The early models had large rings to mount the tube to the equatorial head. In later models the optical tube was mounted on a bar that fit a sliding connection on the equatorial head as shown in the picture. Both mounting arrangements allowed movement of the tube for balance with various accessories.

A computer was later developed as an option that could guide the user to 450 pre-selected objects once the date, time, latitude and longitude were input.

Later Model Super C8+,  No electronics, AC byers drive

****  NOTHING BUT A GREAT SCOPE  ****

The first of the upgrades to the basic C8 was the Super C8 offered in 1984. The drive base of this model was changed from the basic round shape of previous models to one with a square front to allow for a worm gear drive. This drive incorporated in this model was a very accurate Byers 359 tooth worm gear system with a single synchronous AC motor. In addition, a very nice 8x50 helical focusing finder was added that could be converted from straight through viewing to right angle viewing. The wedge and tripod were generally included in the price of the basic telescope package with this model. Later the same year the Super C8+ was released. This model include the features of the Super C8, but now was supplied with a new 8x50 finder having a mirror diagonal and a battery illuminated polar reticle. Although the focusing of this finder was not as elegant as that on the Super C8, it still allowed focusing by turning the objective cell. In addition, a 1 1/4" mirror diagonal replaced the previous star diagonal and a second eyepiece was added. Improvements were also made to the wedge for easier polar alignment. Celestron's "Starbight" multi-coatings began to be offered as an option on this telescope.

Periodic Error Correction

In 1986 the "Powerstar" series was introduced to deal with this shortcoming. The first model of this series was the Powerstar C8. A 12 volt DC drive was added to the Super C8.

The telescope's main motor was accompanied by an internal quartz controller, a dew shade and a dual axis drive corrector hand box.

Power could be supplied by 6 AA batteries, an automobile cigarette lighter or by AC current.

The handbox offered quite a few features, such as control of optional declination and focus motors, a built-in map light, a North/South hemisphere switch to reverse the RA drive and 2x or 4x guiding speeds.

 "Starbright" multi-coatings, a wedge with micro adjustments for altitude and azimuth adjustments and a variable height tripod completed the package.

For more information on the Celestron PEC feature see the section on the Ultima 8 below. The even more rugged Ultima tripod was now supplied with the system. However, there are always tradeoffs for improvements.

The new release did away with many of the nice standard accessories of the previous models. The telescope was now delivered with a standard 6x30 finder, star diagonal, one eyepiece, carrying case and hand control. Declination and focus motors remained as options. The only real feature that distinguishes the above telescopes from the previous models is the drive base cover, and the photos above reveal the differences.

Although somewhat cumbersome with its large declination cover and display panel, this unit allowed automatic go-to for over 8,000 objects. The f/10 optical tube with "Starbright" coatings was supplied with an 8x50 polar axis finder, a 2" star diagonal and 50mm 2" Plossl, heavy duty wedge and tripod and carrying case. Starting in 1993 the Compustar was shipped with an 1 1/4" star diagonal and eyepiece with the 2" accessories as options.

These units did suffer from a Y2K firmware bug

The tracking of the drive was nevertheless quite good. The base changed from the old round casting to the more familiar square front. The telescope's standard accessories included an equatorial wedge (but no tripod), 1 1/4" star diagonal and eyepiece and 6x30 finder. "Starbright" multicoated optics were optional.

Celestron's Ultima line of Telescopes

1989 saw the introduction of the Ultima line. The Ultima 8 telescope is arguably one of the most stable commercially built SCT's for the amateur. Appropriately it is also one of the heaviest. This line maintained the same basic "Starbright" multi-coated optics of previous models in redesigned castings for the optical tube.

This is coupled to a redesigned, heavier fork mount with carrying handles and a large 2 5/8" diameter polar shaft. The initial drive system was unique, but with some deficiencies.

This contained a rechargeable "LEAD ACID" battery

Although this resulted in a fairly long lasting power supply and did not involve replacing batteries, some of the advantages of the DC drive used on the Powerstars were lost.

Notice the similarities to the Powerstar Panel drive base

Standard accessories included a heavy duty wedge and tripod, 1 1/4" star diagonal and eyepiece and an 8x50 polar finder. A heavy duty, high impact molded plastic carrying case provided good protection for the telescope.

The Ultima 8 telescope is arguably one of the most stable commercially built SCTs for the amateur. Appropriately it is also one of the heaviest. This line maintained the same basic "Starbright" multi-coated optics of previous models in redesigned castings for the optical tube. This is coupled to a redesigned, heavier fork mount with carrying handles and a large 2 5/8" diameter polar shaft. The initial drive system was unique, but with some deficiencies.

