What next for Celestron?

Now that Celestron seems to have "perfected" its SCT, what with GPS goto and
Starbright XLT coatings, where does the Celestron SCT "go to" from here?
Certainly, the optics, goto, and tracking are about as good as they are
going to get, no? Maybe the GPS goto SCT's could be made lighter, more
streamlined? With more intelligent computers? (Will we be talking to our
SCT's someday?) Or maybe Celestron will suspend development of more
advanced SCT's and focus on Dall-Kirkham telescopes???

Bill

Why not get into wave front optically corrected telescopes?

How small a telescope could be made that would be able to take advantage of
this technology?

F Marion

Next step of Celestron and Meade, will follow Vixen 's tablet computer, so
don't have to carry around an extra laptop. Of course, from the tablet goto
computer price, one can buy 2-3 laptops, but who cares, let's burn the
money.

JS

"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Now that Celestron seems to have "perfected" its SCT, what with GPS goto
and
Starbright XLT coatings, where does the Celestron SCT "go to" from here?
Certainly, the optics, goto, and tracking are about as good as they are
going to get, no? Maybe the GPS goto SCT's could be made lighter, more
streamlined? With more intelligent computers? (Will we be talking to our
SCT's someday?) Or maybe Celestron will suspend development of more
advanced SCT's and focus on Dall-Kirkham telescopes???

Bill

Szaki wrote:
Next step of Celestron and Meade, will follow Vixen 's tablet computer, so
don't have to carry around an extra laptop. Of course, from the tablet goto
computer price, one can buy 2-3 laptops, but who cares, let's burn the
money.

Is it really that expensive? I don't see why it should be any more
expensive than a decent PDA. Does it really do that much more than does,
say, Planetarium?

Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.txt

(Will we be talking to our
SCT's someday?)

We already are talking to our SCT's and our refractors. I was given a gift
about 3 years ago in the form of software (digital sky voice) which allows
the user to talk to his LX200 and some AP mounts. By using this software,
you command the scope by talking into a microphone rather than using the
keypad. It's really super cool, but the novelty factor wears off quickly.
Besides, what would my neighbors think when they hear me talking to my
telescope?:-)

Nevertheless, if I could ask for something new from Celestron or any of the
manufacturers, it would be a cure to solve a most serious problem plaguing
most amateurs, particularly here in the Northeast...clouds. It's about
time, we need a cloud filter!:-)

Al



"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Now that Celestron seems to have "perfected" its SCT, what with GPS goto
and
Starbright XLT coatings, where does the Celestron SCT "go to" from here?
Certainly, the optics, goto, and tracking are about as good as they are
going to get, no? Maybe the GPS goto SCT's could be made lighter, more
streamlined? With more intelligent computers? (Will we be talking to our
SCT's someday?) Or maybe Celestron will suspend development of more
advanced SCT's and focus on Dall-Kirkham telescopes???

Bill

Nevertheless, if I could ask for something new from Celestron or any of
the
manufacturers, it would be a cure to solve a most serious problem

Fix the mirror flop problem (25 years now), make the optics better quality,
like 1/10 wave or so, add built in cooling fans, like Intes Maks has.
Optics and the scope design has not changed the last 25 years, they just
adding gadgets to it.

Julius

"Szaki" wrote in message
news:gIm8c.706$K91.2572@attbi_s02...
Nevertheless, if I could ask for something new from Celestron or any of
the
manufacturers, it would be a cure to solve a most serious problem

Fix the mirror flop problem (25 years now), make the optics better
quality,
like 1/10 wave or so, add built in cooling fans, like Intes Maks has.
Optics and the scope design has not changed the last 25 years, they just
adding gadgets to it.

Julius

Regarding the mirror flop problem, Meade did give this problem some
attention. While they didn't really fix the problem, they certainly offered
the next best solution without sinking a lot of development money into the
design and thereby pricing the telescope out of existence. "1/10 wave or
so" would easily raise the price to a level much greater than the Meade SCT
buyer is willing to pay. By the way, Astro Physics has an excellent 10" Mak
with fantastic optics that you could buy for only 10K or so. The bottom
line is this: Meade does not sell the very best optics, but they do sell
very good optics at an affordable price, and they deserve credit for this.
I for one am happy that I can buy a very good (not excellent) telescope
without having to go to the bank for a loan. They must be doing something
right, as their sales lead the industry.

Al

"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Now that Celestron seems to have "perfected" its SCT, what with GPS goto
and
Starbright XLT coatings, where does the Celestron SCT "go to" from here?
Certainly, the optics, goto, and tracking are about as good as they are
going to get, no? Maybe the GPS goto SCT's could be made lighter, more
streamlined? With more intelligent computers? (Will we be talking to our
SCT's someday?) Or maybe Celestron will suspend development of more
advanced SCT's and focus on Dall-Kirkham telescopes???

Bill


phase out the Schmitts and start making big Mak's, there's no reason a Mak
should cost a whole lot more to produce than a Schmitt. A 12" Mak would be
awesome.
Bruce

I think that bringing high quality, deep sky astrophotography to the
consumer level could be a big area in the future.

Digital camera technology is advancing rapidly enough that you can spend as
little as $700 and get a 6 megapixel detector, capable of 3 to 5 minute
exposures with manageable levels of noise. Another few years, and you will
probably be able to do far better.

The weak point in Celestron's consumer offerings for astrophotography is the
mount. I guess that here's with I disagree with your assertion that
tracking is as good as it's going to get. Even the CGE, at the top of
Celestron's consumer offering, cannot track adequately to use the above
camera for a multi-minute exposure unless you have some form of external
guiding.

In the future, I'm guessing that you'll see improvements in digital camera
technology that will put more and more deep sky objects into the grasp of a
relatively short exposure. With a consumer priced mount that can carry an
8" to 11" SCT and track unguided for a couple of minutes, or can seamlessly
use the camera itself as a guider, you'd have something pretty cool.
Ideally, the solution would be plug-and-play so that you could just attach
the camera to OTA and mount and it would just work.

There are one-camera solutions out there from SBIG and Starlight Express
that can guide and photograph. SBIG's solution is comprehensive by
providing two detectors, so that guiding does not interfere with the main
exposure, but it's very expensive. Starlight Express's solution is cheaper,
but it uses a single detector and (I believe) "interlaces" the detector such
that every-other-row of pixels is used by the guider. Neither of these
solutions is "plug and play".

-Wade

"Rank Amateur" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Now that Celestron seems to have "perfected" its SCT, what with GPS goto
and
Starbright XLT coatings, where does the Celestron SCT "go to" from here?
Certainly, the optics, goto, and tracking are about as good as they are
going to get, no? Maybe the GPS goto SCT's could be made lighter, more
streamlined? With more intelligent computers? (Will we be talking to our
SCT's someday?) Or maybe Celestron will suspend development of more
advanced SCT's and focus on Dall-Kirkham telescopes???

Bill

Excellent suggestions!

Bill


"Szaki" wrote in message
news:gIm8c.706$K91.2572@attbi_s02...
Nevertheless, if I could ask for something new from Celestron or any of
the
manufacturers, it would be a cure to solve a most serious problem

Fix the mirror flop problem (25 years now), make the optics better
quality,
like 1/10 wave or so, add built in cooling fans, like Intes Maks has.
Optics and the scope design has not changed the last 25 years, they just
adding gadgets to it.

Julius