Digital Schmidt camera for wide angle astrophotography!
This astrograph makes it very easy to create stunning photos with a modern DSLR or astronomical CCD camera. The new optical design has a four-lens corrector, incorporating rare earth glass, which suppresses chromatic aberrations and other problems such as coma and field curvature. Never before has an astrograph in this price range delivered such optical quality and spot size over the entire image field. The design also allows for a very low vignetting.
- super-fast 11" f2.2 optics - sharply images APS format and is even optimized for sensor sizes up to a 70mm field diagonal.
- extremely short exposure times - the RASA Astrograph acquires images twenty times faster than at f10! Thirty seconds at f2.2 correspond to ten minutes at f10 - tracking control is hence superfluous!
- huge field of view - with a 620mm focal length, makes wide-angle shots a piece of cake and you and always have an overview
- excellent focusing mechanism - new bronze bearings reduce image shift, the 10:1 FeatherTouch micro-focuser allows highly precise focusing!
- innovative Features - quieter 12V MagLev fan reduces the cooling phase, keeps out dust and allows optimum air circulation in the OTA. Various adapters for popular camera brands are included. Back focus for the camera supplied adapters: 55mm, back focus for the front lens group: 69.26mm
RASA stands for Rowe-Ackermann-Schmidt Astrograph - Dave Rowe and Mark Ackermann are renowned optical instrument designers. Together, they hold numerous patents on their inventions. The RASA astrograph combines their expertise and experience.
In addition to being fully computerized with a database of over 40,000 celestial objects, the New CGE Pro German Equatorial mount has been completely redesign to offer numerous design advantages for the Astrophotographer:
- Increased Payload Capacity
Able to hold our 14" SCT telescope more securely as well as larger optical tubes up to a maximum payload of 90lbs. - All-Star Polar Alignment
Choose any bright alignment star for a software assisted alignment of the mounts polar axis that will have you ready for imaging even if you can't see the North Star. - No-Tool polar alignment
Larger hand knobs for both Altitude and Azimuth adjustments. - Meridian Tracking
Extended tracking past the Meridian of up to 20 degrees of uninterrupted imaging through the best part of the sky. - Faster slew speed
Improved gearing and motors provide faster slew speeds than ever before with a maximum slew rate of over 5°/per second. - Power Management
Redesigned electronics deliver constant regulated power to the motors making them capable of driving the telescope even when not perfectly balanced. This allows the CGE Pro to have the payload capacity of that of much larger (and expensive) mounts without sacrificing smooth tracking motion and pointing accuracy across the entire sky. - Accuracy
The hallmark of any telescope mount is its ability to find, center and track celestial objects with the highest degree of accuracy. - Pointing
With just a standard hand control alignment, CGE Pro has the ability to center a star in your eyepiece or ccd chip to within 5 arc minutes. Using NexStar's advanced pointing features such as Calibration Stars, Sync and Precise GoTo, further improves the pointing accuracy to as low as 1 arc minute in the desired region of the sky. - Tracking
With larger .75" pitch diameter worm, precision made cut-steel gears in gearboxes, and seven slot skewed armature motors the CGE Pro delivers typical tracking performance of +-9 arc seconds, which can be further reduced with the mounts permanent periodic error correction (PPEC). - Mount Modeling
Celestron's NexStar hand control has built-in mount modeling features essential for accurately placing small objects on the center of your ccd chip or high power eyepiece. Aligning on multiple Calibration Stars creates a mathematical model of the opto-mechanical inaccuracies inherent in all equatorial mounts. This model is stored within the hand control and is used to compensate for these inaccuracies thus improving your pointing precision each time you slew your telescope. - Portability
Set up and transportation of the CGE Pro telescopes is made easy by separating the mount into smaller, easy-to-carry components. Unlike fork arm mounted telescopes, the CGE's optical tubes can be quickly removed from their mounts making even the CGE Pro1400 easily assembled in minutes. - Stability
Recognized for superior stability, German Equatorial mounts place the center of gravity directly over the tripod legs and can be easily polar aligned without the use of an optional equatorial wedge. This proven design reduces the "tuning fork" vibration that can be associated with undersized fork mounts. An improved Super HD Tripod supports the CGE Pro mount. This fully extendable tripod is made from the finest 2.75" stainless steel and can be raised to a height of 55". The tripod uses a dual leg support for maximum rigidity with an upper leg brace to provide an outward preload and a lower leg brace providing inward tension. - Balance
CGE Pro equatorial mounts can easily be balanced in both axes. Simply sliding the counterweight for Right Ascension and moving the optical tube along its dovetail mounting for Declination accomplish balancing the weight of camera equipment and other visual accessories. This means that no additional weight needs to be added to balance the telescope when additional accessories are added. - Clearance
CGE Pro mounts support their tubes at a single contact point allowing the tube to move freely around its polar axis without making contact with the telescope's mount. Software features allow the user to set the mounts slew limits to guaranty safe motion. This is particularly useful when adding photographic and CCD instruments that extend from the rear of the telescopes.
All CGE mounted telescopes are compatible with Celestron's CN-16 GPS accessory. Combine the GPS and built-in real time clock and these telescopes will keep track and remember their exact location and time without having to enter the information into the hand control.
It not only matters which telescope you buy but also where you buy it. Our additional services:
- We are a leading telescope dealer and know the devices we sell. Our customer service team will gladly help you after your purchase if you have problems with assembly or operation.
- We provide a copy of the 80-page Telescope ABC beginners handbook with every telescope.
- We also provide an edition of the exciting astronomy magazine, “Sterne und Weltraum” with each telescope.
