Andy38416

I’ve let my wife have a look who knows nothing about telescopes and she said it seemed ok, she said she had to keep her head very very still but she could get the blackness to go away properly. So it’s just me which I guess is helpful. I’m going to try tonight when everything is a bit calmer and it’s actually dark, I’ve just had the scope pointing up to the sky which is incredibly bright. i still think it’s more of a getting used to the twist eyecups and better eye relief than anything with the EP itself. Thank you for all the help and comments.

I’m giving it a day time try out as we speak, the 18mm and 15mm seem ok and manageable. The 8mm however I’m struggling with, I just can’t seem to get it where no black area is appearing in the field of view. naturally it makes me wonder if I should have got the celestron xcel lx EP, but it might just be me struggling. I will keep trying, hoping for clear skies later too.

After watching the linked video below, I think your right Louis. I guess I’m used to really poor eye-relief from having my eye very close for years to my cheap plossl EP’s, so when I switched out to my new BST’s last night, I kept seeing a constant black shadow like shown in the video at the beginning. Least I feel a bit happier now and a little bit more educated 😊 I’ll do some daytime viewing and hopefully by night time if there is clear skies will be sorted.

Thanks Louis, that’s a great reply and really helpful. Never seen that comparison image before either. hopefully some clear skies tomorrow night but I might try and have a tinker in the day time also to see if I can find the correct zone. I haven’t had a problem for the last couple of years with the 6 or so EP’s I own, maybe it’s the twist up cup messing with me (first time I owned one).

I really struggled to find the sweet spot without seeing the kidney bean somewhere. I’ll try again tomorrow if there’s clear skies as there won’t be any tonight. I just found it really hard to use and spoilt the excitement of new EP’s, I haven’t had to move my head around that much ever before. Steve at FLO replied saying people don’t normally mention kidney beaning on the BST line. hopefully a second night and a bit of patience will help.

This was with an 8mm EP

Is that normal or does it indicate a fault? I’ve never had it on my plossl EP’s or not that I have noticed.

I must admit I tried various lengths with the eye cup. Maybe it’s just me but I found them a little harder to use.

Hi all, I was briefly able to use my new BST starguider EP’s last night, but must admit I felt very underwhelmed. I really struggled to position my head to enable me see the entire view through the EP - I’m not sure if this was eye relief or not but I had to press my eye so close I could see my own eyelashes. I’m a non glasses wearer with very good vision. Ive attached a photo trying to recreated what I could see this morning using a lamppost which is about 250 meters away, this was what I was seeing last night, but the black edge would move around as I tried to move my head into the sweet spot to get rid of it. any ideas? Am I doing something wrong? scope is a Nexstar 8SE

That’s a really good point, probably not worth the extra just for looks. This hobby can be such a money pit if you let it, which sometimes I do. I might look at getting the William Optics 1.25" DURA-BRIGHT Dielectric Diagonal for £92 from FLO, still looks good and has good reviews. thanks for help.

Thanks for the responses. I was unsure to go for a dielectric mirror or a prism. I was looking at the baader T2 prison, but with the extra items needed goes to around £100. i do really like the look of the celestron one, it would obviously go with my 8SE very well, but it does seem that the cost is a little high. That’s probably why I can’t find anyone who actually has one.

Hi Carole, if there new scope is anything like the 127 celestron SLT, you can’t move it by hand manually, but you can use the hand controller buttons (up, down, left, right) straight away from turning it on without doing anything. so while not fully manual, you can at least not have to worry about aligning or anything. though if it’s nothing like the celestron version it might be different. Gutted I couldn’t sell you mine when we spoke a few weeks ago, I got stung big time on EBay and PayPal fees. Never mind.

Afternoon, Although not an ‘eyepiece’ I thought this was the closest forum to ask about a diagonal. i just wondered if anyone has used the new(ish) Celestron dielectric diagonal with the twist lock function? https://www.celestron.com/products/dielectric-star-diagonal-1-25-with-twist-lock it comes in a 2 inch and 1.25 inch version but couldn’t find any reviews or mentions of it. I’m thinking or upgrading the stock prism diagonal on my Nexstar 8se and wondered how it performed. I’m looking at the 1.25 inch version as not interested in going down the 2 inch EP route.

Afternoon everyone. I’m looking to completely overhaul my eyepiece range since I have my new Nexstar 8SE. It obviously came with the 25mm plossl eyepiece (which feels quite light). Along with this I also have a 7.5mm, 9mm, 17mm and a 32mm all skywatcher super plossl eyepieces, so about £20 each. On top of this I also have a 6mm TMB planetary eyepiece - though I suspect this is a fake - it was given to me by someone who got it very cheap off eBay and views aren’t great. i’m pretty set on the Celestron X-Cel LX range, I don’t really want to be spending £100 on each one, so the Baader Hyperion’s are a bit out of my price range. but I wondered if anyone had an opinion on which sizes to get? My scope is F10 and I was initially thinking a 7mm, 12mm and 18mm. Though I was thinking is a 7mm a bit too much and scale down to the 9mm? Just wanted some advice really, many thanks

That’s what I thought. This was first night observing with my new 8se and wasn’t expecting it to align first time, but it did no problems. I have the WiFi portal to use the app but I find it easier to align with the hand controller. I was 99% sure there isn’t a way, I guess it’s about learning and using some decent apps like you say.

