Celestron
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1960s |
| Headquarters | Torrance, CA |
| Key people | Joseph A. Lupica Jr., President and CEO, Richard L. Hedrick, SVP and CTO, Jim Edmiston, VP, Sales |
| Industry | Importing/Manufacturing |
| Products | Telescopes and other optical / mechanical devices |
| Website | Celestron website |
Celestron is a company that makes and imports telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes, and accessories for their products.
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[edit] Origins and History
Celestron started out in the 1950's as Valor Electronics, an electronics firm founded by Tom Johnson[1]. Johnson got into telescopes when he built a 6" reflecting telescope for his two sons. By 1964 Johnson had founded "Celestron Pacific" as a division of Valor Electronics[2] offering Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes from 4" to 22". In 1970 Celestron introduced its "C8" 8-inch (200 mm) telescope, the first of a new line of telescopes built using methods developed by Celestron to produce Schmidt-Cassegrains at a high volume and low cost[3]. These models made significant inroads into the amateur astronomical and educational communities. Celestron was acquired by Tasco in 1997 and almost went out of business when Tasco folded in 2001.
In early 2003 Celestron's rival, Meade Instruments, attempted a takeover but a bankruptcy court allowed the sale of the company back to its original owners. The company had been U.S. owned until April 2005 when it was acquired by SW Technology Corporation, a Delaware company and affiliate of Synta Technology Corporation in China. Synta is a leading manufacturer of astronomy equipment and related components.
[edit] Products
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As noted above Celestron was the first large scale commercial manufacturer of the Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, introducing its "C8" 8-inch (200 mm) telescope in the mid-1960s. The telescope, with its trademark matte orange tube (changed to glossy black in 1980, and back to semi-gloss orange in 2006), and double-fork equatorial mount, has been a popular large aperture, compact design.
Telescopes include the CGE, CGEM, CPC, NexStar, Omini, Onyx, AstroMaster, Ambassador, TravelScope, and PowerSeeker product lines. These range from large computerized refelctors with GPS to decorative/casual viewing telescopes with brass tube refractors on wood.
Other Celestron products (as of 2007) include:
- The C5, C6, C9.25, C11, and C14 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes (the number after the "C" denoting the aperture (diameter) in inches), with, along with the C8, the C6, 9.25, and C11 being available on GoTo (known as "SkyAlign") double-fork mounts (which works in either alt-az or equatorial mode) or medium-weight German equatorial mounts, or the C8, C9.25, C11, and C14, with carbon-wound Optical Tube Assemblies, on heavy-duty German equatorial mounts.
- A range of 2.4 to 6-inch (150 mm) refractor telescopes.
- 6 to 10-inch (250 mm) traditional reflector telescopes.
- a range of 6 to 12-inch (300 mm) Dobsonian telescopes known as the "Starhopper" series.
- 90 mm & 130 mm Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes, known as the C90 and C130 (borrowing the "C" term, but with the number denoting the aperture in millimeters).
- SkyScout, similar to the Meade mySky product- an astronomical sky finder.
- Digital, Biological, and Stereo viewing microscopes
- Binoculars and Spotting scopes including 5 different series of binocular and 7 of spotter scopes.
Like other manufacturers, Celestron telescopes offer the option to use computerized locating of astronomical objects as well as mounts that will aim themselves at any given object (a technology commonly called "GoTo"). Most of the computerized models can be connected to an external computer via an RS-232 cable, allowing them to be controlled by a third-party astronomy program or connected to a GPS receiver. GPS receivers are useful for programming the telescope with its precise location and time, which allows the telescope to point more accurately.
Some motorized telescopes sold during the mid 80s to early 90s, including the Clestron Compustar(r) which used a form of GoTo technology, were not programmed to allow for dates after 2000; making some Celestron products susceptible to the Y2K bug. However, a 3rd party chip to update the computer is available for some products.
[edit] Competition with Meade
Since their founding in 1972 Meade Instruments has been one of Celestron's chief rivals. Design, sizing, introduction, and pricing of each company's products lines and models have been in response to their competition with each other. There has even been litigation over infringement of patents between the two companies (the latest being over GoTo technology).
[edit] References
- ^ Tammy Plotner, universetoday.com, Celestron Telescope
- ^ philharrington.net, Nights of Future Passed - Celestron Pacific
- ^ Tammy Plotner, universetoday.com, Celestron Telescope
