Celestron CGE Pro 1400 Computerized Telescope: £9394.72

Celestrons newest line of observatory class telescopes

The CGE Pro 1400 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope is part of Celestron's "Top-of-the-Line" German Equatorial mounted astronomical telescopes. With over three times the light gathering power of an 8" telescope, this observatory-class instrument is Celestron's largest optical system in its class. This model features our premium StarBright XLT coatings.

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.

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.

GENERAL FEATURES:

14" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope
Celestron premium StarBright XLT coatings
CGE PRO computerized Equatorial mount
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
Proven NexStar computer control technology 40,000 object database with 100 user-definable objects and expanded information on over 200 objects
New All-Star Polar Alignment routine for both Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Software Features include: Database Filter Limits, Hibernate, five alignment methods and user-defined slew limits.
Flash upgradeable hand control software and motor control units for downloading product updates over the Internet
Custom database lists of all the most famous deep-sky objects by name and catalog number; the most beautiful double, triple and quadruple stars; variable star; solar systems; objects and asterisms
Double line, 16-character Liquid Crystal Display Hand Control with backlit LED buttons for easy operation of goto features
12VDC Servo Motors with integrated optical encoders
Permanent programmable periodic error correction (PEC) - corrects for periodic tracking errors inherent to all worm drives
Drive Motors - High quality motors with seven slot skewed armature to minimize magnetic cogging for quiet operation and long life. Precision made cut-steel gears in gearbox for Improve tracking precision.
Bearing and Shaft - Main shafts are made from 1.57" diameter steel tubing with .40" wall thickness with two preloaded 2.68" O.D. tapered roller bearings on each axes
Precision worm drive system - .75" pitch dia. precision made steel worm preloaded with two .87" OD ball bearings to minimize run-out (a source of periodic error). 255 tooth 6" pitch dia. precision made worm wheel with enveloping brass teeth
Spring loaded DEC worm to minimize backlash and makes guiding easy.
4 point RA and DEC clutch system for no-slip pointing precision
Autoguide port, PC port and auxiliary ports located on the electronic pier for long exposure astrophotography
Latitude range: 10º to 65º northern or southern hemispheres
RS-232 communication port on hand control to control the telescope via a personal computer Includes NexRemote telescope control software, for advanced control of your telescope via computer
GPS-compatible with optional CN16 GPS Accessory (93967)

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

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)
TRIPOD AND PIER WEIGHT: 52 lb (23.59 kg)
EQ MOUNT WEIGHT: 75 lb (34.02 kg)
COUNTERWEIGHT BAR: 5 lb (2.27 kg)
COUNTERWEIGHTS: 3 x 22 lb
SLEW SPEEDS: Nine slew speeds 5.5 deg/s, 2 deg/s, 0.5 deg/s, 64x, 16x, 8x, 4x, 1x, 0.5x
TRACKING RATES: Sidereal, Solar and Lunar
TRACKING MODES: EQ North and EQ South
ALIGNMENT PROCEDURES: 2-Star Align, Solar System Align, Last Alignment, Quick Align, 1-Star Align
DATABASE: 40,000+ objects, 100 user defined programmable objects. Enhanced information on over 200 objects
POWER REQUIREMENTS: 12 VDC 2.5A
INTERNAL CLOCK: Yes
GPS: Optional CN-16 GPS Accessory

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