TS-Optics ONTC: First Light
After 5 months of waiting my 10” Telescope-Service ONTC has arrived!!
I didn’t think I’d see this telescope in 2022 because TS was hesitant to even give an estimated ETA on completion (thanks a lot supply chain). Luckily the tube, which takes the longest, didn’t take long and all other parts were already in stock. The tube actually only took about a month and a half to arrive in TS’s shop. For reasons beyond me it seemly sat around for 2.5 months while I waited for work to be completed. This was a major source of annoyance, more so because of the lack of communication than the timeframe. But at the end of the day I still got it way faster than I anticipated so I can’t complain too much but the experience did make me reconsider doing business with TS again. I’ve made a lot of purchases from them in the past and never had an issue with any of those transactions but this custom build left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.
When you order one of these the 7mm thick carbon fiber tube is manufactured in Germany. It uses GSO primary and secondary mirrors but with much higher quality mirror supports than what you would get from a cheap GSO newt. Based on what the primary use of the scope will be, TS recommends a secondary mirror size. In my case since I will only be imaging we went with an 80mm mirror. The primary mirror can be placed in 3 different positions making it possible to use pretty much any eye piece or coma corrector. In my case, I went with the TSGPU 2” corrector because its performance is close to, if not on par with, the Parcorr and it doesn’t change the focal length of the system. I’ve been using the same corrector on the Orion F4 and couldn’t be happier with it.
You get to choose which focuser you want on the scope. I was tempted to go with a Moonlite since I used one on RC and also have one on the Orion F4. While I’ve been satisfied with both Moonlite focusers my research there seemed to be a general consensuses that the Feather Touch is the best of the best so I went with a 2” FT. I must say I’m quite impressed with it. Its lightweight, solid as a rock, and has the smoothest drawtube motion I’ve ever experienced. Slapping one of the Sesto Senso 2 motors I had already (also one on the Orion) allows for accurate and repeatable autofocus. The motor installed very easily with one of the included adapters and surprisingly the focuser has zero backlash.
I originally meant for this post to just be a quick “yay” but once you get me talking about telescopes I can go on and on. If you want to read about my first light experience with this telescope check out my Astrobin post HERE.