The telescope was driven by an AC motor, run by a high efficiency quartz locked inverter. This, in turn, was powered by internal, rechargeable, lead acid batteries. Although this resulted in a fairly long lasting power supply and did not involve replacing batteries, some of the advantages of the DC drive used on the Powerstars were lost.

Standard accessories included a heavy duty wedge and tripod, 1 1/4" star diagonal and eyepiece and an 8x50 polar finder. A heavy duty, high impact molded plastic carrying case provided good protection for the telescope.

In 1990, the rechargable battery was replaced with a 9 volt alkaline battery and the drive was replaced by true DC motors and a microprocessor. The processor allowed four digitally controlled drive rates, including solar, lunar, siderial and King. It also allowed use in both hemispheres just by flipping a switch as well as the addition of Periodic Error Correction (PEC).

This electronic wizardry was a great benefit to astrophotographers, allowing them to track almost any object and to "train" the drive to automatically counteract the errors that are inherent in any gear system. While even the basic system without PEC was extremely accurate, enough to allow unguided piggyback photography with as much as a 500mm lens, using the new feature further reduced guiding effort for photography.

A minor irritation to some was that the PEC training was lost each time you turned off the telescope. 

Notice the difference between the Celestron PEC and the Meade PPEC designs.

There was, of course, a tradeoff between losing precious dark time and assuring that each PEC training session addressed the situations peculiar to that setup. The hand control box, optional on the initial units, was now made standard.

Probably the "One of the BEST C8's ever Created"

Of the two "Ultima" designs the PEC is the one to get....PERIOD!!!

These, in turn were driven by a new 9 volt DC spur gear system. A drive corrector and handbox were supplied as standard accessories along with a 6x30 finder, 1 1/4" diagonal and eyepiece and wedge.

The tripod was optional.

Skip this scope ..............PERIOD!!!!

This was a good basic instrument with quality optics. It looks can be differentiated from the Classic C8 only by the front panel which is the same as on the C5+. It was also available with the Advanced Astro Master computer as a factory installed component.

This computer, with the accompanying encoders gave the telescope digital setting circles. The computer, like others was preprogrammed with over 10,000 sky objects.

After setting up the computer by synchronizing it with two known stars, the user can select an object from the database and manually move the telescope until the computer indicated the object was in view.

This provides an effective and less expensive way to have the telescope "find" objects for you.

Advanced Astro Master - Digital Setting Circles - Losmandy

This is NOT a "GOTO" Scope, don't be fooled!!!

In 1993 Celestron's popular SPC telescopes received an updated equatorial mount from Japan. Functionally this was the same telescope as the SP-C8 but it was now called the GP-C8.

It came with the Starbright coated optical tube on the polaris equatorial mount, a 6x30 finder, 1 1/4" diagonal and eyepiece.

Celestron addressed all these issues admirably with new Ultima 2000, and made the best of new computer tracking technologies as well.

Like the competing LX200, the Ultima 2000 shipped without a wedge as part of the standard package. Its computer electronics track objects in the sky after alignment of the telescope on two stars.

Due to its built-in high resolution encoders, once the initial alignment is made, the telescope can be turned under power or manually while still maintaining its position memory. The electronics include Periodic Error Correction (PEC) as implemented in the previous Ultima models.

Two motors are used to drive the telescope in each axis, one for slow speeds, and another for high speeds. As a result, the telescope can track normally and be guided at 2x or 6x, or can be moved across the sky at speeds up to 10 degrees per second, and it accomplishes this quietly.

The telescope can be powered by a set of 8 AA batteries mounted in the base, or by an external 12 volt power source. Internal wiring paths for the encoders, etc, mean that the control panel on the base seems quite sparse, but it provides inputs for all the necessary options for a fully operational system.

Plugs are provided for external power, electronic focusing, the hand control and an "AUX" port for connecting a computer, an auto-guider or other items. The weight of the optical tube and fork is only 31 pounds. Add another 18 pounds for the sturdy tripod and you have a featherweight compared to the old Compustar. A small handbox replaces the old control panel. With a few buttons and a two line display, it gives access to all of the aligning, setup, identification, positioning and touring features.

This is by far THE FINEST used scope to buy  ......  PERIOD!!!!

In 1996 the 9 volt DC spur gear driven C8+ was placed on a new tripod and the name was changed to Celestar 8. The new tripod combined the former wedge and tripod into a "wedgepod" where removable legs attached directly to fixed sockets on the bottom of the wedge. This result was a usable, but fixed height design, less weight and lower production costs. The Celestar 8, like the C8+ was available with or without a factory installed computer as an option. The hand control was now only included as an option, as with the declination motor.

