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Ultrastar PRO handbook Issue 1, September 2020 

Ultrastar PRO maintenance 

 

The Ultrastar PRO head is designed for a long and reliable lifespan and needs very little maintenance 

to keep it in good working order. The only common issue is with dust particles which collect on the 

CCD window and can shade areas of the image field. These are best removed with a quick blast of 

compressed air from a ‘Dust off’ aerosol, or similar air blower. More permanent marks may be 

removed with a drop of alcohol on a ‘microfibre’ lens cloth. 

 

Dear User, 

Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress CCD Imaging camera. We are confident that you will gain 

much satisfaction from this equipment, but please read carefully the accompanying instruction 

manual to ensure that you achieve the best performance that is capable of providing. 
In the unfortunate instance when the equipment does not perform as expected, may we recommend 

that you first study the fault finding information supplied. If this does not remedy the problem, then 

contact Starlight Xpress for further advice. Our message board service on the Starlight Xpress web site 

will often provide solutions to any problems. 
The equipment is covered by a 12-month guarantee covering faulty design, material or workmanship 

in addition to any statutory Consumer Rights of Purchasers. 

CONDITIONS OF GUARANTEE 

1) The equipment shall only be used for normal purposes described in the standard operating 

instructions, and within the relevant safety standards of the country where the equipment is used. 
2) Repairs under guarantee will be free of charge providing proof of purchase is produced, and that 

the equipment is returned to the Service Agent at the Purchaser’s expense and risk, and that the 

equipment proves to be defective. 
3) The guarantee shall not apply to equipment damaged by fire, accident, wear an tear, misuse, 

unauthorised repairs, or modified in any way whatsoever, or damage suffered in transit to or from the 

Purchaser. 
4) The Purchaser’s sole and exclusive rights under this guarantee is for repair, or at our discretion the 

replacement of the equipment or any part thereof, and no remedy to consequential loss or damage 

whatsoever. 
5) This guarantee shall not apply to components that have a naturally limited life. 
6) Starlight Xpress’s decision in all matters is final, and any faulty component which has been replaced 

will become the property of Starlight Xpress Ltd. 
For further info. or advice, please call: 
Mr Michael Hattey, 
Starlight Xpress Ltd., 
Unit 3, Brooklands Business Park, 
Bottle Lane, Binfield, 
Berkshire, 
England.  RG42 5QX 
Tel: 01184026878 
e-mail: [email protected] 
Web site: http://www.sxccd.com 

 

Please don’t forget to register your Lodestar PRO at 

https://tforms.gle/tmsHEJfQG2bLJjr57

 to initiate your warranty

 

Содержание Ultrastar PRO

Страница 1: ...r 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 Ultrastar PRO utilises a very sen...

Страница 2: ... sxccd com drivers downloads The Ultrastar PRO has two different software packages One is Ultrastar exe which is an imaging autoguiding software package the other is Starlight Live which is a Live stacking software Starlight Live allows you to use the Ultrastar PRO as an imaging camera by taking a series of short exposures typically 10 sec or more and then automatically stacking the images togethe...

Страница 3: ...uch as AstroArt MaximDL SkyX and others all support the Ultrastar PRO either with native drivers or through ASCOM Our latest driver can be found on our website https www sxccd com drivers downloads Imaging with the Ultrastar PRO The Ultrastar PRO makes an excellent imaging camera especially when used as a Live View imager This method involves stacking many short exposures to achieve a high sensiti...

Страница 4: ...020 If stars are visible Starlight Live will use these for registering the images together and the image clarity will steadily improve as the stack develops The image brightness and contrast may be manipulated by adjusting the sliders provided ...

Страница 5: ...end to be expensive machine vision lenses A relatively cheap option is to use an SLR lens with a C to T or Pentax thread adaptor tube The old Asahi 55 mm F1 8 SLR lenses can be bought for as little as 20 pounds on Ebay and work very well with the Ultrastar PRO The correct focal distance for these lenses is about 45 mm so you will need a C to lens thread adaptor of about 32 mm overall length to ach...

Страница 6: ...you an image and this can be saved as a FIT file for further processing Various image processing functions are available from the menu bar and will be adequate for many general imaging purposes Many other imaging programs will recognise and work with the Ultrastar PRO Maxim DL5 and 6 will work although the camera might appear as an Unknown device in earlier versions of this software However it wil...

Страница 7: ...xis guide prism on the main telescope drawtube SX Ltd offer various assemblies for this purpose such as our Mini wheel with OAG or our Slim OAG Filter Wheel The OAG can also be supplied on its own with an extension tube to compensate for the thickness of the missing filter wheel The OAG utilises the C mount thread in the Ultrastar PRO to give a secure attachment The control of your telescope mount...

Страница 8: ...the View menu In this you will see an option called Max palette stretch Open this and check the Activate stretch display check box This will automatically boost the image brightness so that faint guide stars can be easily seen if necessary you can adjust the slider for the best results Now click on the camera icon to open the Ultrastar PRO control dialog as below The image box will be empty at thi...

Страница 9: ...ou will see the guide star along with error values and a reticule showing the guide star location with respect to the reference position If all is well you should see the guide star location being forced towards the centre position with each successive guide image However it is quite likely that it will be pushed away from the correct position due to an error in the guiding default settings If thi...

Страница 10: ...t the Starlight SXV option for the camera If you have more than one SX camera connected then choose Ultrastar or SX 825 from the list Next press the Mount button and select On camera this uses the RJ12 cable to feed corrections to the mount You can also set these as the default by using the Manage Profiles selection at the top of the box Close the settings window when finished Now press the Loop i...

Страница 11: ...lick the mouse on a suitable guide star in your last image and then select the Target icon PHD2 will set up a cursor and box on the guide star and proceed to calibrate the mount After about 1 minute of calibration it will start to guide on the star ...

Страница 12: ...nsumer Rights of Purchasers CONDITIONS OF GUARANTEE 1 The equipment shall only be used for normal purposes described in the standard operating instructions and within the relevant safety standards of the country where the equipment is used 2 Repairs under guarantee will be free of charge providing proof of purchase is produced and that the equipment is returned to the Service Agent at the Purchase...

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