Pyxis Instrument Rotator

Optec Pyxis Instrument Rotator

Pyxis 3-inch Details

De-rotation of the field for long exposure images with alt-azimuth mounted telescope and rotation of the guide chip for SBIG camera to a suitable bright guide star are the two primary uses of this instrument.

The Pyxis 3-inch has a full 3 inches of clear aperture and is designed to hold large instrument packages without flexure or wobble. A 6-inch bronze worm gear and stainless worm rotate the center tube with a resolution of 0.01875 degree per step from the stepper motor.

This model is large and heavy and is intended for larger telescopes on observatory caliber mounts. The 2.4-inch thickness warrants telescopes that can accommodate this increase in the back-focus distance. It uses the same telescope mounts and camera side adapters as the TCF-S3 - Optec's 3-inch temperature compensating focuser. Any telescope mount or camera side adapter has to be ordered separately.

Cross-sectional view of the Pyxis 3-inch

They can only be controlled by a PC computer running the Optec PYXIS.exe control software or third party compatible software. Manual control is not possible. A flat wire serial cable is available for connection to a standard RS-232 interface COM port at 19.2K baud. Standard lengths and custom lengths up to 100 feet are possible. Cables and COM port adapters need to be ordered separately.

A 15 VDC regulated power supply is included. Stepping up to 15 volts DC provides about 20% more torque without sacrificing speed.

Optec's Pyxis Control program PYXIS.exe (see on the download-page for the latest version) is included with the unit on a CD disk.

More information and specifications are available in the Pyxis manual.

If you have any further questions, please send us an email to kontakt (at) baader-planetarium.de.

Read more detailed informaton about the Optec Motorfocucer Programm by Baader Planetarium here.

Please note the additional details on the Tab "Downloads"