celestreon c8 xlt OTA

[barry f]

hi i have been looking at one of the above to replace my Nexstar 6 se OTA can anyone give me some idea as to what  ( if any) advantages i may gain or loose

i will be doing this as well as changing my mount to either the HEQ5 PRO or  AVX mount

[alanjgreen]

C8 gathers 78% more light than a C6. You will see many more objects not visible in the C6.

other objects will be brighter and therefore take more magnification than was possible in the C6. Or appear brighter at the same magnification.

for an all round scope, a C8 is hard to beat IMO

Are you visual only or photography as well? (Asking as to the mount choices you are considering)

 

[Peter Drew]

You will gain on light grasp for faint objects and increased resolution on the Moon and planets. It will be heavier than the 6" but it is still one of the lightest 8" telescopes available. Should be excellent on either of the mounts you mention. 

[barry f]

thanks for you reply .I have started to do some imaging  with  zwo colour camera and been quite impressed with the results so far but only done some planetry so far with my standard mount hence the reason on choice of mounts which i was going to  originally do first but as i do more visual than imaging i may well do the scope first ? but haven made a definate choice yet 

[alanjgreen]

Great. Then Peter Drew knows more than me on that subject.

[Pig]

Barry,
The difference is very obvious and you will not be disappointed.... I own a C8 and mainly use it for planetary and Lunar where I think it excels . As mentioned above it is also surprisingly light and thus very portable. I also find the standard focuser perfroms much better on the C8 than the 6 inch versions.

[barry f]

thanks for that will i be able to use it on my se mount until i can afford something better? 

and do you do any imaging with it if so what dso or planetry

[Pig]

The 6 & 8 SE use the same mount from the factory so yes you will. I think the focal length is 2000mm thus quite high magnification with most eyepieces and you may have to let it settle in between slewing and be gentle when at the eyepiece. All very liveable with. 

[ecuador]

I actually saw a significant improvement going from a C8 to a C9.25. I didn't expect it, so it was not a planned transition (just found a great second hand package deal), but the difference in planets was impressive. So my recommendation is to look at that as well - the HEQ5 Pro can handle it as well (not so sure about the AVX if you add more gear), as it is the end of the "portable SCT" upgrade path (9kg).

[barry f]

i wanted to try and keep this as portable as i could as i currently keep the whole scope set up complete in my consevatory so that when the skys permit i can just lift it into my  garden and off i go (apart from sky align)  and wanted to carry on doing this and as the weight of the scope is lighter than the 8se OTA i think this may be a good choice i also think the 9 may be a little to big at the moment but within time who knows as i do have a vision at some point  to have an obsy in the garden ( jut not yet tho) 

thanks for you help