Celestron - CGE Pro 1400 Fastar

The CGE Pro 1400 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope is part of Celestrons Top-of-the-Line German Equatorial mounted astronomical telescopes. With over three times the light gathering power of an 8 inch telescope, this observatory-class instrument is Celestrons largest optical system in its class.

The 11089 model also features our premium StarBright XLT coatings and is FASTAR compatible for F/2 wide field imaging. This telescope is especially at home as a solid platform for long exposure photography with optional CCD cameras or photographic equipment; it is a serious scientific research tool. German Equatorial mounts are recognized as being the superior choice for astrophotography because of their rock solid stability, simple balancing and easy accessibility for attaching equipment. With sophisticated software features like Hibernate function, the CGE Pro can maintain its star alignment night after night without needing to be re-aligned, making it an ideal instrument for a permanent observatory facility.

The CGE Pro 1400 takes full advantage of its vast database of thousands of NGC and Abell galaxies as well as delivering a new level of detail to all your favorite deep sky objects. Turn this scope to the planets and see amazing detail on the surface of Jupiter; see Cassini's Division in the rings of Saturn, and resolve details on the surface of Mars. Even the distant Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are within your reach.

Fastar Compatible - Equipped with a removable secondary mirror for fast f/2 ccd imaging. Not only does imaging in the FASTAR configuration allow for exposure times that are 25 times faster than at f/11, but also yields a field of view five times wider. Perfect combination for imaging your favorite wide field objects in a fraction of the time. (FASTAR imaging require a third party lens assembly in place of the secondary mirror).

In addition to being fully computerized with a database of over 40,000 celestial objects, the CGE Pro German Equatorial mount has been completely redesigned to offer numerous design advantages:

• Increased Payload Capacity - With a maximum payload of 90lbs the CGE Pro mount is able to hold the 14" telescope more securely even when fully loaded with all your imaging gear.


• 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 pass 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.


• 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).

In addition to these improvements, the Celestron line of German Equatorial mounts has long been recognized for features preferred by visual observers and astrophotographer alike. Among them include:

• 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.

For more information about Celestron's new mount, go to the CGE Pro mount web page.

CGE Pro 1400 FASTAR General Features

• 14" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope


• Celestron premium StarBright XLT coatings


• CGE PRO computerized Equatorial mount


• FASTAR compatible optical tube for f/2 imaging


• Schmidt-Cassegrain mechanism that moves the primary mirror to adjust focus is supported by two pre-loaded ball bearings, minimizing the "mirror flop" typical of bushing focus mechanisms


• Heavy duty stainless steel tripod adjustable from 38 - 55"


• 9x50 finderscope to help accurately find objects


• Star diagonal provides more comfortable viewing position when observing objects that are high in the sky 

Tech Specs

• Optical Design : Schmidt-Cassegrain


• Aperture : 355.5 mm (14 in)


• Focal Length : 3910 mm (153.94 in)


• Focal Ratio : 11


• Finderscope : 9x50


• Mount : CGE Pro Computerized Equatorial


• Optical Tube : Aluminum


• Eyepiece 1 : 40 mm (1.57 in)


• Magnification 1 : 98 x


• Star Diagonal : 2" with 1.25" adapter


• Tripod : Adjustable, 2.75" Stainless Steel legs


• CD ROM : NexRemote control software with RS232 cable


• Power Supply : Car battery adapter


• Highest Useful Magnification : 840 x


• Lowest Useful Magnification : 51 x


• Limiting Stellar Magnitude : 15.3 Resolution (Rayleigh) : 0.39 arcsec


• Resolution (Dawes) : 0.33 arcsec


• Light Gathering Power : 2579 x


• Angular Field of View : 0.53 °


• Linear Field of View (@1000 yds) : 28 ft (8.53 m)


• Optical Coatings : Starbright XLT Coating


• Secondary Mirror Obstruction : 4.5 in (114.3 mm)


• Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Area : 10.3 %


• Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Diameter : 32.2 %


• Optical Tube Length : 31 in (787.4 mm)


• Optical Tube Weight : 45 lb (20.41 kg)

CGE PRO EdgeHD Series Computerized Telescopes

SEE THE UNIVERSE IN HD

Introducing Celestron's New Aplanatic Schmidt Telescope Design!

• Visibly Sharper Images
• Superior Performance
• Enhanced Mechanical 
• FeaturesFastar® Compatible

EdgeHD is an aplanatic Schmidt telescope designed to produce aberration-free images across a wide visual and photographic field of view.  The optical system was designed to reduce more than just off-axis star coma, but also to give an astrograph quality flat focal plane all the way to the edge of the field of view.

True Astrograph Quality

Many optical designs that advertise themselves as "astrograph" quality actually only produce pinpoint stars across a curved focal plane.  While this may be acceptable for visual observing, stars will appear out of focus at the edge when used with a flat chip sensor of a digital camera.  EdgeHD optics produce a focal plane more than three-times flatter than a standard Schmidt Cassegrain telescope and dramatically flatter than other competing coma-free designs.  This guarantees you visibly sharp stars across some of the largest CCD chips available today.



Improved Performance
Superior edge performance not only creates rounder, more pleasing stars but actually improves the resolution and limiting magnitude when compared to telescopes of equal aperture. Starbright XLT® Coatings coupled with Celestron's StarBright XLT coating group on every surface, EdgeHD optics gives you maximum light throughput across the widest visual and photographic spectrum.

Mechanical Features
In addition to Celestron’s new optimized optical design, the EdgeHD tube has been redesigned to make sure you get the most from your optics each and every night.

Mirror Clutches - Flexible tension clutches hold the mirror in place and reduce image shift when rotating the tube around the mount.  The flexible rods allow the mirror to be held in place without putting any force or pressure on the mirror assembly, keeping the image centered in the eyepiece (or chip).

Tube Vents - Cooling vents located on the rear cell allow hot air to be released from behind the primary mirror.  Each vent has an integrated 60 micron micro-mesh filter guaranteed to let warm air out without letting dust in.

Fastar Versatility - The EdgeHD is the most versatile imaging scope available today. At its native f/10, you can achieve the image scale necessary to capture the smallest of deep sky objects. With the optional reducer lens (coming soon), you can increase your field of view without sacrificing optical performance.  A barlow gives you the added power for high resolution planetary, lunar and solar imaging.  And of course, all EdgeHD optical tubes are Fastar® compatible for ultra fast f/2 wide field imaging.  Each tube has been fitted with a removable secondary mirror and are opto-mechanically aligned on a laser bench to ensure they are axially symmetric in any configuration.

Celestron's newest line of observatory class German equatorial telescopes The CGE Pro computerized series is Celestron's newest line of observatory class German equatorial telescopes. Offered with 9.25", 11" and 14" aperture Schmidt Cassegrain optical tubes, they all come mounted on the new state of the art CGE Pro GoTo mount.

The German Equatorial mount has long been the favored choice of astronomy buffs and astrophotographers because of its stability and portability. More stable because the center of gravity is directly over the center of its base, more portable because it can be broken down into smaller component parts for easy storage and transportation. For astrophotography, the German Equatorial mount offers easier balancing, unlimited space at the rear of the telescope tube to mount a camera, and whole sky access. Now you can enjoy all of the NexStar software and database features with the extra stability and portability of a German Equatorial mount.