Sky-Watcher
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| Company type | Corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Website | http://www.skywatcher.com |
Sky-Watcher is a commercial distribution company established in 1999 by the Synta Technology Corporation of Taiwan (Synta Taiwan). It markets telescopes and astronomy equipment, such as mounts and eyepieces, aimed at the amateur astronomy market. The products are manufactured at Synta Taiwan's Suzhou Synta Optical Technology Co., Ltd. in Suzhou (Jiangsu), China.[1] The brand is distributed in Canada and Europe and, in the late 2000s, was extended to the U.S. market.[2]
Company history
In 1999, the Sky-Watcher brand was established to sell Synta Taiwan's optics, with head offices in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. They began producing Dobsonian telescopes in 2000, followed by Maksutov–Cassegrains in 2001, and Apochromat ED-APO refracting telescopes in 2004.
Sky-Watcher's product line-up contains telescopes from 2.4" (60 mm) up to 16" (406 mm) aperture with manual, motor-driven, or GoTo mounts. Since 2008, Sky-Watcher has manufactured Dobsonians with collapsible tubes, a product line they call Flex Tube-Dobsonians.
Products
Products include telescopes, spotting scopes, mounts, and other accessories.
Telescopes
Sky-Watcher has eleven model series of telescopes. These are listed below:
Esprit
Esprit 80ED, 100ED, 120ED, and 150ED Super APO refractors have a doublet field flattener to get a flat field and minimize aberration and distortion. They use a 45mm aperture.
Equinox
The Equinox series are Extra-low Dispersion (ED) apochromatic refractors in Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) between 66 mm and 120 mm (2.60" - 4.72"), suitable for astrophotography. The smaller apertures have medium focal ratios and the larger ones have long focal ratios. These telescopes have black-colored tubes.
ED Refractors Series
The pro series telescopes include two-element air-spaced OTA ED apochromatic refractors between 80mm and 120mm (3.15–4.72") with long focal ratios, also suitable for astrophotography, as well as OTA Maksutovs with long focal ratios and apertures of 150mm and 180 mm (5.91" and 7.09"). They are constructed in black metal tubes.
Refractors
Refractors series are multi-coated achromatic refractors between 70 and 150 mm (2.76–5.91"). They are available in alt-azimuth mounting for smaller apertures and equatorial mounting for larger ones. They have long focal ratios and are constructed with a black aluminum tube.
Reflectors
The Reflector series telescopes are reflectors with aluminized optics coated with silicon dioxide, available in 76mm to 254mm size apertures (2.99–10.00"). All sizes of the series use equatorial mounting, excluding the smallest size, which comes with alt-azimuth. They are available in short, medium, and long focal ratios and chiefly parabolic mirrors. They are made with black aluminum tubes. The 130-200mm aperture parabolic mirror scopes are available with shorter tubes and dual-speed Crayford focusers and are optimized for astrophotography.
Table top
Tabletop telescopes have a 33mm (13") high equatorial mount. They include 130mm (5.10") and 80mm (3.15") refractors of short and medium focal lengths respectively, as well as a long-focal length 90mm (3.54") Maksutov. They are sold in variable-colored tubes.
Solid-tube Dobsonians
Solid-tube (traditional) Dobsonians are Dobsonian-mounted Newtonian reflectors available in 153mm (6"), 203mm (8"), 254mm (10"), and 305mm (12") models. They have thin 0.5mm (0.02")-thick secondary mirror supports, tension control handles, and the 10" - 12" version is made from Pyrex glass. They have long, medium, and short focal ratios respectively, in order of increasing aperture. They have white-colored tubes.
Collapsible Dobsonians
Collapsible Dobsonians are Dobsonian-mounted Newtonian reflectors available in 200 mm (8"), 254 mm (10"), 305 mm (12") and 406 mm (16") models. They are similar in design to the Solid-Tube Dobsonians but have black-colored tubes with the middle section of the tube replaced with struts. The struts allow the top portion of the tube to collapse down on the bottom portion, decreasing the tube length when in storage or being transported. The Collapsible Dobsonians also feature Crayford focusers instead of the traditional rack and pinion focuser that was included with the Solid-tube Dobsonians.
Short-tube Refractors
Short-tube Refractors series are multi-coated achromatic refractors with small focal ratios. They are available in alt-azimuth versions for smaller apertures and equatorial mounts for larger ones, and are available in 70mm to 150mm (2.76" - 5.91"). They are constructed with blue tubes, are suited for terrestrial photography, and can be used for astrophotography.
Maksutov–Cassegrains
Maksutov–Cassegrain telescopes are compact, portable multi-coated Maksutov–Cassegrains. They are sold in equatorial mounts and are available in 90 to180 mm (3.54–7") apertures. They have large focal ratios and are sold in blue aluminum tubes. As with the Newtonians, newer ones can have the "Black Diamond" finish (essentially just black and white).
Auto-tracking
The auto-tracking series telescopes are motorized alt-azimuth telescopes, allowing the user to automatically track celestial objects. They are available in 70 mm and 80 mm (2.76" and 3.15") apertures for refractors with medium, long, and very long focal ratios, as reflectors with 76 mm and 114 mm (2.99" and 4.49") apertures and have long and short focal ratios respectively, as well as in 80mm (3.15") Maksutov form with a very long focal ratio. They are sold in blue tubes with red-dot style reflector sight finders.
Spotting scopes
Sky-Watcher spotting scopes come in three different designs. Maksutov Spottings are sold as Maksutov telescopes available in 80–127 mm (3.15–5") apertures, and are sold as OTA with very long focal ratios and red-dot style reflector sight finders. They are constructed with blue tubes and include a carrying bag. ST1545 and ST2060 spotting scopes are wide-angle and available in 50mm and 60 mm (1.97" and 2.36") sizes with 15–45x and 20–60x zoom respectively. They are sold with tripod attachment capability and a camera adapter and blue tubes. Digital spotting scopes are a multi-purpose digital camera, spotting scope, and telescope. They have a 70mm (2.36") refractor design at 14x with zoom capability between 6x and 22x, and have many features including an optional solar filter, video capability, and a tripod adapter.
Mounts
Alt-azimuth mount: AZ1, AZ2, AZ3, and AZ4
Equatorial mount: EQ1, EQ2, EQ3, and EQ5
SynScan GoTo mount: EQ3 SynScan, EQ5 SynScan, HEQ5, EQ6, AZ-EQ5, AZ-EQ6 and EQ8
Equatorial travel mount: Star adventurer, Star adventurer mini, Star adventurer 2i Wi-Fi, Star adventurer GTI
Multi-Purpose mount: AllView mount, and Virtuoso mount
References
- ^ Tammy Plotner, The Sky-Watcher AZ4 102 Refractor Telescope… How Sweet It is!, universetoday.com, 30 September 2009
- ^ Reuters - press release, Synta Optical Technology and Celestron Announce a New Telescope Supplier in the US. Thu 22 May 2008 7:18pm EDT Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine