Celestron 5SE - about to take the plunge!

[lune lupine]

Hi - this is my first post so apologies in advance as I fumble my way through the astronomy thicket!

I'm 95% sure I'm going to make my first telescope purchase and have been impressed with the promised functionality and abilities of the Celestron 5SE. Its also in my budget of c£600 for telescope/mount etc. I also have a Canon 760D and would like a telescope I can utilise this with although I am open to buying a dedicated web imaging camera for photos if more suitable/practical. My main interests at this time are the moon and planets but I imagine my ambitions will grow with my experience! 

I would be delighted to hear from anyone else who has bought the 5SE and have any tips, thoughts on how to get the best from this telescope - i think, for example, the 5SE comes with a 25mm and 9mm eyepieces but should I invest in something inbetween, say 12mm and a barlow x2? Finally, I live near Dublin so light pollution is a bit of a problem so any suggestions how I can mitigate this at a pinch?

Thanks in advance folks and look forward to hearing from you!

 

 

 

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi there, welcome. Plenty of SCT owners on here for good advice.

[Dave Lloyd]

Quote

www.astronomyhints.com/review_nexstar.html

p.s have a look at this

[lune lupine]

oh bother.

Been looking at the maths and i can stump enough for a Nexstar 8SE. All looking good then I come across the Evolution range of telescopes. Now I'm really torn. I can get Evolution 8" for 300£ more than the 8" SE. I'm not totally fussed about the wifi but is the internal battery and mount supplied with the evolution worth the extra monies or is there more to it than that? Love to hear from other users of the Evolution range!

Cheers!

 

[MarsG76]

13 hours ago, lune lupine said:

oh bother.

Been looking at the maths and i can stump enough for a Nexstar 8SE. All looking good then I come across the Evolution range of telescopes. Now I'm really torn. I can get Evolution 8" for 300£ more than the 8" SE. I'm not totally fussed about the wifi but is the internal battery and mount supplied with the evolution worth the extra monies or is there more to it than that? Love to hear from other users of the Evolution range!

Cheers!

 

My 2 cents worth is go for the 8SE over the 5SE. I've been using the 8SE and had some awesome views through it. 

As far as the Evolution goes, I don't think that there is enough improvement in the Evolution series to justify the extra cost unless of course you want WiFi, which you stated that you're not fussed about.

The 8SE single arm mount has a battery compartment in it for AA batteries, but I don't imagine you would get too long of a use out of it with batteries alone (I've never ran the NS8 off batteries), you will realize very quickly that you want either a power bank, or better still if at home/near a power outlet, run the scope of a 240V-12V power supply.

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

If you can happily afford the 8se, then this would be the better choice over the 5se. I bought my 8se from Astronomy Ireland (located in Swords...as i'm sure you are aware of). The only reason i bought it from them is in case anything went wrong or was damaged and it would be easy to return.

I digress.

The 8se is a great all rounder (ALMOST). It has its limitations though being an SCT (smaller field of view,not well suited for imaging much more than the Moon and planets due to the Alt-Az mount). These things are not anything to worry about or even should put you off buying as they really are not serious issues.

The 8se offers great aperture (8") and it very portable and lightweight while maintaining stability.

Regarding eyepieces............just use the ones that come with the scope. They are good enough right now until you get to know the scope and find out what works for you.

Whereabouts in Dublin are you living? (a general location, not your exact address). Do you drive?. I'm Dublin born and raised and spent 40 yrs there observing. 

[lune lupine]

Well delighted to say I've taken full advantage of 'the google' to source a well priced nexstar evolution 8 and purchased it today. Lots of soul searching but what sold it for me was the combination of internal battery, mount and optics etc. Not sure if blackfriday had anything to do with it but in the end only marginally more expensive than the 8SE. Hopefully arriving in next week or so. Looking forward to learning how to use it to its best advantage. Got a Dew Shield thrown in and got a little ZWO astro camera to compliment the DSLR.

@LukeSkywatcher: Live in Bray as it happens (and drive) - where would you recommend a good spot to practice using the scope. On a good night here can usually see some stars, planets and neighbours cat

[lune lupine]

oh my. Telescope arrives tomorrow (gulp). Am I ready? Is Ireland Ready? Is the kettle on? 

[JG777]

Good choice choosing the Evolution over the SE and an 8 is way better than a 5! Even if you do not use the Wi-Fi having the built in battery is a real advantage. One less thing to carry and worry about, just remember to charge it! Also the Evos gears are much better than that of the SE, my 9.25 has barely any backlash, very well behaved and very good GOTOs. Make a point of upgrading the firmware which you may be able to do over Wi-Fi if your present version is high enough. Might be worth upgrading the RDF. Good luck.

[lune lupine]

What's an RDF?

Scope arrived Monday. very easy to set up even for a novice like me! Sadly looking at 100% cloud cover for Ireland where I live for next week at least

[JG777]

Red dot finder , it's not great on the Evolution.

[lune lupine]

《------ spot the newbie!!

Thanks for that. which one would you recommend for evo8?

[JG777]

We all start somewhere so don't worry about being a newbie. Plenty of good advice available on here and a fair few Evo users as well. I did have a Celestron 9x50 on my 9.25 but that came off when I put the Starsense on. I kept my RDF on the tube as well it is similar to this http://www.365astronomy.com/365Astronomy-Deluxe-Multi-Reticle-Red-Dot-Finderscope-with-Metal-Body-RED-GREEN-LED.html it might even be that one but I cant check until tomorrow.

Also for alignments forget Wi-Fi for the moment and use the hand controller to get used to the system. I recommend auto 2 star so you will need to know at least one bright star. Try and choose stars between 30 and 70 degrees and keep them far apart in the sky. Make sure before you go out your RDF is aligned with the scope as best you can get it, the manual tells you how to do this. It will save time and frustration. It is worth practising mock alignments at home to get used to the controls and data input. I recommend you plug your co-ordinates of your observing site into the custom site entry in the handset. You will love the Evo it is a great scope, good luck!

[Highburymark]

Although as I speak I am waiting for a forum member to call round and buy my Evolution mount (I am buying a lighter set up but have loved the Evo), I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it over other SCT mounts. As you say the internal battery is a really useful feature, as are the more robust gears, the wi-fi, the user friendly tripod. It's a very well thought out design. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have - and congratulations.

[niallk]

On 06/12/2016 at 20:07, lune lupine said:

Scope arrived Monday. very easy to set up even for a novice like me! Sadly looking at 100% cloud cover for Ireland where I live for next week at least

Congrats on the scope  I'm sure it will bring tonnes of wows, joys and wonder!

All the best,

-Niall (an ex-Dub, trying to survive in Cork)

[lune lupine]

so finally got to use the scope. 

Very pleased so far for a complete beginner! Light pollution pretty bad in my small patch of the world but moon was bright and stitched together 4 images from the DSLR to get my first moon photo with the telescope! First thing this morning, Jupiter was up so had a bash at it. Next time will try a slower shutter speed to see if I can get the planet detail itself but pretty happy with how the moons appeared at 1sec intervals.

Any suggestions how I can see some detail on the planet itself? I have a 9mm, 18mm, 13mm and 40mm eyepieces, barlow x2 and evo. 8 telescope as above.  At a guess would something like 125/s intervals show more planetary details? What about filters, are they worth a punt?

Thanks again for all help on this topic !