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The summit of the SX series of equatorial mounts, with excellent accuracy, high rigidity and quick response
The summit of the SX series of equatorial mounts has been redesigned for increased performance.
Vixen Telescope SXP2 equatorial mount Description
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Enhanced rigid equatorial mount body.
A pair of ball bearings used for bearing stands of the R.A. axis of the SXP has changed to larger tapered bearings to increase strength. A distance between the bearing stands is widen to have the loading capacity increased. A wall thickness of the R.A. body housing is increased. The R.A. body is caught tightly in fork arms of the same that are used for the upper-class AXJ equatorial mount. This ensures lightweight but strong enough to hold the equatorial body.
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Accurate celestial tracking with the P-PEC function
The STAR BOOK TEN equipped with various functions are provided for the SXP2 equatorial mount. Among of them, the P-PEC function gives an advantage greatly to the celestial tracking. The PEC stands for Periodic Error Corrections and it electrically rectifies uneven motion of the tracking gear wheels which generates periodically and inherently in the gear driven systems. For the SXP2 equatorial mount, a P-PEC function which was advanced from the PEC function is provided. The P-PEC function retains the records of your corrections after the power is turned off on the equatorial mount. It is not necessary to obtain the data every time and it achieves more accurate tracking quickly. (The P-PEC function will be only activated if the STAR BOOK TEN is connected to the SXP-PFL, SXP2, AXJ or AXD2 equatorial mounts.
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The belt drive system achieves minimum backlash and noiselessness.
In the conventional motor drive system of equatorial mounts, motion power of the motor was conveyed to the worm gears to rotate. The gear trains require a minimum amount of play to move the gears and the amount of play increases as the number of gears increases. To avoid this, transmission of the motion power has been changed from the gears to a belt drive system. As a result, both backlash from the gear trains and gear noise have been reduced dramatically. In addition, quick response has been achieved.
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16 pieces of bearings.
A total 16 pieces of bearings are set in the mechanical parts such as the R.A. and DEC axes, and worm gears of the SXP2 equatorial mount. This configuration realizes smooth movements without stress.
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Adoption of fork arms to hold the main body.
The same fork arms that are used for the upper-class AXJ equatorial mount is adopted to support the main body strongly. It results in high stability of the equatorial mount.
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Simple polar alignment scope.
The polar alignment scope allows you to align the equatorial mount to the N.C.P or S.C.P accurately with simple adjustments. It has the built-in scales and reticle where stars adjacent to the N.C.P and S.C.P. are indicated. In case of the northern hemisphere, it is possible to align as accurate as 3 arc minutes easily by setting Polaris and other two stars simultaneously to the designated position on the scales. The polar scopes' reticle is illuminated in red in the dark field of view by a push of the button. It is convenient as you can view stars on the relatively dark background. Also, it is a great help as all the alignment can be finished in the dark while looking through the polar scope. The brightness of the illuminated reticle can be adjusted in 8 levels, so you can adjust it to your preference. The red light becomes gradually dimmer after a certain interval of time (about one or two minutes) and turns off automatically.
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The mount head available for a variety of optical tubes and accessories.
The mount head features 35mm in diameter and eight threaded holes for M8 screws that are arranged at an intervals of 45 degrees. It can be attached an optional accessory plate directly or in combination with an optional dovetail-plate mounting block. The threaded holes on the mount head can accept other manufacturer's tube plates also.
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Comfortable operation using the STAR BOOK TEN with celestial navigation system.
As you designate a celestial object of your interest on the STAR BOOK TEN screen, it allows you to slue automatically to the celestial object to bring it into the field of view of your telescope, and then start tracking it continuously. Various celestial navigation functions are displayed beautifully on a wide 5-inch TFT color LCD. Easy-to-use commands and direction keys can be backlit in red to let you operate the controller comfortably in a dark observing site.
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A fusion of innovative, elegant design and user-friendly operation that are useful to every level of star gazers.
The marriage of the strong, rigid equatorial mount body with high accurate tracking by P-PEC and the STAR BOOK TEN with versatile functions as an excellent interface have created the most user-friendly platform for both visual observation and astrophotography.
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Advanced motor layout for less weight.
The heavy R.A. and DEC motor units are placed in the lower part of the declination body so that the center of balance of the equatorial mount shifts to below the crossing point of the R.A. and DEC axes. This makes the declination body act as a counterweight. Also, the low-profile mount head allows the equatorial mount to balance with less weight.
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Retractable counterweight bar.
The counterweight bar is a durable stainless steel of 20mm thick and it allows for using all the counterweights for the SX series of the equatorial mounts. The counterweight bar is stored inside the declination body. This aids in quick set up.
