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The Past, Present and Future of the Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope. Rod Mollise ALCON 2003 Nashville. Do You Like Cats?!. No! REAL Cats!…CATADIOPTRICS!. Yes? You’ve come to the right place!. The Past The Original Celestron SCT.
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The Past, Present and Future of the Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope Rod Mollise ALCON 2003 Nashville
No! REAL Cats!…CATADIOPTRICS! Yes? You’ve come to the right place!
The PastThe Original Celestron SCT • The SCT design had been around for a while, but it took Tom Johnson to figure out how to mass produce it. This is his prototype 18.5” in 1963
The PastCelestron Pacific Is Born • This is the Down With Love Telescope, the famous Celestron Pacific 10, which all of us dreamed of owning and none of us could afford (2000 1964 dollars!)…
The PastThe EarthShook! In 1970, Celestron introduced the legendary “Orange Tube” C8. This was the telescope that made the SCT relatively affordable…
The PastCelestron’s Success Didn’t Go Unnoticed The Criterion Dynamax was a telescope that was intended to better the Orange Tube for a lower price. It failed…
The PastCriterion Was Never Much of a Threat, and Celestron Had 10 Years of Sunny Days with SCT Sales Almost All to Themselves.
The PastUntil 1980… Meade’s new 2080 was a groundbreaking scope that did improve on the C8 in at least one way…
The PastThrough the 80s, Both Companies Made Significant Advances—adding DC Motors and Other Features to the Basic Telescopes.
The PastThey Also Added Larger and Smaller Telescopes to Fill-out Their Product Lines: 4s, 5s, 8s, 10s,11s and 14s.
The PastHalley-Mania Turned Out Not to be a Good Thing for Either Company In the course of trying to meet demand from a suddenly scope-crazy public, Meade and Celestron wore out their tools and their workforces.
The PastThe Post-Halley Telescope Depression was bad for Meade and Celestron, but fatal for the Dynamax. The Bausch and Lomb 8001 Pro Was the Best “Dynamax” ever, but following Halley, the Company ended all SCT Production…
The PastWhile Meade and Celestron Were Putting Themselves Back Together, a New Player Came on the Scene! The Takahashi TSC225 was a beautiful scope, but it was quite expensive at nearly $4000.00, and was ultimately not a success…
The PastBut What Was the Most Historic SCT Event of the 80s? Hint: Somebody Built the First Commercial Goto SCT…
The Past The Celestron Compustar • Celestron was there first in 1986 with a goto SCT, the Compustar, eventually available in 8, 11, and 14 inch apertures. Unfortunately, a few bugs and a high price, $22,000.00 list, for the 14 doomed it.
The PastPost-Halley, Meade’s Efforts Focused Mainly on Developing and Marketing an SCT of a New Type The LX6 featured an OTA with a focal ratio of f/6.3. The previous flagship scope, the LX5 stayed on to provide f/10 optics for those suspicious of 6.3…
The PastMeanwhile, Celestron Offered Several Models of Its Increasingly Sophisticated DC Drive Powerstar
The PastThe Top of the Line for Celestron Was the Ultima 8, However • The Ultima 8, soon joined by an Ultima 11, is remembered as a classic by many amateurs. With it’s heavy-duty fork, it was one of the best non-goto astrophotography scopes ever made.
The PastThen in 1992 a Telescope Came Along That Changed Everything!
The PastThe LX200 (1992): An Historic Breakthrough • Not because it was much more advanced than the Compustar initially, but because it was affordable, surprisingly affordable, at $1995.00 for the 8 and $2295.00 for the 10.
The PastFollowing the LX200 Intro, Meade Revamped the Rest of the Product Line • Introduced the LX100 • Revived the basic 2080 • Revived the 2045 as the 2045D
The PastFollowing the LX200 Debut, Celestron Searched for Direction • Reintroduced a spur gear telescope, the Classic 8. • “Astrophoto scopes” on heavy-duty Losmandy mounts. • Brought back the good, old C5.
The PastThe 9.25 Was the First New Celestron OTA in Quite a Few Years • The 9.25 really caught on, albeit slowly, finally attaining an almost legendary status today.
The PastThe Celestron Ultima 2000 (U2K)“The LX200 Buster” Just Didn’t Make It
The PastMeade Also Introduced Some New SCTs As the Century Wound Down The LX50 Was a PECless DC Drive Scope Available in 8 and 10 Inch Apertures.
The PastThe 2045 Disappeared, Replaced by a Little MCT, the “ETX” • “Everybody’s Telescope” was one of the most revolutionary CATs in years. • It started life with a simple RA drive, but went on to gain a computer and goto as the ETX EC.
The PastAt About This Time, Many Celestron Fans Became Concerned About the Health of the Company Celestron, You See, Had Been Bought-out by Notorious Department Store Telescope Importer, Tasco. Meade Just Seemed to Go From Strength to Strength While Celestron Featured the Same, Old Boring Stuff.
The PastFinally, Competition for the ETX in the Form of the Nexstar 5 • The Nexstar 5 featured the classic C5 OTA, and less plastic than the ETX. • The NS5 was soon joined by the NS8, also with a single-arm fork mount.
Yes, Things Seemed to Be Looking up for Celestron UNTIL, in May 2002, Amateurs Received Word That It’s Parent Company TASCO Had Filed for Bankruptcy!
But This Turned Out to Be a Good Thing. Celestron International Was No More, but Celestron Was Reborn As an Independent Entity, Its Assets Bought-out by a Team of Former Management Personnel…
The PresentActually, Things Had Been Improving for Celestron for a While Before the End of Tasco…
The PresentMost People Are Most Curious About the GPS Capability of This Telescope. Does It Work? What Does It Do for the Astronomer? • Faster scope setup. • (Possibly) more accurate goto. • Future uses.
The PresentBut GPS Is Probably the Least Significant Advance for the Nexstar GPS • Ergonomic handles. • Slip-ring routes signals, so there is no problem with twisted cables and no need for “hard stops.” • Carbon Fiber Tube. • Reasonable price.
The PresentCelestron Has Also Reworked the Original Nexstars, the 5 and 8.
The PresentThe Celestron Advanced Series • Inexpensive goto scopes on Chinese GEMs. • Available with 5, 8 and 9.25” SCT OTAs.
The PresentThere’ve Also Been Many Changes at Meade, but I’m Happy One Thing Remains the Same!
The PresentMeade, Like Celestron, Has Not Been Idle, Revamping Their Entire Product Line Over the Last Several Years • The LX 50 is gone. • Non-goto ETX90 has been phased out. • New LXes.
The PresentThe LX 90, the First of the New Meade Goto Scopes. • One of the most solid, friendly scopes I’ve used. • Excellent goto accuracy. • No cord wrap. • Full-featured Autostar computer.
The PresentThe Second Wave of New Meade Gotos. • Like the Celestron Advanced Series, these are U.S. Made OTAs on imported (Chinese) GEMs. • Only SCT offered is an 8. The other scopes are refractors and Schmidt Newtonians.
The PresentMeade Obviously Had to Produce a GPS and They Did It in a Big Way. • After 10 years of fame, the original LX200 was history. • The new scope features GPS, a huge object library, a mirror lock, a motorized crayford focuser and more.
The FutureThe Joys of a Real Computerized Scope • No need to bring a computer into the field. • Run a planetarium program on your scope. • Take CCD images without a computer. • Talk to your scope.
The FutureBut There May Be a Limit to the Fancy New Features
