Should I upgrade to Nexstar 8SE?

[luna]

I currently use a Celestron 130SLT. I am looking to upgrade to a Nexstar 8SE. Is this a good choice and furthermore would I be able to attach a dslr camera without having to alter the telescope in any way. I have used a ccd for my 130SLT, as I was told that in order to use a dslr camera I would need to alter the focal length.

[gtis]

Hi

As far as I know the you can get a piggyback bracket for the 8se to attach a dslr

And it is s very good telescope as I am thinking of getting one

[Kropster]

Doesn't the Nexstar 8Se have an alt-az mount?

I would have thought you would need an equatorial mount for DSO photography with a DSLR.......unless you are going to stick to planetary?

[ecuador]

I currently use a Celestron 130SLT. I am looking to upgrade to a Nexstar 8SE. Is this a good choice and furthermore would I be able to attach a dslr camera without having to alter the telescope in any way. I have used a ccd for my 130SLT, as I was told that in order to use a dslr camera I would need to alter the focal length.

You mean the 130SLT does not have enough back-focus, so you cannot reach infinity focus with a DSLR, right?

The NexStar 8SE will focus fine with a DSLR. However, if you are looking into long exposure deeps space photography, you would also need the extra equatorial wedge for the NexStar 8SE.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I have an 8SE, but i have never put a camera on the back of it. As said above, its a Alt-Az mount and not much use for imaging objects apart from say the Moon and planets. To convert it to an EQ mount for DSO imaging you will indeed need the wedge that is sold separately. Ive heard that the wedges aint all they are cracked up to be. 

Sorry i cant help more and am just repeating what others have said. 

Is it worth upgrading to an 8SE from a 130SLT...........yes, because its a great scope.

No, if you are committed to doing any serious astro imaging. 

[Traveller]

Hi Luna,

I have a 8SE. It is a very good visual scope and the mount go to is very easy to use. However, as others said, the mount is suitable for only lunar and planetary imaging and not suited for ap work. The long focal length also makes the scope very sensitive to any errors.

I actually sold my SE mount and now use my eq6 with the ota. Focusing is an issue with the round knob, as you cannot be 100% sure where the focusing point is (unlike a r&p focuser).

If you do want to go down the ap path, I suggest a proven preformer like an ed 80 or a 8" f5 (f4 is ok, but tricky to collimate) and a heq5 as a minimum for the mount.

Good luck,

Bo

[Ptarmigan]

I currently use a Celestron 130SLT. I am looking to upgrade to a Nexstar 8SE. Is this a good choice and furthermore would I be able to attach a dslr camera without having to alter the telescope in any way. I have used a ccd for my 130SLT, as I was told that in order to use a dslr camera I would need to alter the focal length.

> Is this a good choice

Value judgement ie. what you want it for ! (eg. do you want the extra aperture ?)

>would I be able to attach a dslr camera

Yes

>without having to alter the telescope in any way

Yes, (but you may have to add on some extra bits to the telescope depending upon what you wanted to do with it ie.why you are wanting to upgrade )

>  would need to alter the focal length.

No, not of the telescope itself, but you may need to add some bits to it to alter the effective focal length of the combo ** depending what you want to eventually do with it. Duh! I already said that !!

It is often said that the 8SE alt-az is not suitable for DSO (indeed it has been said here!) but not true, depends upon which dso, how devoted one wants to be and what results are expected/desired, + how much time you want to spend processing the stacked results on your computer. ( alt-az = lots of short duration { ~30sec give or take depending} )

Try a google on some exceptional results by 'Smerral' (' smerral astro 8se alt-az ') onetime of this parish, beginning here maybe :-

http://www.astro4beginners.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=509&p=1654

He has produced amazing results with the alt-az 8SE but it is sometimes difficult to sort out exactly what he used in what combination ( of ** focal reducers sometimes 2 off ! etc) that were in use for any particular shot, not always completly documented.

There are many other examples of DSO with 8SE across the web, just that Smerral aka Brian was the first to inspire me in this alt-az biz

However, all that said and done - the next gen Evolution range (worm drive instead of spur if you want to eventually go Eq wedge) is said to be an improvement on the old 8SE, yer pays yer money etc !

PS

Once upon a time Celestron offered a wedge for the 8SE but discontinued it (prob cos the tripod was %$*& ! ) but continued to support it for the 6SE ???

It is said that the tripod(s) for the Evolution(s) are much improved in this regard,

but I dunno if the wedges have yet landed ???