Advertisement
Quick Links
Oculus Handbook Issue 2, February 2024
Handbook for the SX Oculus all-sky camera
The Oculus is a high resolution, very compact wide-field camera assembly, which is powered and
operated via a single USB2.0 computer connection. It is intended for full-sky monitoring of weather,
meteors, satellites etc. and will provide high quality images and video files, while operating
unattended for long periods. The 'megapixel' resolution F/2 fish-eye lens provides horizon to
horizon coverage with very little star image distortion across the entire field.
The Oculus utilises a sensitive Sony CCD (the ICX267AL) with an array of 1392 x 1040 pixels in a 'half-
inch' format. Although the chip is not cooled, it has a very low dark signal and very little readout
noise, so it can be used to image faint stars with a very short exposure time. The small pixel size and
high resolution lens give excellent definition and a good sized screen image format.
A strong polycarbonate hemispherical dome houses the lens assembly and this dome is easily
removed for cleaning, when necessary, a spare dome is also included with the Oculus. A 12v DC
input socket is also provided to permit an internal heating resistor to be powered up to prevent
dewing of the lens and dome on humid nights. The entire assembly comes equipped with a standard
tripod bracket for mounting.
Advertisement
Subscribe to Our Youtube Channel
Related Manuals for Starlight Xpress Oculus
Summary of Contents for Starlight Xpress Oculus
- Page 1 The Oculus utilises a sensitive Sony CCD (the ICX267AL) with an array of 1392 x 1040 pixels in a ‘half- inch’ format. Although the chip is not cooled, it has a very low dark signal and very little readout noise, so it can be used to image faint stars with a very short exposure time.
- Page 2 150mm tall x 95mm diameter Installing the Oculus: Before connecting the Oculus to your computer, please install the appropriate drivers for your operating system from the USB drive supplied with your camera. The supplied USB stick contains all the drivers and software. To install the drivers: 1.
- Page 3 , if necessary. Alternatively, ‘PHD’, ‘AstroArt’ and ‘MaximDL’ support the Oculus (as the H9 or SuperStar) and may be preferred. Note that the Oculus may show up as an ‘SXV-H9’ or as ‘Unknown’ in some software, but it should still work OK.
- Page 4 The minimum setup requires only a USB cable to the monitoring computer. This should be as short as is practical, but it will probably be necessary to have a fairly long lead if the Oculus is mounted high on a mast or roof. As the camera power is taken from the USB cable, any long leads should be as heavy as possible to reduce the internal resistance.
- Page 5 Oculus Handbook Issue 2, February 2024 The Oculus is designed to minimise any lens and dome dewing problems, but these are very common in optical systems that are cooled by radiation to the sky. It is very likely that you will have dewing on humid nights unless the dome is kept warm by powering the internal heater via the 12v socket on the rear of the assembly.
- Page 6 The ‘Ignore VID/PID’ may be selected if the software fails to recognise your Oculus camera, but is not normally necessary. Once the defaults have been set to values which you think will be approximately correct, save the settings and open the camera interface by pressing the camera icon in the top menu.
- Page 7 Note that the dark noise is temperature sensitive and so you will get cleaner images if the Oculus is cold Unfortunately, if the air is humid, this is also likely to lead to dew or frost forming on the dome, so you might find that running with the heater on is often necessary, and this is where dark frame subtraction can be particularly useful.
- Page 8 Oculus Handbook Issue 2, February 2024 be useful when searching for frames that contain interesting events. Some software, such as ‘Windows Media Viewer’, will sometimes hide this legend behind their control slider and so I recommend checking the ‘Frame label offset’ option to shift it up be about 200 lines. You will see that a ‘Hot pixel map’...
- Page 9 Oculus and replacements may also be purchased from our dealers. The Oculus dome is spaced off from the base ring by small pads. This allows air to circulate through the vent holes and inside of the dome, to reduce the tendency for dew to condense on the inner...
- Page 10 Oculus handbook Issue 2 January 2013 Dear Observer, Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress product. We are confident that you will gain a great deal of satisfaction from this equipment, but please read carefully the instruction manual, supplied with your product, to ensure that you achieve the best performance that it is capable of providing.
Need help?
Do you have a question about the Oculus and is the answer not in the manual?
Questions and answers