Sky-Watcher

Infobox Company
company_type = Corporation
foundation = 1980
location_city = Richmond, British Columbia
location_country = Canada
industry = Technology
company_slogan = "For people curious enough to look up and wonder."
homepage = http://www.sky-watcher.net

Sky-Watcher is a manufacturer of telescopes, spotting scopes, binoculars, mounts, and accessories. It is owned by Pacific Telescope Corporation (importer of Synta in China). It is one of the few companies that offer refractors of sizes up to 5.91" (150 mm) and Dobsonians up to 10" (254 mm).

Products

Products include telescopes, spotting scopes, mounts, and many accessories. [http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/product.php Product list]

Telescopes

Sky-Watcher has nine model series of telescopes. These are listed below.

Equinox

The Equinox series are relatively affordable Extra-low dispersion (ED) apochromatic refractors in Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) between 66 and 120 millimetres (2.6 - 4.72 in), suitable for astrophotography. The smaller apertures have medium focal ratios and the larger ones have long focal ratios. These telescopes have black-coloured tubes.

Pro Series

The Pro Series telescopes include two-element air-spaced OTA ED FPL-53 fluorite apochromatic refractors between 80 and 120 mm (3.15 - 4.72 in) with long focal ratios, also suitable for astrophotography, as well as OTA Maksutovs with very long focal ratios and apertures of 150 and 180 mm (5.91 and 7.09 in). They are presented in gold-coloured tubes.

Refractors

The Refractors series are multi-coated achromatic refractors between 70 and 150 mm (2.76 - 5.91 in). They are available in alt-azimuth mounting for smaller apertures, and equatorial mounting for larger ones. They have long focal ratios, and are constructed with a blue aluminum tube.

Reflectors

The Reflectors series telescopes are reflectors aluminized and overcoated with silicon dioxide, available in 76 to 254 mm sizes (2.99 - 10 in). All but the smallest size are presented in equatorial mounting; the smallest one in Alt-azimuth. They are available in short, medium, and long focal ratios. They are made with blue aluminum tubes.

Table Top

Table Top telescopes have a 13" (330 mm) high equatorial mount, designed to be extremely portable. They include a 76 mm (2.99") reflector and an 80 mm (3.15") refractor of short and medium focal lengths respectively, as well as a long-focal length 90 mm (3.54") Maksutov. They are presented in blue-coloured tubes.

Dobsonians

The Dobsonians are Dobsonian-mounted Newtonian reflectors available in 153 mm (6.02 in), 203 mm (7.99 in), and 254 mm (10 in) models. They have thin 0.5 mm (0.02 in) thick secondary mirror supports, tension control handles, and the 10" version is made from Pyrex glass. They have long, medium, and short focal ratios respectively, in order of increasing aperture. They have white-coloured tubes.

hort-Tube Refractors

The Short-Tube Refractors series are multi-coated two-element air-spaced Rich Field achromatic refractors with focal ratios that allow them to have short and compact tube lengths. They are available in Alt-azimuth versions for smaller apertures and equatorial mounts for larger ones, and are available in 70 to 150 mm (2.76 - 5.91 in) apertures. They are presented with blue tubes, and are suited for terrestrial photography as well as astrophotography in the larger versions.

Maksutov-Cassegrain

The Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes are compact portable multi-coated Maksutov-Cassegrains. They are sold in equatorial mounts and are available in 90 - 127 mm (3.54 - 5 in) apertures. They have very long focal ratios and are sold in blue aluminum tubes.

Auto-Tracking

The Auto-Tracking series telescopes are motorized alt-azimuth telescopes that allow the user to automatically track celestial objects. They are available in 70 and 80 mm (2.76 and 3.15 in) apertures for refractors with medium, long, and very long focal ratios, as reflectors with 76 and 114 mm (2.99 and 4.49 in) apertures and have long and short focal ratios respectively, as well as in 80 mm (3.15 in) Maksutov form with a very long focal ratio. They are sold in blue tubes with red-dot finders.

potting Scopes

Sky-Watcher Spotting scopes come in three different designs. Maksutov Spottings are sold as Maksutov telescopes available in 80 - 127 mm (3.15 - 5 in) apertures, and are sold as OTA with very long focal ratios and red-dot finders. They are constructed with blue tubes and include a carrying bag. ST1545 and ST2060 spotting scopes are wide-angle and available in 50 and 60 mm (1.97 and 2.36 in) sizes with 15-45x and 20-60x zoom respectively. They are sold with tripod attachment capability and a camera adapter and are presented in blue tubes. Digital spotting scopes are a multi-purpose digital camera, spotting scope, and telescope. They have a 70mm (2.36") refractor design at 14x with zoom capability between 6x and 22x, and have many features and has an optional solar filter, as well as video capability, a tripod adaptor, and other features.

Mounts

Sky-Watcher mounts include AZ1, AZ2, and AZ3 alt-azimuth mounts; EQ1, EQ2, EQ3-2, EQ5, EQ6, EQ6 SYNTREK, and HEQ5 SYNTREK equatorial mounts; NEQ3 SYNSCAN, EQ5 SYNSCAN, HEQ5 PRO, and EQ6 PRO GO-TO mounts; Auto Tracking mounts; as well as multi-function mounts.

References and external links

* [http://www.skywatchertelescope.net/swtinc/index2.php SKY-WATCHER TELESCOPE] - Official Sky-Watcher website
* [http://www.skywatcherusa.com/ Sky-Watcher U.S.A Telescopes and Optics] - Sky-Watcher telescopes in the USA
* [http://www.sky-watcher.ru/ Sky Watcher - Synta Sky-Watcher - оптика, телескопы и аксессуары для любителей астрономии] - Sky-Watcher telescopes in Russia