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Accessory shoe on the R.A. body.
There is an accessory shoe for an optional Polar Meter which is a compass with a bubble level and an altitude scale used for locating Polaris with ease. It allows for simple set up in daytime.
Accessories
- Allen wrenches, one each of 6mm, 5mm, 1.5mm and 1.27mm
- Phillips head screwdriver
- CR2032 battery for the built-in clock
- M8 screws (2 pieces)
- Ferrite core for LAN cable
- Cigarette-lighter plug cord SX
- Star Book TEN controller
- Controller cable for SBT
Configuration
- SXP2 equatorial mount
Manual
Specifications
Specifications
SXP2 equatorial mount
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R.A. slow motionWorm and wheel gears with 180-tooth whole circle micro movement, 73.2mm in diameter, made of brass
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DEC. slow motionWorm and wheel gears with 180-tooth whole circle micro movement, 73.2mm in diameter, made of brass
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Worm shaft gear9mm in diameter, made of brass
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R.A. axis40mm in diameter, made of carbon steel
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DEC. axis40mm in diameter, made of carbon steel
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Number of bearings16 pieces
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Counterweight bar20mm in diameter, stainless steel, retractable
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Polar axis scopeBuilt-in 6X20mm finder scope, 8 degrees field of view, with automatic turn off reticle illuminator, brightness adjustable in 8 steps, 3 arc minutes or less setting accuracy, Battery: CR2032 (supplied for checking purpose), 3 stars alignment (Polaris, delta UMI and 51 Cep in the northern hemisphere; Octantis 4 stars in the southern hemisphere) with precession correction until the year 2040.
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Azimuth adjustmentCoarse setting: 360 degrees, Fine adjustment with double screws, about 1.7 degrees per rotation, Fine adjustable range about +/- 5 degrees
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Altitude adjustmentLatitude adjustable between 0 degree and 70 degrees (divided in 3 zones for high, middle and low latitude and adjustable +/- 15 degrees per zone), altitude scale in 5 degrees increments, Fine adjustment with double screws about 0.7 degrees per rotation
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Motor drivePulse motors and belt drive system, with micro-step motion control (About 250 PPS)
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Go-To slewing/trackingAutomatic slewing with STAR BOOK TEN controller, 1000× of sidereal rate at maximum slewing speed, high precision tracking
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Loading capacityAbout 1.3 to 17 kg (Torque load: 32.5 to 425 kg-cm at a point of 25cm from the place where the R.A and Dec axes cross.）
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Controller portD-SUB 9 PIN Male connector
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Power portDC12V EIAJ RC5320A Calss4 (Unified Standard), Center plus polarity
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Power source/Electricity consumptionDC12V, 0.45 to 2.2 amperes (at 10 kg loading weight), 0.6 to 2.5 amperes (at 17 kg loading weight)
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Size386mm x 419mm x 128mm (except protrusion)
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WeightAbout 13.3 kg (without counterweight)
STAR BOOK TEN controller
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CPU32 bit RISC processor 324MHz SH7764
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Display5-inch TFT color LCD, WVGA(800x480=384,000 pixels), 65,536 colors, with adjustable backlighting
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Power portDC12V EIAJ RC5320A Class 4(Unified Standard), Center plus polarity
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Autoguider port6-pole 6-wired modular jack
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LAN port10BASE-T
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Controller portD-SUB 9PIN Male connector
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Expansion slotFor Advance Unit sold separately
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On-screen R.A./DEC. display unitR.A.: 1 arc second, DEC: 0.1 minute
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Power supplyDC12V (supplied from the Mount side)
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Battery for backup memoryCR2032
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Electricity consumption12V 0.5A at maximum (stand-alone use)
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Working temperature0 degree to 40 degrees Centigrade
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Size169mm x 154mm x 30mm
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Weight380g (without battery and without cable)
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Celestial object database272,342 (SAO:258,997, NGC:7,840, IC:5,386, Messier:109*, 7 planets, q quasi-planet, the Moon and the Sun) *In the database, M91 and M102 are listed as NGC4548 and NGC5866 respectively.
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Menus and major functionsAutomatic Go-To slewing, Sidereal tracking and different tracking speeds for the Sun, the Moon, planets comets and artificial satellites, Moon map, Backlash compensation, V-PEC, P-PEC, External autoguider connection, Vight vision mode, Available in 6 languages (Japanese/English/French/German/Italy/Spanish), Screen brightness control, Hibernate mode, LAN connecting update and more (as of September 2018).