Optec :: Pyxis 3-inch

The NEW Pyxis 3-inch has a full 3 inches of clear aperture and is designed to hold large instrument packages without flexture 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. The operating software is very similar to the smaller Pyxis so that exsisting third party software is compatible. 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. Power requirements and other operating conditions are similar to the 2-inch Pyxis model.

This model is large and heavy and is intended for larger telescopes on observatory caliber mountings. 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 new 3-inch temperature compensating focuser. Any telescope mount or camera side adapter has to be ordered separately.

Like the 2-inch Pyxis model, the unit 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 12 VDC regulated power supply is included with 6-feet of low voltage cable terminating in a 2.5 mm power jack. The Optec PYXIS.exe (version 1.20 is required and available by 10-24-06) control software is included with the unit on a CD disk. The current version can be downloaded free from our "Software Download" web page.

More information and specifications are available in the Pyxis manual. See link in the left side navigator bar.