Celestron NexStar 8SE

[Dellis]

At the end of last year I bought myself a Celestron 130EQ and the first time I took a peek skywards I was hooked I bought the 130EQ to see if the hobby was for me and as I mentioned I was hooked straight away so time for something bigger. I need portability and having struggled finding objects I wanted GoTo so narrowed my choice down to the NexStar 8SE, CGEM 800 and CPC 800 GPS and headed off to Opticstar in Sale last saturday. Anyway after seeing the scopes in the flesh and wanting fast setup with portability the CGEM 800 was knocked off the list, next to go was the CPC 800 GPS mainly due to the increased weight over the 8SE. So the 8SE won the day.

Time to find out how good it was going to be and tonight offered me the first chance to see. I'm really pleased to say the least. Setup was easy, GoTo accurate and the view is fantastic.

Looking forward to clear skies.

Dave

[brantuk]

Congrats Dave

I like the Celestron optics too - top quality - and the tracking never fails either - I went for the cpc cos of the extra weight and stability for use on a wedge. The 8SE's still a good choice

[Demonperformer]

Dave

Congrats on the new scope. I have it's baby brother (6SE) and if the 8 is half as good you are in for many enjoyable evenings

[Peter Drew]

I really like my 8SE and the more I use it the more I enjoy it. The optics seem limited only by the seeing conditions, downsides are a tendency for the image to "jump" on initial handset correction, this can be edited out with the backlash correction feature, and slight tube dithering when focusing, this can be mitigated by practice.

[Orion_the_Hunter]

What's the 6SE like on DSO's?

[spacebloke]

I've only had mine a couple of weeks and I'm new to astronomy, but orion looks fantastic through the 25mm ep

[Dellis]

Thanks for the positive words. I'm sure I'll be after some help and advice as I get going.

Dave

[Slangers]

I've had mine for about 4 weeks and it is fantastic. Just got in from viewing various DSOs. Feeling really pleased about having M81 and M82 in the same field of view.

[BlueAstra]

I have an 8se too, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. If you ever want to do some astrophotography you can also take the tube off the 8se mount and put it on an different equatorial mount.

[Slangers]

Blueastro- what sort of finder scope have you got on yours? I really hate the little red dot thing and would love to replace.

[BlueAstra]

I have one of these:

ScopeTeknix (MRF) Multi LED Reticule Reflex Finder for Z80 and "clones"

I only use it for initial star alignment, after a couple of stars the goto always finds the target.

[Slangers]

How long have you had your Nexstar?

It's taking me a while to work out all of the niceties of the goto mount. Do you use the precise goto mode very much?

[Dellis]

How long have you had your Nexstar?

It's taking me a while to work out all of the niceties of the goto mount. Do you use the precise goto mode very much?

I've only had it a couple of weeks and have been at home for just two nights observing in that time. I'm new to astronomy and upgraded to the 8SE after a couple of months with a 5" Newt.

The first GoTo setup was a bit hit and miss but I went through the process again and accuracy was much improved. The second night it was spot on accurately tracking and the GoTo was accurate for the couple of objects I used it for. It is much more accurate if you use three points that are as far apart as possible and you centre the target accurately.

Hope that was of some help.

Dave

[E621Keith]

Dave, congratulation on your purchase.

I have a 6SE and it was a joy to use. Easy to align and accurate GOTO pointing.

[Bigwings]

Good choice.

I love mine

ENJOY