These units did suffer from a Y2K firmware bug

These units did suffer from a Y2K firmware bug

In 1996 Celestron produced a completely new optical tube with the introduction of the Ultima 9 1/4. This retained the weight and stability of the Ultima 8, but gave 34% more light collection. The f/10 optical tube also introduced a unique micrometer focuser with a digital readout. This allowed repeatable focusing for those doing CCD work or astrophotography. This optical tube is rumored to have particularly high quality control, and although it falls short of the light grasp of a 10" system, the views are said to be consistently superior to the run of the mill SCTs. To support the significantly greater weight of this tube, a larger, heavy duty wedge was provided. The package was completed with a 6x30 finder, 1 1/4" diagonal and eyepiece.

In the latter part of 1989, a few months after the Ultima 8 was announced, the Ultima 11 was released. The well respected optical tube with "Starbright" multi-coatings was coupled the to the same base, wedge and tripod as the 8" model. Although the combination was not as sturdy as the smaller unit, it was certainly adequate by all previous standards. This new model included as standard such amenities as vibration suppression pads for the tripod legs, a 2" mirror star diagonal with 1 1/4" adapter, two eyepieces and a counterbalance bar. Of course the 8x50 polar finder and a high impact case were also included.

This is one GREAT scope if you can find one!

With the above improvements these became, in my opinion, some of Meade's best telescopes ever for astrophotography. The same model numbers were maintained after the "Smart Drive" was introduced with the exception that a new Model 40SD/46SD became the entry level scope with a 6x30 finder, 1 ¼" diagonal and eyepiece and electronic command center. At about this same time the 70/76 models were dropped as a production item. Those who wanted the computer and/or digital setting circles would just order the 50/56 models and then purchase the other items separately.

This is by far THE BEST used MEADE scope to buy  ......  PERIOD!!!!

Why encoders? The drive electronics only know where it is pointed based on the initial setup from pointing at one or two stars and establishing then keeping track of its position from there. Any manual adjustment of the telescope causes it to "get lost." Of course, since you can't move the telescope manually in declination while it is powered up anyway, this could be a moot point, but they provided for encoders anyway.

Another exciting feature for the technocrat, a plug was added that would allow a CCD system to provide feedback to the computer for automatic guiding for photography. (Of course long exposure photography was only possible with the purchase of an optional equatorial wedge, since the alt-az mode would result in field rotation even though the object tracked would stay in the center of the field.) The whole system was placed on the same tripod used by previous LX models, and in its first release, came with a carrying case.

In 1995 higher resolution encoders and another new software release allowed what Meade dubbed "High Precision Pointing." This increased accuracy allowed for photography of objects that could not be seen with the eye when using the new generation of CCD photography tools. Once aligned, the "go-to" would almost always accurately center any object in the field of view for observation or photography. At this time the standard object database of the computer was expanded to 64,000 objects.

Finally in 1997, the earth's moon was quietly added to the database for those with a serious case of "go-to fever."

Since there was no computer to track in the alt-az mode, the 8" models were provided with a standard wedge.

SSC-8.

This was a large tripod-mounted german equatorial system that could be outfitted with the same computer technology as the LX 200 models.

This gave the consumer a choice between the two long favored mounts for Schmidt Cassegrains. These were available in either f/10 or f/6.3 focal lengths with a 1 ¼" star diagonal and eyepiece, 8x50 finder and dovetail mounting bar on the LX600 mount, used up until then for their large refractors.

This mount was a heavy ball-bearing mount with worm gear motion in both axes. Optionally available were a polar borescope, and electronic drive system with PPEC similar to that provided on the LX100, and the computerized electronic drive system that provided the same features as the LX200. The standard field tripod used with the fork-mounted SCT provided suitable stability for the new GEM. This series was dropped quickly, and so is a rare item to be found on the market.

It is noteworthy that Meade did not include the field tripod with the LX 50. It had to be purchased separately. The model included a standard wedge, 6x30 finder, 1 ¼" diagonal and eyepiece and declination motor as standard equipment.

This replacement for the venerable entry level Meade 8" SCT included the latest technology.

The optical tube carried the same Super Multi-Coatings used on the top-of-the-line LX200 and was accompanied by a 6x30 finder, 1 ¼" diagonal and eyepiece.

The optical tube was placed on a light but adequate fork mount. The tripod was simplified as a fixed height unit. A quality DC worm gear drive was powered by 4 AA batteries that could be replaced easily in the base of the telescope.

A hand control was included for correction in RA, and would also correct Declination with purchase of the optional declination motor. This model provided all the essentials for a power independent astrophotography system at low cost.