More Information  · Supplied Accessories  · Recommended Accessories  · Images of Some Features

• Achromatic refractor optical tube: 6” aperture (1200mm focal length f/8), guaranteed to be diffraction-limited. The 6” dust cover of the objective lens has a removable 4” diameter cap in the center. When doing lunar and planetary observing, it is often beneficial to leave the 6” dust cover in place, but with the 4” center cap removed. This effectively reduces the aperture to 4” and converts the scope to an f/12 focal ratio. At this longer focal ratio, chromatic aberration is reduced, with only a modest loss in resolution. Moreover, optional specialized filters are available to reduce the chromatic aberration to barely visible levels. The same optical trick can be used to improve lunar and planetary image quality during nights of sub-par seeing by reducing the amount of unsteady air the scope has to look through. The 50.5” long aluminum optical tube weighs only 18 lbs., making it easy to transport and assemble in the field.

• Multicoated optics: Full multicoatings are standard equipment on all air to glass interfaces.

• Finderscope: 9 x 50mm straight-through achromatic design, with a wide 5.8° field of view. Focuses by loosening the trim ring behind the objective lens cell, screwing the lens cell in or out to focus, and tightening the trim ring to lock in the correct focus.

• Focuser: 2” rack and pinion type, with removable 1.25” accessory adapter.

• Star diagonal: 1.25” prism type. For peak performance, some observers have found that upgrading the supplied star diagonal to a premium version, such as the TeleVue #7781C or #7781PC, pays visible dividends in sharpness and contrast during high magnification observing. A set of optional vibration suppression pads under the tripod feet will likewise improve the telescope damping time for steadier high power observing.

• Eyepiece: 1.25” 20mm Plössl (60x). The eyepiece field of view is 0.83 degrees, two-thirds larger than the full Moon.

• Software: TheSky Level 1 sky-charting CD-ROM, with a database of 10,000 stars and objects it can plot and display on your Windows-based computer screen. That’s enough solar system and deep space detail to keep you busy observing for years, yet not so much that you’re overwhelmed by charts showing much more detail than your scope can usefully reveal. Custom sky chart printing lets you print out eyepiece finder charts to use with your telescope to help you locate and identify the planets and many famous and faint deep space nebulas, galaxies, and star clusters. There are 75 full color images of well-known celestial objects to help you identify them through your scope.

This Telescope’s Mount . . .

• Heavy duty CG-5A Advanced Series go-to computerized German equatorial mount: The mount includes a heavy-duty tripod with 2” diameter steel legs, a dovetail slide bar system for fast set-up, and dual-axis slewing/tracking motors with positioning encoders on each axis for go-to computer control using the supplied NexStar computer hand control. The scope is supplied with a car battery cord to operate from the cigarette lighter plug of your car or from a rechargeable 12V battery pack. For more details, click on the “mount” icon above.

• NexStar computer hand control: The supplied computerized hand control has a built-in database of more than 45,000 stars and deep space/solar system objects it can find for you. These include the complete RNGC, Messier, Caldwell, IC, and Abell catalogs; selected SAO stars, such as variables and multiple star systems; the planets, the Moon, and more.
      In addition, the NexStar computer hand control is GPS-compatible (using an optional inexpensive CN16 GPS module) for full GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite accuracy. Adding GPS to the computer is something no competitive scope can do. With the Advanced Series go-to mount and the CN16, orienting the scope in time and space on earth and aligning the scope on the sky becomes almost as easy as simply turning the scope on. For more details, click on the “computer” icon above.

• Two-year warranty: All Celestron go-to telescopes have a two-year warranty, double that of competitive go-to scopes.