100 Hours of Astronomy (100HA) was a tremendously successful global astronomy event that took place from 2nd to 5th of April with a sole purpose to expose as many people as possible to the timeless hobby of astronomy!

Celestron sent out teams to three of the numerous events taking place around the world.

• Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA
  see photos »
   
• Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, CA
  see photos »
   
• Irvine Spectrum, Irvine, CA
  see photos »

Across the pond, in Germany, our local distributor, Baader-Planetarium participated in a tremendously successful 100HA event held in the center of Munich.

• See Munich photos: Gallery 1 | Gallery 2 | Gallery 3

We have brought back priceless memories and awesome photos. Most importantly we made a few new friends and renewed our passion for the hobby.

Read 100HA blogs from around the world on CelestronLife.com »

You may also share your 100HA stories, images and even videos on CelestronLife.com

The talented folks in our multimedia department have recently unveiled a trailer for the upcoming FirstScope Tour.

In 2008 Celestron launched an innovative community outreach program. There are two key aspects to the program, development of online communities (like CelestronLife and CelestronImages) as well as "boots on the ground", old fashioned human outreach. To accomplish the latter, the Community Relations department was formed. In this issue, we would like to highlight the great work done by these brave men and women led by our Community Relations Coordinator, Kevin Kawai.

Check out Kevin's CelestronLife.com Profile and our Flickr Photo Album to see the awesome places their work has taken them and the wonderful people they met along the way.

We really hope you've enjoyed reading this newsletter.
Please submit your feedback here:
http://www.celestronlife.com/blogs/entry/2009-Newsletter-Issue-4

Clear Skies!

Celestron Marketing Team

Celestron is very proud to announce the launch of CelestronLife.com - a premier online community for Celestron users and fans. At CelestronLife.com you can interact with your peers via forums, blogs, images, videos and variety of other activities.

To kick off the new website Celestron staff will be posting live reports from the floor of the 2009 International CES...

We are excited to introduce the new products for 2009.

• CGE PRO Series Telescopes - not to be confused with the CGE, this new series of heavy duty computerized telescopes features a robust, ultra stable german equatorial mount.
• CGEM Series Telescopes - Celestron's CGE Telescopes are the perfect fit between the Advanced Series and CGE Series. Offering the portability of the Advanced Series and the precision of the CGE.
• Ambassador Series - by popular demand, we are now offering a new series of attractive brass telescopes at equally attractive prices.
• Regal F ED Spotting Scopes - new series of high end Fluoro ED (Extra Low Dispersion Glass) spotting scopes.
• New Digital Microscopes - microscopes has become the highest growing and most successful category at Celestron in 2008. We are following this up with a brand new series of attractively priced digital microscopes with even more features..

We are extremely excited about the tremendous response we've received from our customers after the launch of CelestronImages.com and CelestronLife.com communities. In this issue we would like to highlight some of the impressive content contributed by Celestron users:

• Astrophotography by John Buonomo on CelestronImages.com:
  
  click to view John 's profile »
  
  
• Terrestrial Photography by Luc Delisle on CelestronImages.com:
  
  click to view Luc's profile »
  
  
• Delta-4 heavy Rocket Launch by Brent on CelestronLife.com:
  
  click to view the Brent's video »

In this issue's INSIDE CELESTRON section we are featuring some usefully tips and information contributed by our Technical Support Department:

• Did you you that our revolutionary All Star Polar Alignment is now available on all CGE and Advanced GT models? Simply fire up your Hand Control Firmware Update Software and download the latest update.
• We have recently tripled the amount of articles in our online Knowledge Base (KB). With Celestron's new and improved KB all the knowledge and experience of our technical staff is just a mouse click away.
• Easily compare technical specifications of up to 5 products side by side with our revamped Product Comparison tool. Just click on Compare tab from almost any product page to begin comparing.

We really hope you've enjoyed reading this newsletter.
Please submit your feedback here:
http://www.celestronlife.com/blogs/entry/2009-Newsletter-Issue-2

Clear Skies!

Celestron Marketing Team

RECAP of Galileo's Legacy Conference

RECAP of 2009 International CES

RECAP of 2009 Shot Show

In February of this year, Comet Lulin presented earthlings with some amazing sights as it traversed our solar system. Many of Celestron users have reported viewing this comet with their telescopes or binoculars. In this newsletter we are featuring some of these eyewitness accounts:

• Read John Buonomo's series of blog entries on CelestronLife.com »
  
  
• View Comet Lulin photos on CelestronImages.com »

We have added a new section to Celestron.com that features exciting contests and sweepstakes offered by Celestron and a few hand-picked partners. To get you started, here are a couple of upcoming challenges:

There is a rogue secret society of like-minded individuals inside the Celestron team. Their night-time meetings are shrouded in secrecy. No one is allowed in without a password and a secret handshake. They are known simply as the "OrangeTube". Their mission is to produce quality videos that reveal the long kept secrets of telescope setup to the general public.

Check out OrangeTube's YouTube Channel »

We really hope you've enjoyed reading this newsletter.
Please submit your feedback below.

Clear Skies!

Celestron Marketing Team

RECAP of Winter Star Party

Last month our Community Relations Coordinator and CelestronLife.com contributor Kevin Kawai along with other team members attended the annual Winter Star Party held in the Florida Keys, and hosted by the Southern Cross Astronomical Society (SCAS), Inc., of Miami, Florida...

