Product Description
The Sky-Watcher Virtuoso is a motorized single-arm altazimuth mount for imaging and astronomy. It includes a 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope and a full complement of accessories for observing the heavens and Earth. It will track celestial objects automatically once you have centered the scope on them. The Sky-Watcher Virtuoso can be used with camera/lens combinations or telescopes weighing up to 8.8 lbs (4 kg).
The Sky-Watcher Virtuoso mount can be used for panorama and time lapse imaging using a DSLR, camcorder, point-and-shoot camera, or smartphone. It has five adjustable tracking speeds and six definable go-to stopping points for taking panoramic photos. It includes a shutter release cable that lets the Virtuoso automatically trigger your Canon EOS camera while making those panoramic images. Its many image capture functions are very user-friendly.
The Sky-Watcher Virtuoso has battery-operated DC servo motors for computerized altitude and azimuth control. It is powered by eight user-supplied AA alkaline batteries. An optional AC adapter is available for backyard use.
Even when automatically tracking objects across the sky at the sidereal tracking rate, dual-axis encoders let you manually move the included Maksutov telescope to different objects, without losing your latitude alignment or positional information. You can move the scope either manually or using the controller's back-lit buttons to slew at 12° per second. As soon as you center on a new object, the Virtuoso automatically starts tracking it. A built-in latitude scale allows you to align the mount based on your position in either hemisphere and store that latitude position using the mount's internal memory.
The included 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain optical tube has a full complement of observing accessories. They include a 1.25" star diagonal, 5x24mm finderscope with solar finder, two 1.25" eyepieces, and a full-aperture white light solar filter (required for safe solar observing). This optical tube and accessory kit supplement the Virtuoso's digital imaging features, making this multi-purpose mount ready for both terrestrial and astronomical observation and motion controlled image capture.
The Sky-Watcher Virtuoso Altazimuth Mount includes:
Dual-axis DC servo motors
Dual-axis encoders to allow manual override while tracking objects
Panorama photo and time lapse capture modes
User-definable latitude position works in either hemisphere
Adjustable feet and bubble level
Backlit control keypad
Powered by (8) AA batteries or external 12V DC
Canon EOS shutter release cable for automatic panoramas
DSLR, camcorder, and SmartPhone mounting brackets
90mm aperture, 1250mm focal length, f/13.9 Maksutov-Cassegrain optical tube
10mm (125x) and 20mm (63x) 1.25" eyepieces
1.25" star diagonal
5x24mm finderscope that converts to a solar finderscope
Full aperture solar filter
Tech Details
| Aperture | 3.5" |
|---|---|
| Binary and Star Cluster Observation | Good |
| Focal Length | 1250mm |
| Focal Ratio | f/13.9 |
| Galaxy and Nebula Observation | Fair |
| Highest Useful Magnification | 186x |
| Lunar Observation | Very Good |
| Planetary Observation | Good |
| Resolution | 1.3 arc seconds |
| Telescope Type | Maksutov-Cassegrain |
| Visual Limiting Magnitude | 11.7 |
| Warranty | 2 years |
Reviews
The mount itself is simple, sturdy and portable and you can set it up on a tripod or a picnic table. Alignment is quick and easy with a few bright stars. What's not mentioned here is that the Virtuoso mount has an accessory to make it "goto" capable. There are 2 versions of this out there: there is the SynScan handheld (which is apparently only available overseas) or a SynScan Wi-Fi dongle that you can plug in and download the SynScan app to your smartphone to completely make this mount goto. I'm not sure Astronomics has this dongle yet (hint, hint), I found mine at another site.
This is a great feature for the budget-conscious or beginner astronomer.
All in all I am very satisfied with this little unit and highly recommend it to anyone just getting into the hobby. Sure, you'll want to upgrade the eyepieces right away (but you're going to do that anyways as you learn about what's available out there and what you want to view). Stick a Telrad finder on this and forget the supplied finderscope - the Telrad may look funny but it'll make your life sooo much easier!
At this price-point I don't think there is anything else on the market that offers this kind of capability in such an all-around user-friendly package. (Posted on 7/22/2019)