Altair 10" truss imaging newt

[Dave_D]

Anyone seen or used one of these? I was pondering hitting the button on a 10" RC but they seem to have vanished from the Altair site

https://www.altairastro.com/Altair-10inch-Truss-Imaging-Newtonian-Astrograph.html

Looks like i nice scope, price sucks a bit though

[vlaiv]

Yes indeed, price is a bit high, especially if one considers SW Quattro F/4 - both steel tube and carbon fiber are lighter scopes than that GSO, and about half the price (even more on steel tube).

Not sure if truss tube is that much better for thermal stability and focus shift due to temperature to justify that much money difference.

[Sunshine]

Stunning looking scope!

[wimvb]

Looked good until I got to the specs:

Specification:

• Aperture: 10" / 254mm
• Focal Length/Ratio: 1016mm / F4
• Resolution: 0.48 arc seconds
• Highest Practical Magnification: 340x
• Visual Magnitude: 14.5
• Aperture: 10"
• Glass type: Schott B270 optical low strain annealed
• Weight: 16kg
• Length 820cm

A bit long, for my taste. ?

[wimvb]

14 hours ago, Dave_D said:

Looks like i nice scope, price sucks a bit though

 

14 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Yes indeed, price is a bit high, especially if one considers SW Quattro F/4 - both steel tube and carbon fiber are lighter scopes than that GSO, and about half the price (even more on steel tube).

I would expect this to be a high end newt, outperforming skywatcher quattros. Probably closer to TS UNC or ONTC.

I saw that the focuser is GSO, but is the mirror also?

Edit: compared it with the 10" gso on the TS site. They look very much the same. But supposed to be high end optics. TS doesn't specify which glass for the mirror.

[vlaiv]

2 hours ago, wimvb said:

 

I would expect this to be a high end newt, outperforming skywatcher quattros. Probably closer to TS UNC or ONTC.

I saw that the focuser is GSO, but is the mirror also?

Edit: compared it with the 10" gso on the TS site. They look very much the same. But supposed to be high end optics. TS doesn't specify which glass for the mirror.

From what I'm seeing on the TS site and knowing that AltairAstro and TS have both sourced scopes from the same manufacturers in the past, I believe it is indeed GSO newtonian (mirrors and truss at least, different branding may mean different focusers and accessories).

TS differs from GSO version in that you get mirror testing, better focuser and TSLS10 light shroud.

TS does brag about GSO mirrors being of high quality - one of the reasons they have chosen to put them in their UNC/ONTC lines, but I also don't believe it is likely that you will end up getting a lemon if you go for SW Quattro series (also "high end" / imaging series from SkyWatcher).

If I was looking for an imaging newtonian in that class, depending on a mount to be used on, I would look for a lighter scope, unless I understood what kind of benefit there is from truss design - like in terms of focus stability in changing temperature or such.

[wimvb]

Ontc carbon fibre scopes get good reviews regarding focus stability. The only benefit would then be less air currents. Otoh, even with shroud, the mirror is more exposed in a truss. Probably more dust on the mirror (= less contrast).