Vixen Optical has come close to
designing the perfect grab-and-go telescope mount — the
Skypod — run by the innovative Starbook computerized
control system. The Starbook debuted to rave reviews as part
of Vixen’s state-of-the-art Sphinx German equatorial mount
a couple of years ago. More recently, Vixen
coupled a downsized version called the
Starbook S to an alt-azimuth mount to cre-
ate the Skypod. Once set up and initialized,
the Skypod mount will aim a telescope
toward any of more than 22,000 objects in
the Starbook’s memory and then track that
object across the sky.
Two sets of five buttons work all of the
functions. The Starbook control box and its
46-inch connecting cable slide neatly into
the mount for storage and transport. You
can also detach the Starbook from the Sky-
pod mount and use it as a pocket planetar-
ium. Rather than a small display with text
crawling along a readout, like most go-to
telescopes, the Starbook includes an LCD
screen that displays the night sky for the
exact day and hour the user chooses.
Setting up the Skypod is simple: Attach
the fully assembled mount to the aluminum
tripod using a captive thumbscrew. The
Skypod’s internally geared motors run on 8
AA batteries. The Starbook controller relies
on its own set of 4 AA batteries.
Adding optics
Vixen offers the Skypod/Starbook combo
with a choice of 70mm or 80mm refractors,
a 130mm Newtonian reflector, or the
unique 4.3-inch f/9.4 VMC110L telescope
reviewed here. Vixen bills the VMC110L as
a “modified Cassegrain.” A better descrip-
tion may be a takeoff on the Klevtsov-
Cassegrain catadioptric design. Most
traditional catadioptrics rely on a front cor-
rector plate to pre-bend light entering the
optical system so it comes to a sharp focus
by the time it bounces off the internal mir-
rors and through the eyepiece. The
VMC110L eliminates the corrector plate,
using instead a small corrector lens just
ahead of the secondary mirror.
Because there’s no corrector plate, a
curved-vane spider mount supports the
VMC110L’s secondary mirror. The
vanes are thick, however, and lower
image contrast. The 39-percent cen-
tral obstruction introduced by the
secondary mirror also decreases
image contrast.
The VMC110L includes a built-in
flip mirror, which eliminates the
need for a separate star diagonal. Flip
the integrated lever up, and the light
pops straight out the back of the tele-
scope (great for imaging). Flip the
lever down, and it comes out a top-
mounted eyepiece port, which works
better for visual use. One image is flipped
left-to-right compared to the other.
The VMC110L attaches to the Skypod’s
side-mounted cradle with a standard Vixen
Optics dovetail plate. The entire setup
weighs only 19 pounds (8.6 kg) — an easy
one-hand carry. Because you don’t need
charts thanks to the Starbook S, this is truly
grab-and-go astronomy.
Vixen’s computerized mount is lightweight, sturdy, and easy to use.
⁄ ⁄ ⁄
BY phil harrington
EQUIPMENT REVIEW
The Skypod mount
performs superbly
98 astronomy
⁄ ⁄ ⁄
December 07
ViXEn’S SKYpoD mount with its Star-
book controller provides full go-to capa-
bility in a lightweight package. There’s
nothing light about the Starbook’s data-
base, though — you’ll find 22,000 celestial
objects in it.
ALL PHOTOS: ASTRONOMY: WILLIAM ZUBACK
thE SKYpoD’S Starbook control-
ler detaches from the mount for
“corded-remote” operation. Its
46”-long (1.17 meters) cable
allows you to control the Sky-
pod comfortably whether
seated or standing.
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