C-7 Home Page 
C-7 News
Consignment
Library
Products & Services
Product Lines
Order
Search C7.com
Celestron History
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Ultima® 2000 Model 8" "Fastar" Schmidt-Cassegrain Computer Controlled TelescopeNOTE: First Limited Deliveries of 8" Ultima 2000 telescope Began in August of 1996. The following data and specifications are subject to change. We do expect the 11" model will follow in 1999 at the earliest. The demand for the hand assembled 8" Ultima 2000 remains so high that Celestron is simply unable to spare resources to build the 11" Model. We are accepting names on our non-binding waiting list for notification when the 11" telescopes become available.
In 1985 Celestron became the first company to offer computer-driven Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes. In August 1996 a new generation of computer controlled telescopes began shipping from Celestron; the Ultima® 2000. It has been in development "from the ground up" using the most sophisticated computer design tools, and we at Company Seven have followed the development efforts at Celestron over the past few years, and we do believe that every facet of these telescopes (except the already superior optics) has been re engineered. The Ultima® 2000 were designed using the best expertise in the industry tempered
with substantial input from dealers, distributors and most importantly - from the potential user!
Child's Play! The 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain Ultima® 2000 computer driven telescope is designed to be the ultimate in simplicity and user friendliness - just find two alignment stars (located easily with the star charts provided) and then the fun begins. The product is technologically quite sophisticated in order to provide the buyer with functional versatility and good ease of use. The telescopes have approximately the following features: altazimuth operation, incredible 10 degrees per second fast slewing speed, motors are extremely quiet, four speeds: 10 degrees per second or 2 degrees per second or +/- 8x sidereal or 30% of sidereal, four built-in tracking rates - sidereal, King, lunar and solar, fully enclosed optical encoders for position location (move it manually and it knows where it's at), universal standard 12V DC system which runs off of 8 AA alkaline batteries housed within the drive base for 24 hours under normal usage, a built-in voltmeter function indicates battery condition. Computer control telescope mount systems require the careful integration of at least two basic sub systems: a dual axis drive or telescope positioning system to move the telescope to a specified position, and dual axis position feed back systems to keep the positioning system informed of where the telescope is pointing to. The drive system of the Ultima® 2000 telescope is a dual axis (Right Ascension/Azimuth and Declination/Altitude), dual motor system incorporating a 3 speed DC Servo motor in each axis for Tracking, and a 2 speed DC motor in each axis for Slewing. The encoders on each axis are 8192 counts per 360 degree resulting in a resolution of about 2.5 arc seconds however, an "Enhanced Encoder Resolution" mode provides a 65536 counts per 360 degree resolution of about 2.5 arc seconds. The Ultima® 2000 telescope controller is "Menu Driven":
The lightweight fork mount has the necessary rigidity to facilitate accurate pointing. It has an ultra-smooth disc clutch manual motion (fully adjustable) in both axes. The drive system motors turn a worm gear. The drive base incorporates 9" preloaded high stiffness plate bearing ensures superior stability. For added convenience, the fork mount has carrying handles on both fork tines. The data base includes 10,000 deep sky objects; 25 object memory is provided for user-definable objects and planets. A special feature allows you to view 15 favorite objects by season automatically. The potential for automated CCD imaging are obvious however, you will need the optional equatorial wedge to avoid "field rotation", and a few other accessories to do this. A built-in drive corrector is furnished as standard. The nominal focal length of 2032mm (f/10) can be reduced to about 1280mm (f/6.3) with our optional f/6.3 Focal Reducer/Corrector accessory. Through the RS-232 port you can control the Ultima® 2000 by a personal computer using a variety of third party software that we offer most notably "TheSky" by Software Bisque. In 1997 by Celestron working with Santa Barbara Instruments Group introduced the "Fastar" telescope concept. Since July of 1998 all C-8 optical tubes provided with the "Celestar 8 Deluxe" and "Ultima 2000" series models have a secondary mirror holder that be interchanged with an optional lens set and CCD camera holder for imaging with either the Celestron Pixcel 255 or Pixcel 237, or SBIG ST-5 series CCD cameras - at a very fast f1.95. The post July 1998 C-14 telescopes are similarly equipped to operate at f2.1. This can produce extremely short exposure times of about 25 times faster than was otherwise possible at prime focus. Covering fields of view with a Fastar 8 of as wide as 0.5 x 0.7 degrees - the equivalent of shooting the telescope as a 400mm f1.95 lens! The telescope can also accommodate a variety of optional telecompressor lenses at the axial port to vary the effective focal length and f ratio down to as fast as f3.3. Finally, the telescope itself is quite rigid but extremely portable at only 28 lbs. This will render this telescope a good choice for the suburbanite. The weight of the telescope with the furnished adjustable height field tripod weighs 39 lbs. Standard accessories include: 7 x 50 Straight Finder scope with standard bracket, Star Prism Diagonal 1-1/4", Visual Back 1-1/4", and a multi-coated 26mm Plossl Eyepiece 1-1/4" (78x). Numerous optional accessories are available to expand your particular interests.
FURTHER READING
Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes Go to Price List Go back to Celestron Products page |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Contents Copyright 1994-99 Company Seven All Rights Reserved |
Celestron Ultima 2000 Telescope Complete instruction manual for the