What will I be able to see

[Joe beaumont]

Hi everyone, I’m looking in to buying a celestron nexstar 8se and was wondering what will I be able to see through the eyepiece, will I be able to see galaxies and nebulas? 

Will I be able to get a glimpse of the further planets away Uranus and Neptune? 

i also really wanna see the andromeda galaxy through an eyepiece, will an 8se be able to show me all these things in fairly decent detail through the eyepiece 

also what sort of lenses would be useful for seeing things like the andromeda galaxy and nebulas and the 2 further planets Uranus and Neptune 

thank you all very much 

Joe 

[Stu]

Welcome to the forum Joe.

First question: what are your skies like? Galaxies and nebulae do benefit from darker skies, although many of the brighter ones can still be seen with light pollution.

The 8SE is a very capable scope. It does have quite a long focal length though, so larger object like the Andromeda Galaxy will likely only show the central regions, but on many other targets it will be a great choice.

[VNA]

Hello: From a large urban area it will be challenging but not impossible--particularly if you can escape to a dark area away from light pollution. An 8" is a good size to see plenty. Enjoy!

[Ande]

Hi Joe.  I would strongly recommend reading the opening post in this thread: 

It will give you a realistic notion of what to expect

Edited December 23, 2020 by Ande

[NGC 1502]

Hi Joe, welcome to SGL 👍

”What will I be able to see” is a good question but actually quite difficult to answer in an understandable way. From my back garden in a large town I can observe a lot in ordinary binoculars, a small telescope shows objects better and a larger scope even more.

Of course with few exceptions telescopes don’t reveal sky objects like the images seen in astronomy magazines and online. That’s not to say visual observations are not wonderful and a great way to do astronomy.

From my town back garden regular 7x50 binoculars will easlily reveal a few galaxies as tiny smudges, absolutely loads of star clusters, planets out to Neptune although just a dot looking like a star. A telescope like the 8se you’ve mentioned would reveal a huge haul of visual observations to keep you entertained for a lifetime !

All the best in your astronomy quest, a fine hobby to have, although it’s often cloudy so best to have a plan B for your leisure time.

Cheers from Ed.

[AstroNebulee]

This link may be of help if you put in your scope and eyepieces

http://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

Clear skies and enjoy your scope when you get it. 

[maw lod qan]

Welcome to the forum. Be patient when you are viewing because you and your eyes will see more, the more you observe.

At first, I can only see the core of Andromeda with my 8" dob. But if I sit and let my eyes adjust more detail slowly becomes visible.

We will never see the details you see on the images here that are long exposures taken by some very talented astrophotographers!

Still, seeing something so distant is still rewarding.

Good luck with your viewing and enjoy!

[faulksy]

planets will be fine from home. deep sky objects (DSO.S) will nee dark transparent skys.this is realy important

good scope you have chosen

[Joe beaumont]

Thank you so much everyone you have all been so helpful 

wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year 

Joe 

[PEMS]

An 8SE is a little on the specialist side, it has a long focal length so this results in a narrow filed of view.

At 2032mm and assuming a 24mm 68 degree eyepiece you would get: 84-85x magnification and so around a 0.8 degree view. As Andromeda is some 3 degrees across all you get is about 1/4 of it in your view at any time. Usually this ends up as the fuzzy central core. So you are not going to "see" the Andromeda galaxy as I would suspect you think, or hope, you are. Most seem to assume that a bigger magnification means all of an object and bigger. At some stage what happen is that it flips to being a smaller part of the object but bigger.

With that narrow a view there are others that are not visible in their entirity: M42 is just over 1 degree, M45 is around the 2 degree size, M33 is 1 degree, Double cluster is 1 degree. So by rights these and I expect others will not be fully visible in your scope with the usual 1.25" format eyepieces.

[NGC 1502]

Most objects, solar system or deep sky, will easily fit into the field of view of an 8se.   Although the low power/wide field is limited this can be greatly helped by using a focal reducer.

For very large objects like the Pleiades then binoculars come to the rescue.

Ed.

[Joe beaumont]

Thank you very much 

[Joe beaumont]

47 minutes ago, NGC 1502 said:

Most objects, solar system or deep sky, will easily fit into the field of view of an 8se.   Although the low power/wide field is limited this can be greatly helped by using a focal reducer.

For very large objects like the Pleiades then binoculars come to the rescue.

Ed.

Thank you, what focal reducer is good within a decent price range 

Thanks Joe 

[NGC 1502]

51 minutes ago, Joe beaumont said:

Thank you, what focal reducer is good within a decent price range 

Thanks Joe 

Probably the most useful focal reducer for visual use is the 0.63 version, the same unit fits either Celestron and Meade SCT scopes.  Widely available from most astronomy vendors.  Deservedly a very popular accessory. 

[nephilim]

Just to add my two penneth. If I was starting out & looking for a scope as close to an all rounder as I could get for visual use I'd be looking at a Dobsonian with an aperture of  8", 10" or 12" (depending on how large a scope you want)
As mentioned above although the Celestron is a great scope it does have a narrow field of view which will limit slightly the number of DSO's able to fit fully in the FOV without having to go for a really low powered EP. Dobsonians such as the Skywatcher Skyliner 250p GOTO or 300p GOTO are really good scopes plus they have a focal length respectively of 1200mm & 1500mm giving a considerably wider FOV. 

I'm mentioning the GOTO versions as I'm assuming that you want a GOTO system the same as the Celestron. 
Again this is just my opinion but I personally wouldn't recommend a GOTO system to someone new to astronomy. This may sound daft as a GOTO would obviously make sense & help locate things if your unfamiliar with the night sky, but I think it does the opposite as all your doing is pressing a few buttons to get to the object your wanting to see.
I started out with a non GOTO 8" reflector & found that putting in the effort to find things myself a far better way of getting to know the sky & where things are, plus I came across other objects inadvertently that I wouldn't have known about if I had GOTO. Another big benefit of a non GOTO Dobsonian is the price. The larger 12" Skyliner is £850, far cheaper than the Celestron 8se @ nearly £1500. The 300p also has 4" more aperture than the 8se & at F4.9 as opposed to the 8se @f10 the Dob is much faster & has overall far greater light gathering capabilities. With nearly a £700 saving you could use that to buy a very good range of decent quality eyepieces that would start you off very nicely, you also wouldn't need a focal reducer saving another £100 or so. 

Anyway, those are just a couple of things to think about but good luck with whatever you end up buying.

Edited December 24, 2020 by nephilim

[Joe beaumont]

Thank you very much