For the unrelated British telescope manufacturer, go to Orion Optics Orion Telescopes & Binoculars is an American-based retailer of foreign manufactured telescopes and other equipment for astronomy that also sells some equipment for other areas of interest, such as birdwatching. It operates several retail stores in California as well as an online store and a semi-quarterly mail-order catalog. The company is a prominent advertiser in North American astronomy magazines such as Sky & Telescope and Astronomy. Orion Telescopes & Binoculars was founded in 1975 by Tim Gieseler, who... served as its only president and CEO. Since January, 2005, it has been owned by Imaginova, the U.S. conglomorate founded in 1999 by CNN business anchor Lou Dobbs. Between the mid-1990s and 2005, Orion only sold binoculars, telescopes and accessories under the "Orion" brand, but since the Imaginova acquisition, Orion has started to sell non-Orion brand products as well, including Tele Vue eyepieces, Celestron 8 and 11-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes.
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