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A common limitation that plagues owners of most popular Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes is the narrow field size and high magnifications produced by their slow optical system (typically, f/10). Until now, owners of SCTs have lacked a truly versatile and high-quality method of reducing their f/10 (or slower) systems for faster, wider, photographic/CCD and visual fields. (note: the telecompressor is not intended for use with the Meade native f/6.3 SCTs). Using the Alan Gee with 1¼” eyepieces can yield actual fields of view that match or exceed what you could only achieve with expensive 2" eyepieces!

Baader Planetarium has developed a truly unique and extremely versatile telecompressor system that delivers the finest wide flat fields your SCT is capable of. The key to the Alan Gee Mark II Telecompressor is its innovative optical and mechanical design. Unlike the commonly available and simple single-purpose solutions, the Alan Gee Telecompressor Mark II has been engineered specifically to work well with SCTs in a wide variety of visual and imaging configurations. The unique design of the Alan Gee Telecompressor positions the lens elements several inches inside the telescope's central baffle tube (see the C8 Cutaway, which shows the lens mounted in the standard imaging configuration). The result is a sharp, wide, flat field, at a fast focal ratio of f/5.9 – and it even works superbly with Baader Planetarium, Zeiss, and Celestron Binocular Viewers!

That's right. The Alan Gee Mark II is designed to function with many popular binocular viewers. At last, you can use your large aperture SCT to produce stunning wide field binocular views. For more information on this unique telecompressor system, including some sample CCD images, please click on the link below.