Vixen Equatorial Mounts

More Information  · Recommended Accessories  · Images of Some Features Price $1,799.00 $1,999.00 SAVE: $200.00 (10%) Shipping $49.95 List Price $2,800.00 Weight 29.7 lbs. Warranty 3 years

The Sphinx mount . . .

• Motor drives: 180-tooth hardened aluminum worm gears for precise 360° motion. The motors are mounted internally. This eliminates the possibility of damage from bumping an exposed motor during transport or setup, as can happen with mounts that use exposed motors with only light plastic or soft vinyl covers. The motor placement keeps the center of gravity of the mount low, to keep the number of counterweights needed to a minimum to balance any given payload. The internal mounting of the motors also allows them to be mounted close to the right ascension and declination shafts to reduce the gear train length. This reduces backlash and improves the accuracy and reaction time of the drive system. The drives can slew your scope across the sky at speeds up to a fast 5° per second.

• Counterweights: A 1.9kg (4.2 lb) counterweight is standard equipment with the SXW Sphinx. This is sufficient to handle optical tubes weighing up to about 10 lbs. Additional optional counterweights are available to balance a heavier load. The counterweight shaft stores inside the motor housing for convenience when the mount is not in use.

• Polar finder: An optional internally illuminated polar axis scope can be threaded into the mount body for faster and more accurate polar alignment in the field. The mount’s micrometer-adjust altitude and azimuth control knobs make short work of lining up the Sphinx on Polaris (or on the celestial pole when using the optional polar alignment scope).

• Tripod: A full length SX HAL110 adjustable height aluminum field tripod is standard equipment. The tripod has legs that adjust the height from the ground to the top of the tripod over a range of 24.75" to 38" to suit a variety of optical tube lengths and types. The tripod is color-coordinated with the Sphinx mount. An optional #SX2511 tabletop tripod is available for use with short (f/5) refractors and small catadioptric scopes. This allows the mount to be used on any solid flat surface, such as a picnic table in the back yard for casual astronomy. Physically long optical tubes will probably hit the tabletop when the scope is pointed at the zenith when on the tabletop tripod. An optional #SX2516 half pillar might be needed to add enough extra height to the mount to bring the eyepiece of a long focal length refractor up to a comfortable observing height when using the standard full-length field tripod. The half pillar may also be needed when observing at low latitudes to keep the counterweight from striking the tripod legs.

• Payload capacity: The Sphinx mount will support optical tubes weighing up to about 10 lbs with the supplied 1.9kg counterweight. Add one optional 1.9kg or 2.8kg counterweight and it can easily handle Vixen’s 8" aperture catadioptric and reflector optical tubes, which weigh about 15 lbs. The recommended maximum payload capacity of the Sphinx mount is 22 lbs. Additional counterweights will be needed to balance an optical tube in this weight range. Adding an optional Vixen #SDP2661 dovetail bracket will allow you to install a variety of non-Vixen optics and mounting rings on the Sphinx mount.

• Weight: The weight of the Sphinx mount head with the supplied counterweight and counterweight shaft is 19.2 lbs. The SX HAL110 tripod weighs 10.5 lbs. Total mount/tripod weight is 29.7 lbs.

The Star Book controller . . .

• Specifications of the built-in computer: 75MHz 32-bit RISC processor, 8MB SDRAM, upgradeable 4MB flash ROM (Vixen offers flash upgrade downloads from their website). The astronomical database includes 22,725 celestial objects. A LAN port allows for computer control and network connectivity via downloads available from Vixen. An autoguider port is standard. A flash ROM download allows for compatibility with a variety of autoguiders (including SBIG).

• Liquid crystal display: The innovative Star Book hand controller has a large 4.7 inch diagonal full-color LCD screen. It displays a chart of the area of the night sky at which your scope is pointing at all times, along with the functions of each of the ten buttons on the controller. As you change screens, the button function display changes to keep you current with what each button does, without guessing. Features and menu options are always displayed at the bottom of the large color screen and are easily navigated with the ten large buttons on the controller.
      The 4096-color screen displays a detailed 320 x 420 pixel star chart that acts as a navigational system and go-to controller for the mount. A cursor shows the exact point in the sky your scope is aimed at. As you move the scope, the star chart scrolls under the crosshair so you always know exactly where your scope is pointing and what interesting objects are only a button-push away.
      Zoom-In/Out buttons for the color star chart display also control the motor speed. As you zoom in closer to an object on the display screen, the motor speed automatically slows for finer control. As you zoom out, the motor speed increases to let you cover larger distances across the skies more quickly, up to a maximum of 5° per second.

• Stand-alone use: The Star Book controller can be used as a stand-alone star atlas any place, any time. You can use it for binocular or bare eye astronomy, for example, to identify constellations, star clusters. nebulas, and more. Easy to see at night and easy to use, it will help you learn the skies quickly when you’re not using it to control your go-to Vixen SXW Sphinx mount.