HyperStar
Want to take incredible pictures of the night sky like you see in the
magazines but don’t want to spend the hours it takes? You don’t
have to anymore. Starizona’s HyperStar lens converts a Schmidt-
Cassegrain telescope from f/10 to an amazingly fast f/1.8—30
times faster! Exposures that used to take hours now take seconds.
HyperStar even allows imaging using an alt-azimuth-mounted telescope.
No need to use a wedge or polar align the scope. Deep-sky imaging
doesn’t get any easier!
HyperStar lenses are available for a variety of SCTs, from 8” to 14”
The HyperStar lens mounts on the
telescope in place of the secondary
mirror. Switching between HyperStar
and regular telescope setups is easy
and quick. There is no need to
recollimate the telescope.
The above images were taken with a HyperStar lens, Celestron NexStar 11 GPS,
Feathertouch SCT MicroFocuser and MicroTouch Wireless Autofocuser. Each
image was shot unguided in alt-azimuth mode. Camera was a Starlight Xpress
SXV-H9C one-shot color CCD. There were no dark frames or flat fields. Each is a
total of thirty 30-second exposures. Images by Dail Terry.
HyperStar lenses are available for Celestron 8”, 11” and 14” SCTs, and
Meade 10” and 14” SCTs. A variety of CCD cameras are compatible with
HyperStar lenses. The new HyperStar lenses for the 14” Celestron and
Meade SCTs are also compatible with digital SLR cameras such as the
Canon EOS 20Da and Digital Rebel. Visit starizona.com for more details
and a gallery of HyperStar images.
HyperStar Products
HyperStar C8 Lens – Celestron 8” f/1.8
HyperStar C11 Lens – Celestron 11” f/1.8
HyperStar C14 Lens – Celestron 14” f/1.9
HyperStar M10 Lens – Meade 10” f/1.8
HyperStar M14 Lens – Meade 14” f/2.0
Feathertouch SCT MicroFocusers
Make focusing your telescope easier and more precise with a
Feathertouch MicroFocuser from Starlight Instruments. The MicroFocuser
features a 10:1 fine focus knob, allowing very precise focusing with no
backlash. Installing the focuser is easy. Available for all current Celestron
SCTs 6” and larger, and all current Meade SCTs and LX200Rs 8” and larger.
The focusers will also work with many previous-model SCTs.
Feathertouch SCT MicroFocuser Products
SCT MicroFocuser – 8” Celestron (non-CPC)
SCT MicroFocuser – 8” Celestron (CPC)
SCT MicroFocuser – 9.25” Celestron (non-CPC)
SCT MicroFocuser – 11” Celestron (non-CPC)
SCT MicroFocuser – 11” Celestron (CPC)
SCT MicroFocuser – 14” Celestron
SCT MicroFocuser – 7-8” Meade
SCT MicroFocuser – 10-12” Meade
SCT MicroFocuser – 14” Meade
MicroTouch Wireless Autofocuser
Want to make focusing easier yet?
Starizona’s updated MicroTouch Wireless
Autofocuser allows very fast, precise
automatic focusing for CCD imaging. It
can also be used manually for imaging
or visual observing.
The MicroTouch focuser mounts on any
Starlight Instruments Feathertouch focus-
er (Crayford or Micro style). The motor
drives the 10:1 fine focus shaft of the
Feathertouch focuser, allowing very
precise movement for an accurate
focus.
The wireless model allows remote
operation up to 300 feet from the
telescope. A wired version is also
available for users who will be near their
telescopes. Both models feature temp-
erature compensation, a large backlit LCD readout, USB2.0 computer
interface, and include Starizona’s
MicroTouch software for easy oper-
ation. The MicroTouch focuser is
ASCOM compatible and includes a
copy of FocusMax software for easy
and fast autofocusing.
MicroTouch motor on SCT MicroFocuser
MicroTouch AutoFocuser Products
MicroTouch Wireless Autofocuser
MicroTouch Autofocuser – Wired Version
Landing Pad
One of our most popular products,
and one that always gets great
feedback from delighted owners. The
Landing Pad makes mounting a
telescope on a tripod much simpler.
Most fork-mounted SCTs are difficult to
properly align with the tripod while
holding a heavy, expensive scope in
the dark. Many fingers have been
pinched by helpful observing partners
trying to guide the scope onto the
tripod. Not anymore!
The Landing Pad attaches to the top of the tripod, guiding the telescope
exactly into place. Once on the Landing Pad, the telescope is safely held
while the mounting bolts are tightened. For Meade telescopes the
benefit is even greater: not only does the Landing Pad guide the
telescope onto the tripod, it allows the center spreader tray to be locked
into place before mounting the scope. No
more trying to mount your expensive telescope
on a wobbly tripod!
The Landing Pad is available for all Celestron
NexStar GPS telescopes and all Meade LX200,
LX200GPS, and LX200R models 14” and smaller.
Landing Pad for the Meade LX200
Landing Pad Products
Landing Pad – Celestron NexStar GPS (old-style black tripod)
Landing Pad – Celestron NexStar GPS (new-style silver tripod)
Landing Pad – Meade LX200
Virtual View
Star parties are a great opportunity for
enthusiastic astronomers to share the
wonders of the night sky with others. It’s
also a great opportunity for enthusiastic
kids to yank on your telescope’s eyepiece.
