Telescopio Schmidt-Cassegrain SC 235/2350 CGE Pro 925 GoTo

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 235mm aperture and 2350mm focal length
• 25mm Ploessl eyepiece
• 1.25" star diagonal
• mounting rail
• 6x30 finder scope, straight-view

In addition to being fully computerized with a database of over 40,000 celestial objects, the New CGE Pro German Equatorial mount has been completely redesign to offer numerous design advantages for the Astrophotographer:

• Increased Payload Capacity
  Able to hold our 14" SCT telescope more securely as well as larger optical tubes up to a maximum payload of 90lbs.
• All-Star Polar Alignment
  Choose any bright alignment star for a software assisted alignment of the mounts polar axis that will have you ready for imaging even if you can't see the North Star.
• No-Tool polar alignment
  Larger hand knobs for both Altitude and Azimuth adjustments.
• Meridian Tracking
  Extended tracking past the Meridian of up to 20 degrees of uninterrupted imaging through the best part of the sky.
• Faster slew speed
  Improved gearing and motors provide faster slew speeds than ever before with a maximum slew rate of over 5°/per second.
• Power Management
  Redesigned electronics deliver constant regulated power to the motors making them capable of driving the telescope even when not perfectly balanced. This allows the CGE Pro to have the payload capacity of that of much larger (and expensive) mounts without sacrificing smooth tracking motion and pointing accuracy across the entire sky.
• Accuracy
  The hallmark of any telescope mount is its ability to find, center and track celestial objects with the highest degree of accuracy.
• Pointing
  With just a standard hand control alignment, CGE Pro has the ability to center a star in your eyepiece or ccd chip to within 5 arc minutes. Using NexStar's advanced pointing features such as Calibration Stars, Sync and Precise GoTo, further improves the pointing accuracy to as low as 1 arc minute in the desired region of the sky.
• Tracking
  With larger .75" pitch diameter worm, precision made cut-steel gears in gearboxes, and seven slot skewed armature motors the CGE Pro delivers typical tracking performance of +-9 arc seconds, which can be further reduced with the mounts permanent periodic error correction (PPEC).
• Mount Modeling
  Celestron's NexStar hand control has built-in mount modeling features essential for accurately placing small objects on the center of your ccd chip or high power eyepiece. Aligning on multiple Calibration Stars creates a mathematical model of the opto-mechanical inaccuracies inherent in all equatorial mounts. This model is stored within the hand control and is used to compensate for these inaccuracies thus improving your pointing precision each time you slew your telescope.
• Portability
  Set up and transportation of the CGE Pro telescopes is made easy by separating the mount into smaller, easy-to-carry components. Unlike fork arm mounted telescopes, the CGE's optical tubes can be quickly removed from their mounts making even the CGE Pro1400 easily assembled in minutes.
• Stability
  Recognized for superior stability, German Equatorial mounts place the center of gravity directly over the tripod legs and can be easily polar aligned without the use of an optional equatorial wedge. This proven design reduces the "tuning fork" vibration that can be associated with undersized fork mounts. An improved Super HD Tripod supports the CGE Pro mount. This fully extendable tripod is made from the finest 2.75" stainless steel and can be raised to a height of 55". The tripod uses a dual leg support for maximum rigidity with an upper leg brace to provide an outward preload and a lower leg brace providing inward tension.
• Balance
  CGE Pro equatorial mounts can easily be balanced in both axes. Simply sliding the counterweight for Right Ascension and moving the optical tube along its dovetail mounting for Declination accomplish balancing the weight of camera equipment and other visual accessories. This means that no additional weight needs to be added to balance the telescope when additional accessories are added.
• Clearance
  CGE Pro mounts support their tubes at a single contact point allowing the tube to move freely around its polar axis without making contact with the telescope's mount. Software features allow the user to set the mounts slew limits to guaranty safe motion. This is particularly useful when adding photographic and CCD instruments that extend from the rear of the telescopes.

All CGE mounted telescopes are compatible with Celestron's CN-16 GPS accessory. Combine the GPS and built-in real time clock and these telescopes will keep track and remember their exact location and time without having to enter the information into the hand control.