ST-i Guiding Kit Assembly Instructions

St-i Kit Product Flyer

ST-i Operating Manual

ST-i Product Information Sheet

• Typically can guide to sub-arcsecond accuracy on stars fainter than 7th magnitude using 1-second exposures.
• 2.7 x 2.0 degree field virtually guarantees a suitable guide star will always be in the field of view
• Since there is no need to adjust the pointing of the guide scope to find suitable guide stars, the guider can be more firmly mounted to avoid differential deflection
• Unlike mounting systems using rings with three point adjustment screws that can move or flex, the oversized rings of this Guiding Kit clamp firmly around the body of the ST-i camera and hold it firmly in place. Guide scopes that use adjustable mounting systems are almost always plagued with differential deflection.
• The ST-i guiding Kit is mechanically rock-solid. In addition to guiding, this kit also makes the ST-i a very capable electronic finder scope. The ST-i, with its built-in shutter can take dark frames allowing the useful capture of relatively long exposures compared to other guiders. The lens of our new Guider Kit has a fast focal ratio of F/2.8. This combined with the sensitivity and dark frame capability of the ST-i means that globular clusters and cores of galaxies are within easy reach of this compact system. In tests of the ST-i and Guider Kit from a typical backyard observatory with average light pollution, stars dimmer than 10th magnitude were detected in 1-second exposures. In 10 seconds, stars dimmer than 13th magnitude were recorded and stars as dim as 15th magnitude were captured in 30 seconds.