of the test what we provide. This was a test on one of our Horizon 60 ED OTA's.

For any questions about this amazing new service, please either call 01909774369 or email sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

Are you interested in this product but would like to speak to someone with some more information? Simply fill in the form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

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