Celestron CPC 1100 StarBright XLT GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain 2800mm Telescope with Tripod and Tube

Celestron's CPC Series with revolutionary SkyAlign AlignmentTechnology re-defines everything that amateur astronomers are looking for ? quick and simple alignment, GPS, unsurpassed optical quality, and easy use. Once the CPC's internal GPS has established the telescope's position, aligning the telescope is as easy as 1-2-3! Simply locate and use hand control to manually point (slew) the telescope to three bright celestial objects. Celestron CPC 1100 series GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope has the most, light gathering power and has a limiting magnitude of nearly 15. It 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. The CPC 1100 GPS features Celestron's premium StarBright XLT coatings. Ergonomic design Star diagonal provides more comfortable viewing position when observing objects that are high in the sky Convenient remote hand control holder allows you to view information hands-free while using the scope 40,000 object database with 400 user-definable objects and expanded information on over 200 objects Re-designed drive base and drive mechanics - Quiet operation, large drive gears, and quick release clutch SkyAlign allows you to align on any three bright celestial objects, making for a fast and easy alignment process Flash upgradeable hand control software and motor control units for downloading product updates over the Internet Auxiliary port for additional accessories such as Autoguider, GPS accessory Aperture - 280mm (11.02) Focal Length - 2800mm (110.24) Focal Ratio - 10 Magnification - 40x and 660x Linear Field of View - (at 1000 yards) 32-feet (9.75 m) Optical Coating - Starbright XLT Coating Tracking Modes - Altazimuth, EQ North & EQ South Alignment Procedures - SkyAlign, Auto Two-Star Alignment, Two-star Align, SolarSystem Align, EQ North Align, EQ
Customer Review: Celestron CPC 1100
Scope was easy to set up and operate. Quality of scope was excellent. Works as avertised.
Customer Review: Great telescope for visual use
I bought this telescope primarily for visual use. I almost decided to get a smaller aperture. However, after seeing the telescope size and comments on it's handling, I decided it would be light enough for me to setup alone. The telescope tube and fork are pretty heavy. However, the ergonomics are very good such that lifting the tube isn't too bad (carried close to your body). I was seriously tempted by the Meade LX200R 10" and 12" scopes. In the end I decided the ergonomics on the Celestron were better and it was quite a bit cheaper (Celestron 11" was cheaper than Meade 10"). The fork mount is perfect for visual use since it can be setup very quickly. I suspect the Meades would be better for serious imaging if mounted on an equatorial mount. I was concerned about getting a telescope shipped to my home, but in the end it wasn't damaged in transport. I love the goto features of the scope. Using the handheld controller you can quickly find objects in the sky. I find the built in database quite good for visual objects. I quickly started using the Constellation view mode (view objects in a constellation) to reduce the amount of slewing across the sky. I find the auto-sky-align feature to work pretty well. This alignment mode is great since you don't need to know star names; just pick 3 bright stars. However, it is prone to occasionally fail alignment and 3 stars take more time than 2 stars. To eliminate the alignment failure and decrease the alignment time (2 stars only), I now primarily use auto-2-star align despite the fact you need to know the star names. The 10x50 finder scope is not terribly good but does the job. My focus knob is not as smooth in turning as some telescopes in the store. I notice this more as the scope is near the horizon. There is quite a bit of mirror shift when focusing but this is a Schmidt-Cassegrain characteristic. It took me some practice to obtain fine focus. I plan to order a feathertouch focuser to get finer control over the focus. My telescope was shipped with the GPS turned off. To turn it on you must go deep into the menus. I also discovered that you must set your scope to the proper daylight savings time setting or some stars will be out of range. The cord wrap feature sometimes annoys me. This feature tries to prevent wrapping the power cord. However, I usually watch for this problem anyhow and the cordwrap feature sometimes forces longer than necessary telescope slews. Cord wrap gets turned on automatically after every alignment. The tripod seems pretty heavy duty and comes with a nice heavy eyepiece tray. My tripod did not come with a leveling bubble. Placing the telescope fork on the tripod is pretty easy. Once you manage to grab the center guide pin with the fork, you simply need to rotate the base until the scope falls into the retention screw cutouts. Sometimes finding the center guide pin can take about 30 seconds but you get better with time. Optically the scope seems pretty good so far. You can see the Cassini division of Saturn and banding on Saturn and Jupiter. It took me a while to figure out collimation. I ordered a set of Bob's knobs and played with the collimation for a while to get the hang of it. I have tried to perform a star test and didn't get a perfect diffraction pattern on either side of focus. I believe there is possibly a slight downturned edge in the mirror from looking at the diffraction patterns. However, so far objects in the telescope look great and I am not an optical expert anyway. I have used the Neximage web cam for Lunar and planet images. The images turn out great. I have also tried some limited piggyback photography. All of my viewing and imaging so far has been from my backyard in a suburban light polluted area. I am able to see quite a few galaxies and nebula from my backyard. Celestron technical support is a bit slow in responding to inquiries through their web site. Overall, this is a great scope for visual use.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the fully functional Global Navigational Satellite System which will help in determining the location, speed/direction and time with the assistance of 24 medium earth orbit satellites. Known as a useful tool for mapmaking, land surveying, commerce, and scientific uses, GPS is now a widely used navigation aid world wide. It is also used for various applications including study of earth.

The current GPS is divided into three major segments called space segment (SS), control segment (CS), and user segment (US).It is the navigation message broadcasted by GPS satellites that provides the time-of-day, GPS week number and satellite health information.

The history of GPS traces back to the early 1940's when the World War II was on full swing. But it was the launching of Sputnik in 1957 by Soviet Union that paved for later developments in this field. A team of U.S. scientists under Dr. Richard B. Kershner were involved in research to monitor the movements of the satellite Sputnik, which later resulted in the technological development of GPS.

There are chances of the speed of GPS getting affected by the inconsistencies of atmospheric conditions. But this can be improved with the correction of these errors.

In the advanced modern world, GPS is mainly used in various daily life equipments including mobile phones. These devices help in making mobile phones more sophisticated and technologically advanced. With the mobile phones connected with GPS, the user will find it no hard to understand the location, climatic conditions and other geographical details.

Nowadays, GPS devices are connected with cars, helping the drivers in getting the exact knowledge of the geography, climate and details ensuring safe driving at strange areas.

Alice Erin is an Expert Author. He has written good quality articles on Sat Nav Devices, like TomTom Go 720 and Garmin Nuvi 300.