Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 Autoguider color

Description

Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 Autoguider color

For years, the Lodestar has been held in the highest regard as being the best autoguider on the market. The innovative minds at Starlight Xpress have been trying to improve on the iconic Lodestar since it’s conception; however, this has proved to be very difficult to achieve – until now that is.

Introducing the Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 Autoguider color; the latest and most sensitive compact guide camera for autoguiding.

Lodestar X2 is an upgraded version of the very popular Lodestar autoguider. The original Lodestar uses the ICX429 Exview chip from Sony and offers excellent sensitivity. However, Sony have now upgraded the ICX429 to the ICX829, with considerably improved QE and read noise. This new ‘Exview 2’ chip approximately doubles the Lodestar sensitivity and adds nearly a full star magnitude to the minimum guide star brightness. We have also redesigned the boards so that a standard RJ12 guide socket can be used. This will please many users who have found the small ‘ZH’ cable socket to be too delicate.

Key Features:

Big things can come in small packages and the Lodestar X2, really is no exception. This compact guide camera is packed full of great features:

• 1.25″ diameter allows it to drop neatly into your 1.25″ eyepiece holder – no additional adapters required.
• Large imaging area (6.45mm x 4.75mm) gives you a wide field of view to find a suitable guide star.
• Sensitivity – with an impressive 77% QE, and large pixels, the Lodestar X2 just sucks up those photons. Sensitivity is key, but combined with the incredibly low noise of the Lodestar X2, finding a guide star has just become even easier.
• Full size RJ12 Autoguider Port – No need to run extra cables from your computer to control your mount corrections.
• Powered by the USB of your computer so there’s no need to carry an extra power supply with you – one less thing to forget when you are on your way to the Star Party.
• Compact and solid aluminum construction.
• Spectral Response: QE max at 620nM (~77%), 45% at 400nM and 770nM
• Readout Noise: Less than 10 electrons RMS – typically only 6 electrons
• Full-well capacity: Greater than 50,000 e- (unbinned)
• Anti-blooming: Overload margin greater than 1000x
• Dark current: Dark frame saturation time greater than 1 hour. Less than 0.1 electrons/second @ + 10C ambient
• Data format: 16 bits
• System gain: 0.4 electrons per ADU
• Computer Interface: Built-in USB 2.0 compatible interface
• Image download time: Typically 0.2 seconds at full resolution using USB 2.0
• Power requirements: USB powered
• Cooling system: Ambient air cooling
• Size: 32 x 86mm black anodized aluminium barrel with 1 x 32tpi  mount thread at the CCD window end & input/output plugs at rear
• Weight: approx. 85 g (3 oz.)

Specifications of the Starlight Xpress Lodestar X2 Autoguider color: