The Sphinx Professional 2 (SXP2) mount is a further development of the classical SXP with improved load-bearing capacity and accuracy of movement - the latter is achieved thanks to a toothed belt drive and large taper roller bearings. This Sphinx purrs like a kitten!
Also the mount chassis has a higher material strength in comparison to the previous SX models. The central axis of the telescope is secured in a fork in order to ensure a high level of stability of the pole block. It is the same fork as seen in the heavier AXJ. With this a fast, but also very stable setting of the latitude is possible.
To set up the mount a 6x20 polar finder is pre-installed. With this, you can set up the polar alignment in both the northern and the southern hemispheres. This polar finder has a variable illuminated reticle with automatic shut-off function. The brightness has 8 levels of adjustment. The Polar finder has a direct set-up using three reference stars and can reach an accuracy of up to 3 arc minutes. If you want to set up the mount quickly and do not need the accuracy required for astrophotography, you can also use the optional compass QPL.
The mount head has a diameter of 35 mm and has eight threaded holes for M8 screws, which are arranged at intervals of 45 degrees. The threaded holes can also be used to attach rails from manufacturers other than Vixen.
The counterweight bar has the same standard diameter as all Sphinx mounts, and so the same counterweights can be used. The bar need not be unscrewed for transporting, but simply slides into the housing. Since the design of the Sphinx mount uses the motor used as a counterweight, the mount requires relatively little additional counterweights.
The Starbook Ten is much more than a hand controller with GoTo functionality!
Here are a few features of this extraordinary astronomy computer
- Large colour LCD monitor: The Starbook Ten's monitor has a 5-inch TFT colour liquid crystal display with high WVGA (800×480 pixels, 65,535 colours) resolution. During astronomical observations at night, the observer's eyes adapt to the darkness. For this reason, the display can be switched to red backlighting. The red light does not interfere with this adaptation to darkness as much as white light. All command and direction buttons can be illuminated in red so that you can keep track of them even in the dark. The illuminated buttons can be switched on or off.
- Moon map: You can view a map of the visible part of the moon on the screen. All important landmarks on the moon's surface are highlighted and can be selected for the GoTo function.
- Fast CPU: The Starbook Ten has a CPU with a clock speed of 324 MHz, which is about 5 times faster than the CPU of the old Starbook. This means that the star chart loads faster and makes the screen more vivid.
- Simple menu: With the Starbook Ten, you can call up your celestial bodies in both scope and chart mode. You can also select your objects by scrolling through the star chart in chart mode. Frequently used menus can be found on each of the ten buttons. This allows you to quickly and easily access the most important functions directly at the touch of a button.
- Large database: The Starbook Ten contains more than 270,000 celestial objects, including 258,977 stars from the SAO star catalogue, 109 Messier objects, 7,840 objects and NGC 5386 IC objects, the sun, the moon and the planets of our solar system. Simply call up objects using their common names.
- P-PEC function: You can store a periodic error correction to improve the tracking accuracy of the mount. This is stored and retained even when you switch off the instrument and start it up again the next time.
- Hunting for satellites and comets: You can enter the orbital elements of a satellite or comet directly into the Starbook via a PC's LAN connection. You can store up to 10 satellites or comets in your Starbook.
- User-defined objects: The Starbook Ten is capable of storing user-defined objects. This allows you to store other interesting celestial objects that you would like to observe or photograph. You can enter the position data of up to 10 objects directly or via the LAN connection of a PC.
- Different tracking speeds: It is possible to change the tracking rate depending on the type of object you are observing. The movement of the sun, moon, planets or comets can be tracked at different speeds.
- Advanced alignment algorithm: You can achieve precise alignment of the mount by simply moving to two stars at least ten degrees apart and saving their positions. You can enter the position data of up to twenty stars on the control. If you save additional stars for alignment within ten degrees, the control will notify you in the dialogue box, as this would not result in more accurate positioning.
- Starbook Ten has a large backup memory in which your information can be stored. This allows you to switch off the instrument and save the batteries. When the mount resumes operation, the data remains stored.
- Atmospheric refraction: This option allows you to compensate for or reduce atmospheric refraction on celestial objects near the horizon.
- Cross Over Meridian: The mount has a safety feature that rotates the optical tube in the opposite direction when the observation object reaches its highest position to prevent the optics from hitting the mount. However, you can freely select or disable this feature if you want to take photographs with your equipment.
The Starbook Ten also has an expansion slot where you can add an additional module. With the optional module, you can operate an autoguider for automatic object tracking during photography.
