24 replies to this topic

[rongee]

Hi!

 

Since there are registries for other Celestrons, I thought I would take a shot at putting one together for the Celestron C14.  What I hope to do is build a list of the telescopes as a way of building a knowledgebase about them.  I don't pretend to be an expert on the C14.  I own one, and support one in a student observatory that I'm responsible for.  

 

If you have a C14, or know about them, please feel free to share whatever you can, whether it is the knowledge of your scope and its history or general knowledge about the telescope and its evolution.  I'll post pictures and info of the 2 telescopes I work with over the next couple of days, along with what I know about them.  

 

Thanks in advance for anyone who chooses to help out with this.  

 

Ron

[John Higbee]

I'll be sending you the info on mine shortly!

[jragsdale]

Here's info on mine:

Purchased 2007 from Starizona

Dark Gray tube, ribbed rear cell

XLT coatings, Fastar secondary

serial 968060 on sticker on tube near rear cell

[davidmcgo]

I just got #1 23 3 from CN member Woodsman last Saturday.  By the old serial number scheme, 1st quarter 1973, 23rd unit made.

 

Dave

 

 

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[tim53]

I just got #1 23 3 from CN member Woodsman last Saturday.  By the old serial number scheme, 1st quarter 1973, 23rd unit made.

 

Dave

Interesting that it isn't a tricolor from that far back.  I still wonder if any survive.  I would think that the C14s would have all been repainted after the velvetone failed.

[jragsdale]

Interesting that it isn't a tricolor from that far back.  I still wonder if any survive.  I would think that the C14s would have all been repainted after the velvetone failed.

I think only one was made, the one for the printed advertisement they made.

[rongee]

Hi,

 

Thanks to everybody who's provided information so far.  I starting to build a spreadsheet with the commonly available data, and will make that available as it gets to be a fuller dataset.  

 

I'm also going to try and take the commentaries that go along with them and try to build a knowledgebase about the C14.  

 

Ron

[Kasmos]

Interesting that it isn't a tricolor from that far back.  I still wonder if any survive.  I would think that the C14s would have all been repainted after the velvetone failed.

IIRC I have literature from '73 that still shows the C8 and C5 as tri-colors, but not the C14. Those same photos were on the back of the April '74 S&T. I also found an ad from May of '73 with all of them as tri-colors, but maybe it's another case of catalogs and ads that weren't always exactly up to date?

[John Higbee]

Ron - as promised:

 

C14 Orange Tube:   I bought it from an astronomy club in 2014, along with an Accutrack 4000 drive corrector and a Lumicon Giant Easy Guider (off-axis guider/focal reducer).

 

The C14 came with a declination wedge, fork with heavy duty clock drive, 10X40 finder, 2" diagonal (the massive one) and a C14 "locked triangle" tripod.  Its serial number (on the motor housing) is 555  9.  In the absence of prior knowledge, this may mean that mine is the 555th C14 manufactured by Celestron, and a manufacture date of 1979.

 

Images are incredible (both planetary and stellar).  Will include a Moon shot taken by the C14.  It is not a wide field of view telescope (f/11), unless you use a focal reducer (can get down to f/4 -f/5 with the Lumicon GEG). 

 

The long focal length also means that normal eyepieces will yield much higher magnifications (e.g. a 26mm eyepiece on the C14 will yield a power of 154x).  Longer focal length eyepieces (50mm and higher) are needed to get lower powers (50mm eyepiece yields a power of ~77x).

 

 

Here's the connection to the CN discussion of the C14 when I first had it:  https://www.cloudyni...-has-arrived/  

 

Will send you the Moon shot shortly...John

Edited by John Higbee, 09 August 2024 - 12:44 PM.

[davidmcgo]

Woodsman passed me the original papers for mine.  Purchased direct from Celestron.  Deposit placed 26 Dec 1972 and balance and picked up June 6th 1973 by a Bill Haskins of Ventura California.  It might not have originally come with a name plate since there is a later order in May 1975 that was for a 50mm ocular and a nameplate and serial number for his C14.

 

Woodsman bought it in 2008 from Aurora Astro in Everett Washington.  Then me from him.  Not sure how it ended up at Aurora Astro.

 

Dave

[CHASLX200]

I guess no one can prove there is a Tri color 14. 

[Kasmos]

We know of one...

...that was used in several ads,

but nobody has shown one in private hands.

[woodsman]

We know of one...

C14-8-9-72ad.jpg

...that was used in several ads,

C14-C8-C5-10-72.jpg

but nobody has shown one in private hands.

Yes, and the one I just sold to David wasn't tri-colored. 

 

The down payment on David's as he stated was in late '72, December and I know that in the Summer of 1972, Celestron put an ad in S&T asking for input on the "soon to be manufactured" C14, so I can't imagine that David's C14 had many brothers built before his telescope.  

