Orion Telescopes &

Binoculars

Orion Telescopes & Binoculars is an

American retail company that sells
telescopes, binoculars and accessories
online and in-store for astronomy and
birdwatching. It was founded in 1975 and
has corporate offices in Watsonville,
California.[1] A large proportion of its
products are manufactured by the Chinese
company Synta for the Orion brand
name.[2] Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
ships its products to the United States and
over 20 other countries. Orion puts out a
semi-quarterly mail-order catalog as well
as email catalogs. The company is a
prominent advertiser in North American
astronomy magazines, such as Sky &
Telescope and Astronomy.
 Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
Type Private

Industry Optical instruments

Founded 1975

Founder Tim Gieseler

Headquarters Watsonville and

Cupertino, California,
United States
Number of locations 2

Products Telescopes ·
binoculars ·
accessories
Website telescope.com (htt
p://telescope.com)
History
In 1975, Orion Telescopes & Binoculars
was founded in a garage in Santa Cruz,
California by Tim Gieseler, who served as
its only president and CEO.[3]

Between the mid-1990s and 2005, Orion

only sold binoculars, telescopes, and
accessories under the "Orion" brand.

In January 2005, Orion was acquired by

Imaginova, the U.S. conglomerate founded
in 1999 by CNN business anchor Lou
Dobbs.[4] Orion then began to sell non-
Orion brand products, such as Tele Vue
eyepieces and even Celestron 8-inch
(200 mm) and 11-inch (280 mm) Schmidt-
Cassegrain telescopes.

In November 2017, Orion was repurchased

by its employees, and has remained
independent and American-owned ever
since.

In June 2021, Orion acquired Meade

Instruments[5]
Products

Orion ED120 apo refractor on Orion's Sirius EQ-G "GoTo" and GPS equipped German equatorial mount with portable 12 volt
power supply

Orion sells a range of telescopes that they

characterize as "beginner", "intermediate"
or "advanced", including Newtonians,
Maksutovs, Schmidt-Cassegrains, Ritchey-
Chrétiens and refractors with or without
(sold as optical tube assemblies or "OTA")
a variety of mounts. Orion also sells a
series of Dobsonian telescopes that come
in "Classic" and "IntelliScope" versions, the
latter with upgraded accessories and the
ability to indicate astronomical objects to
the observer aided by a computerized
object database. Orion also sells
Dobsonians with GoTo and tracking
capabilities.

In late 2005 Celestron (which had recently

been purchased by Synta Technology
Corporation of Taiwan) announced an
agreement that would allow Celestron 8,
9.25, and 11-inch (280 mm) Schmidt-
Cassegrain optical tube assemblies (OTA),
painted in metallic gray and using the
"Orion" brand (Celestron OTAs are painted
either gloss black or semi-gloss matte
orange), to be sold with Orion branded
German equatorial mounts (also made by
Synta)[6] and eyepiece accessories.

At the high performance end of their

range, Orion has a series of two element
apochromatic (apo) refractors
manufactured by Synta[7] featuring "extra
low dispersion" fluorite crown glass in one
element of the objective lens. These are
marketed as the ED80 (80 mm or 3-inch
(76 mm) objective at f/7.5), ED100
(100mm or 4-inch (100 mm) at f/9) and
ED120 (120mm or 4.7-inch (120 mm) at
f/7.5).

Orion also sells binoculars for

astronomical and terrestrial observing,
microscopes and monocular spotting
scopes of the type used by birdwatchers
and marksmen.

References
1. "Orion Telescope Center - Corporate Office"
(http://watsonville.cylex-usa.com/compan
y/orion-telescope-center---corporate-office-
1896118.html) . Cylex. Retrieved
5 February 2014.
2. "Targets of opportunity: crazy cheap
scopes on Amazon" (http://10minuteastron
 omy.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/targets-o
f-opportunity-crazy-cheap-scopes-on-amaz
on/) . 10-Minute Astronomy. May 11, 2010.
3. "Tim Gieseler" (http://www.linkedin.com/pu
b/tim-gieseler/7/548/69b) . LinkedIn.
Retrieved 2014-02-05.
4. "Company Overview of Imaginova Corp" (htt
p://investing.businessweek.com/research/
stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=58
44068) . Bloomberg Businessweek.
Retrieved 2014-02-05.
5. "Orion Telescopes & Binoculars has
acquired the famous telescope
manufacturer Meade" (https://skyandtelesc
ope.org/astronomy-news/orion-telescopes-
binoculars-purchases-meade/) . Sky &
Telescope. Retrieved 2021-06-01.
 6. Philip S. Harrington, Star Ware: The
Amateur Astronomer's Guide to Choosing,
Buying, and Using Telescopes and
Accessories, John Wiley & Sons, 2011,
page 147 (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=2lIwU313wgkC&pg=PA147&dq=orion+
telescopes+business&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Juby
UpbUNqessQTWpIDYBw&ved=0CDUQ6AEw
AQ#v=onepage&q=orion%20telescopes%20
business&f=false)
7. Antony McEwan, Sky-Watcher ED100,
Highlands Astronomical Society 2014,
spacegazer.com (http://www.spacegazer.c
om/index.asp?pageid=97158)

External links
Official website (http://telescope.com)
 Company7 Orion Telescopes &
Binoculars resource page (http://www.c
ompany7.com/orion/index.html)

{{|url=http://www.sfsidewalkastronomers.
org/index.php?page=sf-bay-area-
telescope-stores |publisher=San
Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers |title=SF
Bay Area Telescope Stores - Orion
Telescopes & Binoculars}}

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