When the nice folks from The Huachuca Astronomy Club asked us to sponsor an All-Celestron star party, we figured that it was a pretty good idea. In addition to donating generous door prizes, we decided to dispatch a team of highly qualified technicians to perform some free basic maintenance on attendees' Celestron equipment. So if you happen to be in the High Southeastern Arizona Desert on June 19th or 20th come star party with us at C-Row.

« visit C-Row website | download registration form»

Our web team has recently upgraded the Support Tab found on every product page of Celestron.com

The new and improved Support Tab now contains:

• Setup Videos
• Related Knowledge Base Articles
• Manuals & Drivers
• User Groups
• Product Registration
• Tech Support Contact Form

See NexStar 6 SE Support Tab »

Imagine for a moment... being on a tropical island chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where the sea meets the sky in an annual celebration of astronomy and native culture. It must be AstroDay Hawaii! The 8th annual AstroDay Hawaii took place on May 2, 2009 at the Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo, Hawaii... read more »

If the tropical paradise is not really your cup of tea, you would have surely enjoyed the historic Prude Ranch near Fort Davis, Texas, a home to the Texas Star Party. Recognized as one of the top ten star parties in the world, we decided that this would be a great opportunity to attend such a highly regarded event, especially since Celestron has never made an appearance at TSP in recent memory... read more »

We really hope you've enjoyed reading this newsletter.
Please submit your feedback here:
http://www.celestronlife.com/blogs/entry/2009-Newsletter-Issue-5

Clear Skies!

Celestron Marketing Team

We all had to start somewhere. For Celestron, it all began almost 50 years ago when our founder, Tom Johnson, introduced the first ever consumer Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.

We'd like to know where you started in this awesome hobby.

Come to CelestronImages.com and share the pictures of your first Celestron equipment with the world. While at it, enter your image into the "My First Celestron Scope" contest for a chance to win your own FirstScope Telescope.

visit contest page »

Astrophotography could be one of the most sophisticated tasks you ever perform with your scope. Yet it is probably the most rewarding one...

Recent advances in Digital SLR technology made astrophotography much more accessible to the average consumer and sparked renewed interest in this exciting hobby. To get started, head over to CelestronLife.com and join the AstroPhotography User Group. There you will find a growing number of knowledgeable and friendly folks ready to share their experiences with you.

Another great resource is Celestron's growing Knowledge Base. There you will find articles on how exactly to use your particular Celestron telescope for photography.

Lastly, visit CelestronImages.com. There you can share your photography with the world and, most importantly, see astrophotos taken by others. Look at the optics they used to capture their images to learn about relative capabilities of various Celestron products. Don't hesitate to ask questions or leave comments. Most CelestronImages.com users love to trade tips with fellow astroimagers.

We really hope you've enjoyed reading this newsletter.
Please submit your feedback here:
http://www.celestronlife.com/blogs/entry/2009-Newsletter-Issue-6

Clear Skies!

Celestron Marketing Team

2009 RTMC

May 22 - 24
Big Bear, CA

The 41st annual Riverside Telescope Makers Conference and Astronomy Expo took place on May 22 through May 25, 2009 (Memorial Day weekend) at Camp Oakes near Big Bear City. Located above the 7000 foot level, this well known Southern California astronomy event is held yearly at a YMCA campground nestled in the lush San Bernardino Mountains. Unlike last year, which an unexpected late season snow storm quickly brought RTMC 2008 to a standstill, we were blessed with clear skies, warmer days, cold nights and no Moon - just the right combinations for making a great star party...

Celestron Day At Orion

June 06
Cupertino, CA

On Saturday, June 6, 2009, Orion Telescopes held its first ever "Celestron Day" in the parking lot of its retail store. Being an Orion customer myself for many years, I was excited upon hearing the news of a Celestron Day and jumped at the opportunity to travel to Northern California (Cupertino) to be a part of a collaborated event between Celestron and a fellow respected name in the telescope industry - Orion Telescopes. Celestron firmware Engineer, Derik DeVecchio, and I headed out the day before and yours truly had the privilege of driving the cargo van up Interstate 5 for the 7 hour drive from Los Angeles to Cupertino...

C-Row Star-B-Q

June 19 - 20
RepoGazer Observatory, Arizona

The Huachuca Astronomy Club of Sierra Vista, AZ, in cooperation with Celestron and Starizona, presented an all Celestron star party this past weekend - June 19 and 20, 2009, named "C-Row Star-B-Q" which was held at the RepoGazer Observatory (RGO) in Palominas, AZ. Keith Mullen, Vice President of the Huachuca Astronomy Club and brainchild of this event, originally put together his first "C-Row" back in 2003 during his term as Treasurer and Observatory Director for the Sacramento Valley Astronomical Society. During that time, he organized a group of 50 or so members, all owning Celestron scopes, in what was called the "C-Row gang."... read Blog entry »

photo GALLERY 1 | photo GALLERY 2

Astronomy at the Beach

September 26-26
Michigan, USA

With sand, water, stars and sky, the 13th Annual Astronomy at the Beach took place September 25 and 26, 2009 at Maple Beach, Kensington Metro Park, Milford, MI. Astronomy at the Beach, more commonly known as AATB, is a yearly event hosted by the Kensington Metro Park and the Great Lakes Association of Astronomy Clubs (GLAAC)...

« photo GALLERY | read Blog entry »

Toberman House Event

October 26
San Pedro, California

Just a few miles south down Interstate 110 from Celestron headquarters in the port city of San Pedro, California, resides the Toberman Neighborhood Center. This multi-purpose, non-profit community center provides various social services to nearly 14,000 inner-city individuals and families in need of assistance...

« photo GALLERY | read Blog entry »