 

The paperwork on it from Aurora Astro indicated it was number 3, however the name plate that Celestron sent to the owner, nearly 2 years later in 1975 has the serial # 1 23 3, so perhaps it was number 23 or number 3 off the assy line.  

 

I think in Bob Piekiel's book he indicated that Alan Hale has Number 1.  

 

I used to correspond with the gentleman who ran Grove Creek Observatory down in Australia and he indicated that they had #2.  

 

So it is possible that David now has #3.  

 

Perhaps they only made the tri-colored one for the initial brochure.  I've never seen another that is tri-colored and I know that Grove Creek Observatory's telescope was similar in color to mine.  

 

They repainted it later to a very bright red with a white fork mount.  

 

Anyway, that is about all I can add to the mystery of David's telescope.  

 

I'm glad to see he is enjoying it as much as I did!  

 

Rich

[CHASLX200]

Well i say the Tri color C14 never was. Maybe they did that for the ad and repainted it and sold it. But if it is out there i would offer up double the going rate if freaky sharp and i mean my freaky sharp that really is freaky sharp. A SCT can only do so much from the get go.  Maybe it is sitting somewhere locked away or in a land fill.

[jragsdale]

More Tri-Color C14 ads...

 

(August 1973 Astronomy Magazine) 

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[The Planetman]

While not a classic just yet, mine is a Fastar compatible with XLT coatings.  It started out as a black tube bought through Company 7.  The tube was scratched up and had a small ding, so I converted it to a carbon fiber tube.
Serial number is 925832.

[ccwemyss]

923035: An early Fastar (not labeled, but has the removable secondary) that a prior owner had de-forked. So probably late 1998 to early 1999. Was originally a black tube, but a prior owner had converted it to a carbon tube to "reduce focus shift." I'm the third owner. The second owner complained that the CGE-Pro mount he had put it on wasn't tracking correctly. He also admitted to putting some small chips in the corrector (that are hidden by the retaining ring) when removing the plate. 

 

I suspect all of the changes were trying to solve a more basic problem. The primary wasn't glued to the tri-tree. So it would suffer nearly a degree of image movement on a meridian flip, and would also lose collimation. When it was in collimation, it was very sharp. I returned it to Celestron to have the primary glued down. But they didn't tighten the screws holding the rear cell to the tube (or secure the mirror locks) when they shipped it back, so the centering was lost. Although I have it close to centered, I think it could still be better. 

 

Chip W. 

Edited by ccwemyss, 20 August 2024 - 11:31 PM.

[starman876]

More Tri-Color C14 ads...

 

(August 1973 Astronomy Magazine) 

looks like a tricolor C14 to me.  

[rongee]

Great information.  Thanks for taking the time to respond.  Ron

[scopelover]

I have a Classic C14 ... I am the 2nd owner, the brother of the original owner sold it following the passing of the buyer....

 

So ... its an early one for sure,

esp. as that same brother was also trying to sell me a 10" folded R.E. Brandt refractor !! 

Too bad I didn't have the $$ nor the mounting for that baby, esp. as it had NEVER seen starlight !

 

My C14 is marked on the fork stamp:

1  6  2  4

 

 

Can anyone translate these #'s ?

 

Should I be reading: 1 62nd made ... 1974 ?

 

thx,

Alexander

Edited by scopelover, 28 August 2024 - 12:58 PM.

[alien_atx]

I own a C14 Orange tube OTA, no fork.

 

Is there any way to get its serial number?

[CHASLX200]

looks like a tricolor C14 to me.  

No prooooof there ever was one sold. Maybe the pics of that tri were painted over and sold as a normal color C14.  Unless that tri C14 is in a closet and worth millions as being the only one in the world.

Edited by CHASLX200, 28 August 2024 - 06:50 PM.

[davidmcgo]

Supposedly Alan Hale kept serial number 1 of the C14 so it might have been that one pictured in the ads.

 

Dave

No prooooof there ever was one sold. Maybe the pics of that tri were painted over and sold as a normal color C14.  Unless that tri C14 is in a closet and worth millions as being the only one in the world.

[CHASLX200]

Supposedly Alan Hale kept serial number 1 of the C14 so it might have been that one pictured in the ads.

 

Dave

I wonder where it is?  Is it in a dump yard?  Or stored away in perfect shape?  Bad or good optics it would be worth buying to brag about.

[rongee]

Hi,

 

Thanks for providing all of that great information.  Working on the database.  

 

I'd like to include photos of the telescopes where that's possible.  Might be helpful for folks going forward.

 

If anyone has information on the history of the C14 and it's variations over time, I'd really appreciate getting that included here as well.