Celestron - Fastar Lens Assembly 8 inch

Celestron’s long history of being a leader in innovation began in the early 1960’s when it was the
first to mass produce the Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (SCT), known to all as the C8. Today, the
term ”C8” is synonymous with the SCT. Celestron was also the first to introduce a Schmidt Camera
and a completely computer automated fork mounted telescope to the amateur astronomer. In keeping
with this tradition of innovation, Celestron has designed multi-focus Fastar compatible SCT
telescopes. In addition to using your telescope in the traditional photo/visual configurations,
these telescopes are optimized for f/2 (f/1.95 with the C8 and f/2.1 with the 14”) prime focus
CCD imaging.

 The Fastar lens assembly comes with the optical lens assembly, and protective holder for the
secondary mirror while removed from the telescope. A rear cell counterweight to ensure proper
balance when imaging at f/1.95 is also included with the 8” systems.

With the Fastar’s f/2 focus, your telescope can provide a field of view larger than CCD systems
twice its chip size and costing thousands of dollars more. Objects like M33 and the Veil Nebula,
which were previously too large for the narrow fields of view of most commercial CCD’s, will
easily be seen with the Fastar system. The Fastar compatible C8 used at f/1.95 delivers a field
of view 5 times wider than imaging at f/10 and requires exposure times that are 25 times shorter.
No more spending valuable observing time trying to locate and frame deep-sky objects in a small
field of view. Unguided track and accumulated images of 30 seconds or more capture deep sky
objects in their full glory. It’s like having a professional observatory in your own backyard!