news and special offers

NEW Products

ultimate / ultimate space / siXpedition / siXmotion / xkYgraph

Now available with
'Hot Product 2010' awarded cellular primary blanks and secondary blanks from

D r e a m C e l l u l a r , L L C

with optical surfaces made by US star optician Mike Lockwood

16 - 18 inch NEWCambridge LiteScope mounts and telescopes

16 inch

(here with MOUNTAIN 12")
16" for easy suitcase transport on air - upgrade option 18" for car transport with truss tube -
Brandnew oil pillow mirror support cell 54 points for thin mirrors or new "sphere spot" glueing support system
(from February 2010)

Dewing?
Flexible Kevlar Carbon dew shield.
(Easy attachment - observing with or without dew shield possible)

Did you know?... set up

...that the quick set up of a LiteScope MOUNTAIN Telescope even in total darkness is easy...

...you can undertake Mountain Bike or hiking trips with your LiteScope MOUNTAIN telescope to clear skies far over sea level...
(Or if you are very clever: take the cable car!)

...when distributing the telescope parts into several bags to be carried by a small group of Mountain Bikers, you will share the
12-inch deepsky experience even on longer trips high above sea level !
A great way to see the stars at night and combine it with biking or hiking in nature under day.

Events



Fiera dell'Astronomia Forli (Italy) December 2008 Demonstrating collimation stabillity in low altitute angles to Seniore Alberto Ombres from CAELUM	RCE Paris November 2008 Tele Vue Ethos 13 mm eyepiece - demonstrating with David Nagler	Usually busy on Satellite Optics for ESA: Jean-Francois Pittet observing with TeleVue ETHOS 13mm
	AME 2009 Villingen Germany Demonstrating stiffness and smooth tracking glide motion of a 'Yellow G' MOUNTAIN with F/3.8 optics. A kind remark: "...this is a Newtonian miracle..."
LiteScope MOUNTAIN IYA review in the Gemini magazine / Minnesota Astronomical Society: http://www.mnastro.org/gemini/files/gemini_200912.pdf

Friendly voices for the NEWCambridge LiteScope:

Hot Product

Dear Vivian:

On behalf of all the editors of Sky & Telescope, I am pleased to announce that among the items featured in “Hot New Products for 2009”

is your 12-inch LiteScope.

I continue to be amazed at the remarkable innovations coming from astronomical vendors, both those long established and those never to the

marketplace.

There is a tremendous amount of creativity and cleverness being displayed, all backed by a fervent devotion to making the sky more accessible

and enjoyable for astronomy enthusiasts at all levels. It is truly inspiring. Thank you for all your efforts, and my heartiest congratulations on your

inclusion in this year’s selection of Hot Products!

Sincerely yours,

Robert Naye



Hi Vivian,

This is a great product! 

Pedro Russo
International Year of Astronomy 2009 Coordinator
International Astronomical Union
 
w. www.astronomy2009.org
a. IAU IYA2009 Secretariat
ESO/ESA/ST-ECF
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
D-85748 Garching bei München
Germany

Hi Vivian,

Congratulation on the Hot Products.

Thank you for producing a great telescope. I could tell from your early designs that you would eventually make a real winner.
I appreciate that someone finally came up with a truly portable telescope.
Thank you for your kind words in your "about" section.

I recently built a very simple style flying telescope by taking as many part from a classic Dobsonian and putting it in a carry on home built case.
http://www.synrgistic.com/astro/
take care and best wishes

Greg Babcock

From First Sight to First Light - A new Love Affair for Astronomers?

Firstly may I say thank you for sharing your wonderful telescope design with us. It was an absorbing and uplifting experience for us both!
As you know Brian and I have strong connections with astronomy through Cambridge Astronomical Association and through our own life interest.
We are both passionate and deeply committed to our subject.
Also we both regularly make and use telescopes of all types – from those found in professional observatories to some of the finest amateur instruments available.

Our CAA connections also make us most aware of the needs and issues faced by those beginning astronomy and of those who choose to pursue
astronomy at a semi professional level.

With this experience in mind I can say that I have never seen such an elegant and technically sophisticated solution to Newtonian telescope manufacture as you have achieved with this latest creation. I have personally researched the leading edge of amateur designs over many years.
I know this is where technical excellence and innovation is often to be found. Based on this research I believe you have a superior instrument which is at vanguard of present possibilities given the technology available.

