Optec

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Optecinc. is a company based in Michigan, USA. For many years, the company has been at the forefront of research and development of astronomical, visibility and video microscopy / CCD optical instruments for both amateurs and professionals.Optec was incorporated in 1979 and is the successor to DOAA Enterprises, a Detroit-based company that was founded by Gerald Persha, a college student at Oakland University. Under Persha's leadership, Optec grew from a small business operating out of a basement to a corporation employing 8 senior technicians, precision machine operators and sales staff. The roots of Optec are strongly based in astronomical research instrumentation with products such as the SSP line of photometers, the patented TCF temperature compensating focuser and the recent addition of Pyxis LE, a low profile, high precision camera field rotator. In addition to the astronomical product line, Optec designs and manufactures optical couplers for video / CCD microscopy, atmospheric visibility measurement instruments such as the Model LPV transmissometer and the NGN integrating nephelometer. These unique instruments are used to monitor air quality in many of the national parks in the U.S.Optec maintains and operates the Optec Observatory, a small observatory and test laboratory for the astronomical product line of Optec. The Optec Observatory is fully computer controlled, with a separate control room and observation deck. The recently expanded observatory allows remote operations of the telescope, SSP photometer, and CCD camera control software. The Observatory's main telescope is a 10-inch Meade LX-200, mounted on a special heavy-duty wedge manufactured by Optec and placed on a pyramid-shaped telescope mount. The telescope is used exclusively for equipment testing and electronic observations and the only operations performed manually are maintenance operations such as collimation and finder adjustment