Lodestar X2 handbook Issue 2, August 2014
Handbook for the SX ‘Lodestar X2’ guide camera
Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress ‘Lodestar X2’ guide camera. We hope that you will be
very pleased with the performance of this product.
The Lodestar X2 is an updated version of the very popular ‘Lodestar’ and is a very compact guider
which is powered and operated via a single USB2.0 computer connection. It also provides an opto-
isolated output connection for direct control of most mounts, via their ‘Autoguider’ sockets. This
output is compatible with the ‘ST4’ style of RJ12 connection and supplies 4 ‘pull down’ direction lines
and a common return. Alternatively, you may send the mount control signals via a serial connection
from the guider control computer. The Lodestar X2 utilises a very sensitive Sony ‘ExView2’ CCD (the
ICX829AL) with an array of 752 x 580 pixels in a ‘half-inch’ format. Although the chip is not cooled,
it has a very low dark signal and very little readout noise, so it can be used to guide on faint stars that
are well beyond the reach of webcams and CMOS chip based guide cameras.
The Lodestar X2 specification:
CCD
-
Sony ICX829AL ExView2 monochrome CCD
Pixel count
-
752(H) x 580(V)
Pixel size
-
8.6 x 8.3uM
