Transcript The Past, Present and Future of the Schmidt Cassegrain

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? You’ve come to the right place!
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The Past
The Original Celestron SCT
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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 Past
Celestron Pacific Is Born
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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 Past
The 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 Past
Celestron’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…
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The Past
Criterion 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 Past
Until 1980…
Meade’s new 2080 was a groundbreaking
scope that did improve on the C8 in at least
one way…
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The Past
Through the 80s, Both Companies Made
Significant Advances—adding DC
Motors and Other Features to the Basic
Telescopes.
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The Past
They Also Added Larger and Smaller
Telescopes to Fill-out Their Product
Lines: 4s, 5s, 8s, 10s,11s and 14s.
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The Past
Halley-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 Past
The 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
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Production…
The Past
While 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 Past
But 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
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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, 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…
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The Past
Meanwhile, Celestron Offered Several
Models of Its Increasingly Sophisticated
DC Drive Powerstar
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The Past
The 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.
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The Past
Then in 1992 a Telescope Came
Along That Changed Everything!
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The Past
The LX200 (1992): An Historic
Breakthrough
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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 Past
Following the LX200 Intro, Meade
Revamped the Rest of the Product Line
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Introduced the LX100
Revived the basic
2080
Revived the 2045 as
the 2045D
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The Past
Following the LX200 Debut, Celestron
Searched for Direction
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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 Past
The 9.25 Was the First New Celestron
OTA in Quite a Few Years
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The 9.25 really caught on, albeit slowly, finally
attaining an almost legendary status today.
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The Past
The Celestron Ultima 2000 (U2K)
“The LX200 Buster” Just Didn’t Make It
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The Past
Meade 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 Past
The 2045 Disappeared, Replaced by a
Little MCT, the “ETX”
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“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.
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The Past
At 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 Past
Finally, Competition for the ETX in the
Form of the Nexstar 5
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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 It’s 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 Present
Actually, Things Had Been Improving
for Celestron for a While Before the End
of Tasco…
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The Present
Most 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 Present
But GPS Is Probably the Least
Significant Advance for the Nexstar GPS
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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 Present
And the New Celestrons Just Kept
Coming!
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The Present
Celestron Has Also Reworked the
Original Nexstars, the 5 and 8.
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The Present
The Celestron Advanced Series
Inexpensive
goto scopes
on Chinese
GEMs.
 Available
with 5, 8 and
9.25” SCT
OTAs.

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The Present
There’ve Also Been Many Changes at
Meade, but I’m Happy One Thing
Remains the Same!
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The Present
Meade, 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 Present
The LX 90, the First of the New Meade
Goto Scopes.
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One of the most solid,
friendly scopes I’ve
used.
Excellent goto
accuracy.
No cord wrap.
Full-featured Autostar
computer.
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The Present
The Second Wave of New Meade Gotos.
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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 Present
But This Is the One We Were
Waiting For…
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The Present
Meade Obviously Had to Produce a GPS
and They Did It in a Big Way.
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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 Future
Maybe Here?
The Toastar!
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The Future
Or Here?
The Mixstar
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The Future
Or My Personal Favorite:
The Beerstar
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The Future
But Probably Here
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The Future
The Joys of a Real Computerized Scope
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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 Future
But There May Be a Limit to the Fancy
New Features
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The Future
Something Will Eventually Have to
Give.
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The Future
What Will Probably NOT Happen?
Premium SCTs
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The Future
What I Don’t Expect to See
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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 Future
What Do I Want?
My wants are really
simple: built-in dew
heaters. I’m just so
tired of the cables
and control boxes
and power cords! Is
that too much to
ask?! 
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The Future
What is my final prediction?
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Want to Learn More?
Shameless Plug!
http://members.aol.com/rmollise/index.html
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But you don’t 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 Forget:
SCTs ROCK!
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