You are to be greatly congratulated. It is a superbly practical piece of art and also a fantastic scientific instrument. So as we say in England – I take my hat of to you!

We were greatly impressed by the following features:

The elegant and simple minimalist construction techniques
The appropriate use of modern technology
Excellent potential for scalability of size
The extraordinary and beautiful aesthetics of the design
A wonderfully low overall weight
Fantastic build and optical quality
The extreme elegance of the design geometry

I believe real practical benefits for owners of this telescope will result
Including:

Superb ease of use (the scope you use most is the easiest one to use!)
Fantastic portability. This is critically important to modern Astronomers
Wonderfully low weight. No problem for air travel to dark skies here
Simple to assemble and easy to use. This scope welcomes the newcomer!!!
Large aperture. For extreme versatility and deep sky capability
Fits the modern lifestyle. Easy storage and transport, used by all the family

In conclusion let me say you have made a thing of great beauty in this instrument. It has beauty of purpose and of construction. You will know that
astronomers often fall somewhat in love with the instruments that connect them so fundamentally with the Universe. Keen observers own many scopes
and are eager to share their knowledge with others. They consider this a wonderful if not beautiful experience. In this sense you have a product which
is easy to love. I predict this product will have passionate Champions!

I hope you are able to protect your design and find in this special place which is Cambridge those who can help you bring this design to the market.
Those who do help will help not only you, but generations of astronomers to come. Those who understand their shared duty in helping humankind
know our wonderful planet and its greater place in the space environment.

From our life experience, including many years in design and manufacture, we know that there is a long way to go before you can sell the scope
commercially. Your determination so far, working with limited resources, shows you have the passion and will to succeed.

If there is any way in which I can further assist your endeavours please let me know and I will do all I can to make help available.

To further indicate the level of belief I have in your future success please let me be the first to order one of you production telescopes when they become available.

Again many thanks and our very best regards,

Barry Crellin ( and on behalf of Brian Lister)

Cambridge Astronomical Association

^{_{"... I am amazed at how stable the scope is for such a lightweight structure.}}

^{_{Vibrations damp very quickly after movement, and collimation holds effectively.}}

^{_{My only concern is that azimuth motion is slightly sticky with the additional}}

^{_{counterbalance.  I may need to add some lubrication to the azimuth surface.}}

^{_{The optics are very good.  I have had excellent images even in fairly bright}}

^{_{suburban skies.  I look forward to taking it to a truly dark site.  Coma is}}

^{_{minimal despite the fast focal ratio.  I have not need to use a Paracorr yet.}}

^{_{Setup and takedown are becoming very easy now that I have had practice.  

I must congratulate you on the brilliant design.  My observing companions are going to}}

^{_{be very impressed when I show up at the next star party with this scope in the}}

^{_{backpack.  Based only on some e-mail discussions, I have already been asked to}}

^{_{write a short article about it for the Minnesota Astronomical Society newsletter}}

^{_{this fall.}}

^{_{Overall, I am very impressed with the instrument.  You have done an excellent}}

^{_{job designing and building it.}}

^{_{Cort

Cort Sylvester / Minneapolis - Minnesota USA}}

Vivian,

I just got back from the Winter Star Party 2010 in Florida and using the Mountain 12". My simple summary is fantastic, excellent, superb. I had the best time using this scope and found its performance to be outstanding. I assumed with a travel scope this light and simple, there would be compromises and performance would be tolerable to trade off on its transportability. It turned out to be much, much better than just tolerable. It performed really well and was so much fun. I will write up a full impression later and send it to you and am planning to do a review for Cloudy Nights if that is OK with you.

I had no problem with the pole assembly and everything else worked perfectly. Easy to put together and take apart after I had done it once. I used the Ethos 8, 13, 17 and they were perfect. Very easy to travel with.

If the 16 works as good as the 12, then I will be so pleased.

Doug

Doug Dolginow, Maryland USA - Friday, February 12, 2010 5:53 PM

Copyright 2009 NEW Cambridge LiteScope. All rights reserved.
Revised: February, 2010
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
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