Starligh Express AO unit compatible with SBIG STi?

[gregbradley]

Are you able to use an SBIG STi guide camera with a Starlight Express AO unit? Or does it only work with a Lodestar?

Greg.

[naskies]

Not in MaximDL or the SX AO software. I had to replace my STi guide camera with a Lodestar.

It's purely a software/driver issue though, as the SX AO is controlled by an RS232 connection (there's no proprietary connection between the SX AO and Lodestar). I believe SX AO support is being added to PHD/OpenPHD so that might be an option?

[gregbradley]

Thanks Dave.

I figured its probably made to require it.

Greg.

[naskies]

It's probably not what you're after, but SBIG are taking pre-orders for their new 3-inch model for STX and STXL cameras, the AO-X.

https://www.sbig.com/products/adaptive-optics/ao-x/

[gregbradley]

Yes I saw that and the promo reads nicely. I bet they have improved the performance even more over previous models as well.

Would that work on an STL camera? It does mention it needs the STXL filter wheel. Do these also work on an STL?

Too bad SBIG only works with SBIG cameras. I would not mind having an SBIG fSTXL filter wheel and that AO on my Proline if that would work.

I suspect the filter wheel uses the camera electronics to do the guiding.

Greg.

[multiweb]

I've noticed that too but haven't had a chance to try it. Have you?

[naskies]

I'm not sure - question for Peter, perhaps?



Not yet... By the way, what's the highest guide rate you've achieved? My set up can do just under 15 Hz with a sufficiently bright guide star - I think it's limited by the Lodestar's download rate - but the MaximDL guide star reacquisition algorithm also has issues with scintillation at that rate.

The SX AO takes about 5 ms to respond to tip/tilt commands, add in another 5 ms for data comms times, and in theory it should be able to accept corrections at up to 100 Hz. Pair it up with a high frame rate and sensitive video camera on a large scope, and I reckon we should be able to AO guide at up to 50 Hz with the right software. That speed would be in the right territory to start chasing high frequency seeing...