The Virtual View is a slip-clutch 2” visual
back which allows a diagonal on a SCT to
be rotated to any position without the
need to loosen and tighten any screws.
This means no more scratched diagonals
when someone accidentally turns the
eyepiece, and no chance of the diagonal and eyepiece falling out when
you loosen the screws to rotate them.
The Virtual View also works great photographically, allowing easy rotation
of a camera to frame a subject. The clutch is adjustable and can turn
very easily with small eyepieces, can be tighter for heavy 2” eyepieces, or
can be locked down completely to prevent rotation after framing an
object in a camera.
The Virtual View features a brass clamp ring to prevent any damage to
accessories. It is available with a standard SCT thread for Celestron or
Meade 8”-16” SCTs, or with a larger 3.25” thread for direct attachment to
the rear cell of a Celestron 11” or 14” SCT.
Virtual View Products
Virtual View – SCT Thread
Virtual View – C11/14 Thread
Piggyback Power Pack
Celestron’s CPC series of telescopes
are among the easiest-to-use
telescopes ever made. So we
decided an easy-to-use battery
pack would be ideal. Instead of a
heavy battery that sits on the
ground, with its power cord tangling
up as the scope rotates, why not a
compact battery that moves with
the scope? Why not indeed. The
Piggyback Power Pack is designed
to ride on the base of the telescope, preventing any cord wrap issues.
It is compact enough to not interfere with the
clutch mechanism of the telescope, but
despite its small size, it packs a lot of power.
The Power Pack consists of two 4.5 amp-hour
lithium-ion batteries. It can easily run your
scope all night but weighs only 19 ounces.
The Piggyback Power Pack can also run many
other telescopes which use 12-volt DC power.
It includes a 12v DC charger to charge the battery from a car's cigarette
lighter, plus two AC chargers that function as flashlights with their built-in
white and violet LEDs!
Accessory Tray
Need a handy place to set your
eyepieces and other accessories
while stargazing? Our Accessory Tray
fits most Celestron and Meade SCTs,
including the NexStar GPS, CPC, CGE,
and LX200 series. (The LX200 requires
use of the Landing Pad.) The tray
replaces the standard spreader bar
on the tripod, providing rigid support
for the tripod and a handy place to
set accessories. The Accessory Tray
features holes to hold 1.25” and 2”
eyepieces, and a recessed flat area
to hold filters and other accessories while preventing items from rolling off
the tray. The tray has cutouts for the tripod legs which feature beveled,
rounded edges to prevent scratching the tripod. It also has a convenient
quick-release design. Simply
unthread the tripod’s hand knob a
couple inches and the tray drops
down and slips off without need to
completely remove the knob. The
Accessory Tray is made from black-
anodized aluminum for durability
and a high quality finish.
Accessory Tray on a Celestron tripod
Counterweight Kits
Proper balance is critical for tracking
accuracy and to prevent excess
wear on a telescope’s drive motors.
But balance is often overlooked by
many amateur astronomers. We
have found that improper balance
accounts for most tracking errors
when trying to capture deep-sky
images. We also found that no one
made a counterweight set for the
popular fork-mounted SCTs that
allowed proper full dynamic bal-
ance.
Most counterweight kits have a bar
that attaches to the bottom of the
scope and allows balancing from
front to back. While this works fine
when the scope is horizontal, most
celestial objects are overhead (that’s where the sky is, after all). When a
scope is pointed vertically, the weight on the bottom of the scope now
pulls the scope to one side. Our counterweight kit solves this problem by
having weights for both the top and bottom of the telescope. The
bottom weight slides front to back to allow horizontal balance and a
threaded rod for vertical balance in conjunction with the top bracket and
interchangeable counterweights. This allows precise, true dynamic
balance.
For users with cameras or telescopes piggybacked on the main
telescope, the bottom kit is available separately, and additional weights
are optionally available. For those with bottom kits already from Starizona
or other manufacturers, the top kit is also available separately.
The Counterweight Kits are available for Celestron 8”, 9.25” and 11” fork-
mounted SCTs, including the NexStar GPS series and CPC series as well as
most older models of SCTs.
Counterweight Kit Products
Counterweight Set – NexStar 8 GPS – Complete Kit
Counterweight Set – NexStar 8 GPS – Bottom Only
Counterweight Set – NexStar 8 GPS – Top Only
Counterweight Set – CPC-800 – Complete Kit
Counterweight Set – CPC-800 – Bottom Only
Counterweight Set – CPC-800 – Top Only
Counterweight Set – NexStar 9.25 GPS – Complete Kit
Counterweight Set – NexStar 9.25 GPS – Bottom Only
Counterweight Set – CPC-925 – Complete Kit
Counterweight Set – CPC-925 – Bottom Only
Counterweight Set – NexStar 11 GPS – Complete Kit
Counterweight Set – NexStar 11 GPS – Bottom Only
Counterweight Set – NexStar 9.25/11 GPS – Top Only
Counterweight Set – CPC-1100 – Complete Kit
Counterweight Set – CPC-1100 – Bottom Only
Counterweight Set – CPC-925/1100 – Top Only
STARIZONA 5757 N. Oracle Rd., Suite 103
Tucson, AZ 85704
520-292-5010
www.starizona.com