Starlight Xpress SXV-M9 - Manual

Handbook for SXV-M9 Issue 1 June 2004
1
Starlight Xpress Ltd
SXV-M9
CCD camera user manual
Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress CCD camera. We hope that you will be
very satisfied with the results. The SXV-M9 is a high-resolution cooled CCD camera,
especially designed for astronomical imaging. The SXV-M9 uses a Sony SuperHAD
CCD, with 752 x 582 pixels in a 6.5mm x 4.8mm active area. SuperHAD devices
have an excellent quantum efficiency across the visible and near infra-red spectrum
and the use of high performance microlenses on the CCD surface gives the greatest
possible throughput of light to the pixels. This camera is a next generation version of
the parallel port driven MX916, but the use of an internal USB2 interface and the
addition of an external guide camera option makes it considerably more effective.
Please note that the SXV-M9 can be operated in several different imaging modes. The
easiest to use is ‘Fast’, which creates an image from a single exposure and so this is
the mode used in the operating instructions below. ‘Fast’ mode does give a slightly
reduced vertical resolution in the output image, but this is barely detectable unless
observing conditions are extremely good. ‘Progressive’ and ‘Interlaced’ modes will
be described later.
Please take a few minutes to study the contents of this manual, which will help you to
get the camera into operation quickly and without problems. I am sure that you want