| The Walnut Gibraltar 5 Mount is a complete 19 pound heavy duty altazimuth mounting system made specifically for the TeleVue NP-127 refractor, although it will work with smaller TeleVue scopes as well. The Walnut Gibraltar 5 mount consists of an adjustable height American-made furniture-grade solid walnut tripod with black trim, an accessory tray for eyepiece storage and added tripod rigidity, and a separate yoke & cradle type modified Tele-Pod mount head.
The Gibraltar 5’s modified Tele-Pod head is 1" wider than a standard Tele-Pod head to hold the larger diameter NP-127 body. In addition, it has larger bearings to better support the weight of the heavier NP-127. The cradle has holes specifically sized and spaced to accept the NP-127 base plate, in addition to holes that are usable with smaller TeleVue scopes.
The tripod’s walnut legs have rubber-tipped metal ground spikes for use on wooden decks and other hard surfaces. The rubber tips can be removed from the ground spikes for a more firm footing on grass or dirt. By varying the length of the legs, the tripod height can be set anywhere from 36" to 60", making it well-suited for use with the TeleVue Air Chair observer’s stool.
The NP-127 attaches to the Gibraltar 5 mount’s head by means of two supplied studs that thread into the base of the telescope mounting ring. These studs project down through holes in the head cradle and are held securely in place with supplied wing nuts.
The scope is moved from point to point across the sky by pushing on the tail piece or focuser knobs of the scope. The yoke & cradle type mount head balances the NP-127 at its center of gravity, so that the scope will not swing unexpectedly when you let go of the scope tail piece. The altitude bearings are brass, while the azimuth bearing is aluminum and Teflon. Both altitude and azimuth motions have tension adjustments to set the friction to accommodate differing scope weights. The
The Gibraltar 5 mount is pre-drilled to be fitted with an optional TeleVue Sky Tour computer-aiming system for easier location of deep sky objects, although a set of optional #STS spacers are needed to fasten the Sky Tour’s azimuth encoder cover to the modified Tele-Pod head’s wider baseplate. An optional soft carry case (#BAG120P) is available for transporting the tripod with mount head attached (the accessory tray must be carried separately and any attached eyepiece caddy plates must be removed and stored in the carry case separately). An optional #TVHANDLE pan-head type handle (aluminum arm/soft rubber grip) is available to attach to the Tele-Pod head for moving the scope from place to place across the sky without touching the scope body itself.
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