Astronomical Telescope Drive System
WHAT WE DO: Xerxes Scientific designs and manufactures direct drive telescope mounts, camera adapters, tilt plates, and other accessory equipment for the astronomical science community. Our focus is on sky survey equipment using low cost, wide angle imaging hardware such as the Celestron RASA telescope family, with multiple telescopes per mount.
DIRECT DRIVE telescope mounts use no gears. Instead, a single large motor coupled with a very high precision encoder are used to provide precise tracking and stiffness, allowing for unguided long exposure imaging. There are no gears to wear out or need adjustment. Slewing speeds of over 50 degrees per second are possible, making fast sky surveys and satellite tracking easy.
ADAPTERS AND ACCESSORIES: We make micrometer head tilt adapters for the Celestron RASA11 and RASA36 telescopes, for use with QHY and ZWO full frame astronomical cameras. The micrometer heads provide for accurate and repeatable tilt and spacing adjustment of the camera to image plane geometry. We also produce tilt mechanisms and mounting plates for tandem, triple, and quad telescope installations with individual tilt adjustment, inclding adjustment via actuators.
Direct drive telescope mounts optimized for multi-scope arrays, with payload capacity up to 300 lbs.
Micrometer head tilt and spacing adapters for transient and NEO surveys
JPL
Weizmann Institute of Science
TransAstra Corp
Sensitic Technologies
Numerous adanced amateurs