This will undoubtably be a silly question. But I wondered if there is anyway to limit the goto settings on the Nexstar handset? what I mean by this is I set up my goto alignment on my 8se last night, but when observing and selecting things on the handset to look at the scope kept trying to find things behind my house (which is where they correctly are at the time), I just wondered if there is anyway to set your view based on what you can see? Just to stop me selecting things I can’t see through houses etc. im guessing just learn the night sky more, but I thought I would ask in case there is something I missed. thanks

Hi Geoff, thanks once again for your feedback. I must admit I was scared sh**less about trying to attach the OTA to the mount for the first time this afternoon, so much so I left the protective wrap around the tube initially, only to realise I couldn’t get it off once attached, so had to unscrew it and repeat the process all over again. I wouldn’t want to be doing that too many times, especially in the cold / dark and on my solid patio. i just want to really look after it, but sounds like I am worrying about celestron’s mirror / motor comments too much.

Afternoon, today I have received my brand new Nexstar 8SE and what an impressive bit of kit it is, much better in every way then my Nexstar SLT. though I have a question of storage, though this isn’t specific to the 8SE version at all. Can you just leave it permanently set up? I.e OTA on mount arm and on tripod? i used to keep my SLT like this but thought with the bigger / heavier tube, should I at least keep the OTA off the mount? Also if you can store it on the mount arm, should I point it down and lower it into the mount so it rests on top? Lightly obviously. just wondering what others do with their tubes? I read on celestron they recommend storing vertically to prevent undue stress on mirrors etc https://www.celestron.com/blogs/knowledgebase/how-do-i-properly-store-my-telescope

For what it’s worth I have been recently looking at these padded bags, I haven’t brought one yet but they seem quite cheap. looks like they are made for lights and electronic equipment. The good thing is you can view the internal dimensions of each bag and see if one fits your needs. as I said, no experience of them, just have been looking myself. http://www.cobraint.com/flight_cases__bags/padded_bags_and_covers/10675_0c.html

By complete chance, Celestron’s Facebook page posted this photo today of someone’s own collection. Featured in this photo: the 9.25" EdgeHD optical tube on a Celestron CGEM mount, the NexStar 8SE, and the NexStar 90SLT. therefore the 90SLT won’t be too much smaller than my 127SLT, so it’s given me a good size comparison, to be fair there isn’t much in it. Though the 9.25 on that mount is a beast.

Thanks for the offer Geoff, but I think that will be a faff for you and probably will be hard to visualise, but I genuinely appreciate the offer 🙂

I’m awaiting a reply from Altair Astro and Wex, but I believe Wex only have one or two telescopes on display when I last went there. the widescreen centre around Ely said they have a 6 and 8 inch on display - they must be the Evo as they said they have the 9.25 also, but I’m sure it will be more or less the same size as an SE, it’s just to get an idea after all. however their showroom is closed to members of the public for now during all things covid and at present they don’t have a date to reopen.

Thanks for all the advice. I’m definitely leaning to the 8 SE rather than the 6 evolution. I’m trying to find somewhere that has them viewable so I can get an idea of size etc. Might need to wait a little while for post lockdown shops to start opening again.

i believe (though happy to be corrected if wrong) that the optics on the evolution 8 and 8 SE are exactly the same, i believe its the same OTA just different colour - so its good to hear your happy with your views. the scope doesn't have to be carried fully set up, its just what i do now with the SLT - which i think is a much smaller / lighter mount - which is part of my problem. its so hard to get any idea on size from web images.

Morning, I'm sure this question would be have been asked before, but I struggled to find anything quickly and thought opinions and circumstances change over time so wanted to try and get up to date advice. essentially, I’m looking to upgrade my telescope based on some issues with my Nexstar 127 SLT. It still works but long story short, I think it’s time to upgrade. Now I already have the WiFi adapter (sky portal) and the lithium ion power tank with my SLT. now my question is do I go for the 8se or the 6 evolution? Now I know people will say ‘go for the 8 evolution’ but I just think the extra price is just too much for me to spend, it’s the best part of £2000 and over £700 more than the 8SE, and with a wife and two little kids, there’s arguably more things I could spend that money on. My thoughts have constantly changed, I initially was all 8 SE, then read a couple of reviews about the 8SE being slightly maxed out on the tripod and can be a little wobbly. I haven’t seen one to know how bad this is. I also called a telescope shop and they said they don’t really sell any SE’s anymore and that the evolution was a much higher seller, so that planted a little seed of doubt in my mind also. So I then decided on the evolution 6, due to the upgraded mount able to take the weight better, thinking it might last longer and with the inclusive accessories, but as I said I already have the battery tank and WiFi adapter, albeit not inclusive in the mount - which isn’t a huge deal. in terms of aperture, the 8SE is obviously going to be better but I know that’s not always everything. I’m just concerned about the mount, but not sure if that’s justified or just read too much into other people’s reviews. I know every telescope has some degree of wobble under magnification. My plan is to keep this inside fully assembled, then carry it outside when I want to use (that’s what I do with my SLT at the moment, I carry it by the tripod). I want something that’s easy to move and can keep setup indoors, which I think both of these achieve this to be fair. I just wondered if anyone out there has maybe owed both or used both and could give an opinion. I must admit I don’t like going second hand and wouldn’t consider it with spending this much money. hopefully this provides enough information, thank you for everyone taking the time to read this and reply. Andy