A ‘carrier tail’ of bundled sheathed fibre, which can be any length between 1.5 and 12 metres, have similar ferrules at both of its ends. The output end connects to the panel tail via a screwed coupling.
The input end of the carrier tail connects to the ferrule at the end of one of the short tails in the ‘Hydra’ connector. So, there are two optical joints between the light source and the panel, but because even our most basic light sources produce more light than is required for a star ceiling, the light loss at the joints is not a problem.