Celestron has long been recognized as a leader in Schmidt-Cassegrain technology. Our line of Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes ranges from the highly portable C5+ all the way up to the powerful CG-14, and includes several cutting edge computerized telescopes. Celestron's potent combination of superior optics, fine drive systems and well-crafted mechanics puts these telescopes in a class by themselves.

Schmidt-Cassegrain, or catadioptric, telescopes use a combination of mirrors and lenses to fold the optics and form an image. Incoming light enters through a thin aspheric Schmidt correcting lens, then strikes the spherical primary mirror and is reflected back up the tube. The light is then intercepted by a small secondary mirror which reflects the light out an opening in the rear of the instrument, where the image is formed at the eyepiece.

Some of the advantages of the Schmidt-Cassegrain design are:

• Excellent optical systems delivering razor sharp images over a wide field.
• High performance in almost all situations; terrestrial viewing and photography; lunar, planetary and deep-sky observing; astrophotography with fast film; CCD imaging.
• Best all-around, multifunction telescope design; it combines all the optical advantages of both mirrors and lenses, while canceling their disadvantages.
• Focal ratios generally in the range of f/10, which is useful for all types of photography.
• A telescope that's compact, portable, easy to use, durable, virtually maintenance free and has a closed tube.
• The best near focus capability of any type of telescope design.
• Large apertures at quite reasonable prices.
• Many accessories available.

Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes are designed to meet many needs and these compact, portable, user-friendly telescopes have a strong following. At Celestron, we pride ourselves on producing consistently superior optics and earning our customer's devotion to the Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Each optical system is individually hand figured and guaranteed to be diffraction limited. Fine corrections are made on the secondary mirrors, that smooths the optical figure. To maintain tight quality control, each Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope is manufactured in the U.S.A.

Hand figuring of an optical system is a complex optical procedure done only on a commercial basis by Celestron. The art of hand figuring does take time but the results are easily evidenced by the superior resultant astrophotographs and viewing obtained.

Celestron 's optical testing is performed on double-pass auto-collimators in a temperature controlled environment. This ensures the highest quality on a consistent basis. Our commitment to the most careful optical fabrication and most stringent testing and quality control is for one purpose: to produce the very best Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes available anywhere.

All Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes utilize the multicoated Starbright^® coatings group. High Reflectivity (HR) coatings are used on the mirrors for increased reflectivity and Anti-Reflection (AR) coatings are used on the correcting lens for increased light transmission. In fact, Celestron's Starbright coatings provide "the best light transmission by a large margin over the competition," according to Sky & Telescope magazine. In addition, the optical systems are optimally baffled to ensure the highest contrast levels. To provide consistent customer satisfaction and high performance, all Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain optical assemblies, at each aperture size, utilize the same superior optics, whether in a basic or full featured model.