Celestron 8 SE accessory advice

[Marki]

Lots of sounds advice here. The 8SE was the first scope I got too. Nice optics, good light grasp!. First thing I got was an Astrozap dew shield, but it really needs heater strips too. I hate the supplied red dot finder, and will get the Baader surfer V or a RACI soon. Not upgraded to a 2 " diagonal yet...I think you need a specific adaptor to replace or fit into the visual back. I have the Hyperion zoom, and find it excellent. I think the issue with the "soft" views at the 8mm to 12mm range is mostly related to the "seeing" conditions...I often find the 8mm setting unusable for this reason. Anyway, the scope really needs a good 45 mins plus to cool down to ambient (and preferably longer) to get the best out of it -once I'd learnt a bit of patience, I found I enjoyed the views through this scope a lot more! My first and best views of Saturn have been courtesy of the 8SE - it is an acknowledged classic for a reason . Enjoy!

Clear skies!

EDIT - Paul got there before me, but he's right - the 8mm setting is a bit "squishy". I'll use a 15mm bst or a 20mm -25mm ep with a x2.5 televue power mate to get the higher mags with this scope and that seems ("seeing" permitting) to hit the rght spot for me. Not tried the VIxens - sounds like a neat solution!

[LukeSkywatcher]

First thing I got was an Astrozap dew shield, but it really needs heater strips too

I recently bought the heated astrozap strip and controller. Cost a fair few pennies but the 8se really does need it over a simple dew shield.

[cplee42]

On the subject of the 2" diagonal and sct. I bought the williams optics version and it attaches to the sct without the need of an extra interface other than what comes with the 8SE. It's a really nice piece of kit.

[LukeSkywatcher]

EDIT - Paul got there before me, but he's right - the 8mm setting is a bit "squishy". I'll use a 15mm bst or a 20mm -25mm ep with a x2.5 televue power mate to get the higher mags with this scope and that seems ("seeing" permitting) to hit the rght spot for me.

It's a puzzle to me. The 8-24mm zoom EP works brilliantly. Some say that the FOV gets narrow at the top end. I dont notice this in my 200mm SCT. The only gripe i have with the EP is that the 8mm is soft and blurry and if i want to observe with an 8mm EP i have to swap it over to my 8mm NPL.

Thats annoying as i do my planetary observing with an 8mm EP.

[Sobel]

Just wondering, and apologies for hijacking again, the other week I was viewing Jupiter though the 8SE, the scope had been out for about 90 minutes and the view through my X-Cel LX 18mm was pretty good! It was near a full moon sadly so was a little washed out. However swapping to the X-Cel LX 2X Barlow with afore mentioned 18mm EP, the view was really difficult, it was blurry and almost like it was sliding out of focus, it ended up not being possible to see anything. Now Jupiter was at about 40 degrees at the time.

Is it most likely that viewing conditions just couldn't handle the high magnification?

Also do people leave their finders attached to the OTA when/if disassembled, if so I think I might invest in a Sky Surfer as an upgrade from the stock finder.

[cplee42]

Sobel, no I do not leave my Sky Surfer or RACI attached but that is because i pack away my scope in a wheeled 'hold all' for travelling to darker sites and I don't have the room in the 'case'. However the Sky surfer in particular is very robust and if I had a bigger 'hold all' would always leave this one on. However it takes secs only to attach in any case.

[Sobel]

Cheers cplee42, I take it the Sky surfer V comes with the attachment which goes onto the dovetail on the 8SE in the box? Or does it require an adapter?

[cplee42]

The sky surfer I bought came with two types of adapter for different scopes. One was fine for SCT. However best to check ahead of purchase as they can just be sold as 'gun rifle' sights.