Celestron SC telescopes:
Despite the long focal length of these telescopes, the OTA itself has a very short length, making the system a compact telescope which is extremely easy to transport. Light first hits an aspherically figured Schmidt corrector plate and is then thrown onto a spherical main mirror. This reflects the light back up, throwing it onto a secondary mirror which subsequently throws it back in the direction of main mirror. The light then passes through a central hole in the main mirror and into the focuser at the bottom of the OTA. Thus the system is closed and hence does not suffer from air turbulence which could degrade the image. Of course this also means that the system is optimally protected from dust. The Schmidt plate is multi-coated, ensuring bright images which do not suffer from stray light reflections.
This telescope provides a very good image, boasting high contrast and definition and provides a lot of pleasure when planetary observing. The Schmidt-Cassegrain design provides a good all-round system suitable for both observing and astrophotography and with an enormous range of optional accessories available. Using the bottom end of the OTA to look through means easy orientation. The system is also optimal for occasional terrestrial observing, e.g. birdwatching at close range. Celestron SC telescopes have an aperture ratio of around 1:10 which, so astrophotography is also very easily possible.
Main mirror focusing means a very large range of focus is made available, which allows virtually any common accessory to be used. Two pre-loaded ball bearings are used in the main mirror focus positioning mechanism in order to prevent 'mirror shift' - a typical problem when using simple bushings. The use of high quality materials such as CNC-milled aluminium components, cast steel and stainless steel guarantees extreme robustness with low weight. This means that a very heavy mount is unnecessary, not always the case for other telescope designs.
Features of these telescopes:
- long focal length with short OTA
- low weight aluminium OTA
- high quality XLT multi-coating
- closed system
- pre-loaded ball bearings for low mirror shift main mirror focusing
Included in delivery with the telescope:
- OTA with 203mm aperture and 2032mm focal length
- 40 mm Ploessl eyepiece
- 1.25" star diagonal
- mounting rail
- 8x50 finder scope, straight view
Internal GPS The CPC Deluxe HD Series' internal GPS receiver automatically downloads the date and time from orbiting satellites and pinpoints its exact location on Earth. This eliminates the need for you to manually enter the date, time, longitude and latitude.
Celestron's Revolutionary SkyAlign Once the CPC's internal GPS has established the telescope's position, aligning the telescope is as easy as 1-2-3! Simply locate and use the hand control to manually point (slew) the telescope to three bright celestial objects. You do not need to know the names of the stars. You may even pick the Moon or bright planets! Celestron's NexStar™ software technology will model the night sky to determine the position of every star, planet and celestial object above the horizon. Once aligned, the remote hand control allows direct access to each of the celestial catalogs in its user-friendly database.
Celestial Object Database The CPC database contains over 40,000 celestial objects including Messier objects, the Caldwell Catalog, as well as NGC Galaxies, nebulae and planets. User-definable filter limits make navigating through this expansive database quicker and easier. Filter Limits let you filter out objects that are outside of your local horizon (ie, if trees or mountains were in the way). There's also "Solar System Align" that lets you align on the Sun or Moon for daytime observing – it is easy to use this to see planets or bright stars in the day.
Fastar Versatility All EdgeHD optical tubes are equipped with a removable secondary mirror for fast f/2 CCD imaging. Not only does imaging in the FASTAR configuration allow for exposure times that are 25 times faster than at f/10, but also yields a field of view five times wider. A perfect combination for imaging your favorite wide field objects in a fraction of the time. (FASTAR imaging requires a third party lens assembly in place of the secondary mirror).
