The Past, Present and Future of the Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope

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The Past, Present and Future of the Schmidt
Cassegrain Telescope

• Rod Mollise
• ALCON 2003
• Nashville

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Do You Like Cats?!
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No! REAL Cats!CATADIOPTRICS!
Yes? Youve come to the right place!
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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

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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!)

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The PastThe Earth Shook!

• In 1970, Celestron introduced the legendary
  Orange Tube C8. This was the telescope that
  made the SCT relatively affordable

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The PastCelestrons Success Didnt Go Unnoticed

• The Criterion Dynamax was a telescope that was
  intended to better the Orange Tube for a lower
  price. It failed

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The PastCriterion Was Never Much of a Threat,
and Celestron Had 10 Years of Sunny Days with SCT
Sales Almost All to Themselves.
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The PastUntil 1980

• Meades new 2080 was a groundbreaking scope that
  did improve on the C8 in at least one way

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The PastThrough the 80s, Both Companies Made
Significant Advancesadding DC Motors and Other
Features to the Basic Telescopes.
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The PastThey Also Added Larger and Smaller
Telescopes to Fill-out Their Product Lines 4s,
5s, 8s, 10s,11s and 14s.
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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.

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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

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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

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The PastBut What Was the Most Historic SCT
Event of the 80s?

• Hint Somebody Built the First Commercial Goto
  SCT

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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.

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The Past Post-Halley, Meades 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

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The PastMeanwhile, Celestron Offered Several
Models of Its Increasingly Sophisticated DC Drive
Powerstar
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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
  its heavy-duty fork, it was one of the best
  non-goto astrophotography scopes ever made.

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The PastThen in 1992 a Telescope Came Along That
Changed Everything!
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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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The PastThe Celestron Ultima 2000 (U2K)The
LX200 Buster Just Didnt Make It
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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.

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The PastThe 2045 Disappeared, Replaced by a
Little MCT, the ETX

• Everybodys 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.

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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.

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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.

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Yes, Things Seemed to Be Looking up for Celestron
UNTIL, in May 2002, Amateurs Received Word That
Its Parent Company TASCO Had Filed for
Bankruptcy!
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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
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The PresentActually, Things Had Been Improving
for Celestron for a While Before the End of Tasco
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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.

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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.

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The PresentAnd the New Celestrons Just Kept
Coming!
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The PresentCelestron Has Also Reworked the
Original Nexstars, the 5 and 8.
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The PresentThe Celestron Advanced Series

• Inexpensive goto scopes on Chinese GEMs.
• Available with 5, 8 and 9.25 SCT OTAs.

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The PresentThereve Also Been Many Changes at
Meade, but Im Happy One Thing Remains the Same!
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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.

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The PresentThe LX 90, the First of the New Meade
Goto Scopes.

• One of the most solid, friendly scopes Ive used.
• Excellent goto accuracy.
• No cord wrap.
• Full-featured Autostar computer.

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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.

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The PresentBut This Is the One We Were Waiting
For
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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.

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The Future! Where Is the SCT Going in the Next
30 Years?
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The FutureMaybe Here?The Toastar!
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The FutureOr Here?The Mixstar
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The FutureOr My Personal FavoriteThe Beerstar
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The FutureBut Probably Here
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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.

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The FutureBut There May Be a Limit to the Fancy
New Features
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The FutureSomething Will Eventually Have to Give.
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The FutureWhat Will Probably NOT Happen?Premium
SCTs
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The FutureWhat I Dont Expect to See

• Built-in CCD cameras CCDs are getting better and
  cheaper every day. Who wants to be locked-in to
  one camera?
• Built-in image intensifiers Unless they get
  better and cheaper in a hurry.
• Internet ready telescopes Some amateurs are
  experimenting in this area, but this is too much
  of a niche market for Meade and Celestron.
• Really big SCTs Rumors of a C18 notwithstanding!

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The FutureWhat Do I Want?

• My wants are really simple built-in dew
  heaters. Im just so tired of the cables and
  control boxes and power cords! Is that too much
  to ask?! ?

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The FutureWhat is my final prediction?
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s.aol.com/rmollise/index.html
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But you dont HAVE to buy anything to learn more
about SCTs!http//members.aol.com/rmollise/index4
.html
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OH! THOSE CELESTRON GIRLS!
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And Never ForgetSCTs ROCK!
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