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Take your astrophotography and imaging to the next level with the Starlight Xpress Maxi Filter Wheel. This model comes outfitted with a carousel that accepts up to nine unmounted 50.8mm round filters for use on cameras with large-format imaging sensors. Using this filter wheel allows you to change filters without having to touch your gear, un-mount or disassemble your imaging system, or otherwise touch your gear. With so many filter cells available, you are able to use your primary colored filters, plus special ones like a narrow band, nebulae, and clear focusing filters.
An internal low power consumption sub-miniature DC motor drive rotates the filter carousel. This drive system also produces quiet and vibration-free filter changes. The filter location placement are tracked by three Hall-effect magnetic encoder sensors, which prevents the filters from getting out of sequence leading to the wrong filter to be put in the optical path and affecting your exposure. Using a magnetic encoder system, instead of the more common infrared (IR) optical system, eliminates the possibility of stray IR light from accidentally hitting your camera's sensor and causing ghosting or artifacts. The wheel is powered and controlled by a standard USB connection to your Windows computer.
Out of the box the wheel comes equipped with front and rear 72mm mounting adapters, but an array of optional mounting adapters are available to custom-fit the wheel to your specific telescope and camera. For further customization, the carousel can be easily removed and replaced for compatibility with different sizes of mounted and unmounted filters. An integrated off-axis guider port allows you to install an OAG to correct any tracking errors during your long imaging sessions. The OAG prism is specifically designed to be parfocal with the Starlight Xpress Lodestar or Superstar guide cameras—other OAGs will fit the port, but the manufacturer cannot guarantee that they will also be parfocal.