Celestron
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Optical instruments |
Predecessor | Valor Electronics |
Founded | 1964 | (as Celestron Pacific)
Founder | Tom Johnson |
Headquarters | , United States |
Products | Telescopes and other optical / mechanical devices |
Website | Celestron.com |
Celestron, LLC is a company that manufactures telescopes and distributes telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes, and accessories manufactured by its parent company, the Synta Technology Corporation of Taiwan.
History
The predecessor of Celestron was Valor Electronics, an electronics and military components firm founded in 1955 by Tom Johnson.[1][2][3] Johnson became involved with telescopes when he built a 6" reflecting telescope for his two sons.[2] In 1960, Johnson established the "Astro-Optical" division of Valor, which would later become Celestron.[3]
By 1964, Johnson had founded "Celestron Pacific" as a division of Valor Electronics
Johnson, the founder of the company, sold Celestron in 1980.[2] Celestron was acquired by Tasco in 1997 and almost went out of business when Tasco folded in 2001.
In early 2002 Celestron's rival,
On March 13, 2012, Tom Johnson died at the age of 89.[3][6]
Products
Celestron was the first large scale commercial manufacturer of the
Other telescope product lines include the CGE, CGEM, CPC, NexStar, Omni, Onyx, AstroMaster, Ambassador, TravelScope, and PowerSeeker product lines.[10] These range from large computerized reflectors with GPS to decorative/casual viewing telescopes with brass tube refractors on wood mounts.
Celestron products (as of 2010) include:
- 5", 6", 8", 9.25", 11", and 14" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes (the number denoting the German equatorial mounts (all) or fork mounts (C8, C9.25, C11), with most benefiting from GoTocontrol.
- A range of 8", 9.25", 11", and 14" modified Schmidt-Cassegrains with a more advanced optical design marketed as EdgeHD
- A range of 8", 11", and 36 cm Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrographs (RASA) [11]
- A range of 2.4 to 6-inch (150 mm) refractortelescopes.
- 6 to 10-inch (250 mm) traditional reflectortelescopes on German equatorial mounts.
- SkyScout – an astronomical sky finder or a personal planetarium.
- Digital, Biological, and Stereo viewing microscopes
- Binoculars and Spotting scopes
- Various mounts
- Numerous eyepiece lines, including both simple Plossl and complex wide-field designs such as the X-Cel and Luminos eyepiece lines.[clarification needed]
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Celestron NexStar 114 telescope
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Celestron C8 telescope
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An Omni XLT120 achromatic refractor
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Celestron NexStar 130SLT Goto telescope
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Celestron Powerseeker model 80EQ
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FirstScope 76 tabletopDobsonian
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Celestron EdgeHD with solar filter
Celestron telescopes offer the option to use computerized location of astronomical objects as well as mounts that will aim themselves at any given object, a technology known as GoTo. Most of the computerized models can be connected to an external computer via an
Some motorized telescopes sold during the mid 80s to early 90s, including the Celestron Compustar which used a form of GoTo technology, did not allow for dates after 2000, thus making some Celestron products susceptible to the
Competition with Meade
Since their founding in 1972, Meade Instruments has been one of Celestron's chief rivals. Design, sizing, introduction, and pricing of each company's products lines and models have been in response to their competition with each other.[citation needed] There has been litigation over infringement of patents between the two companies, one instance regarding GoTo technology.[12] In September 2013, Sunny Optics Inc, a unit of the Chinese firm Ningbo Sunny Electronic Co Ltd, completed the acquisition of the entire share capital of Meade. Meade later declared bankruptcy and was bought by Orion Telescopes & Binoculars and is now an American company based in Watsonville, California.
References
- ^ a b Plotner, Tammy (August 1, 2008). "Celestron Telescope". Universe Today. Retrieved 2011-04-25.
- ^ Astronomy Magazine. Archived from the originalon 2019-01-24. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
- ^ a b c di Cicco, Dennis (2012-03-13). "Tom Johnson, 1923–2012". Sky & Telescope. Archived from the original on 2012-03-17. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
- ^ "Nights of Future Passed – Celestron Pacific". philharrington.net.
- ^ "prnewswire.com, Celestron Purchased by SW Technology Corporation, a Delaware Company, Affiliate of Synta Technology Corporation - TORRANCE, Calif., April 6 /PRNewswire".
- ^ "Tom Johnson Announcement". Celestron.com. March 13, 2012. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
- ISBN 978-1-84628-707-7.
- ^ "Uncle Rod's Astro Blog: Down with Love".
- ^ "Method for Making Replica Contour Block Masters for Producing Schmidt Corrector Plates".
- ^ Guzman, Roxanne (2019-12-24). "Top 5 Best Low Light Binoculars in 2020". Woq9. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
- ^ "Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph Optical Tubes and Telescopes | Celestron". www.celestron.com.
- ^ "Meade, Celestron Settle Patent Lawsuits". Bloomberg News. Bloomberg. July 9, 2004. Retrieved 2011-04-25.