Celestron 11069 NexStar 8SE Computerised Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope with Advanced GPS, Astroimaging and AutoAlign Features, Black/Orange

Product Information

The fully-assembled setup can easily be lifted up and moved across the yard, or brought back into your house or garage. Although I am old enough for Halley’s 1986 visit, I couldn’t see it at all from my location in the northern hemisphere. Many of these smaller scopes had modest focal lengths in the 250 mm - 450 mm range, compared to the Nextstar 8SE’s 2032 mm. On the back of the NexStar 8SE optical tube, you’ll find 2″ threads to attach a star diagonal, focal reducer, and photography accessories such as a T-Adapter for your DSLR or Mirrorless camera. It’s a visual telescope (not designed for astrophotography), but photos of bright objects like the Moon and planets are possible through the eyepiece.

Niggles about vibration and batteries are always followed by how they don’t distract from the excellent optics and the simplicity of the goto tracking motor. I recommend picking up a portable 12-volt DC power supply to run the telescope for an entire night, especially if you are doing any astrophotography. Takedown is just as quick and the whole scope packs away into rather small dimensions – certainly small enough for the average trunk. Keep in mind that the trade-off for upgrading to a more expensive mount is that you will either need a helper to set up your scope or you’ll need extra time to carry it out piecemeal and assembly it.This is a great telescope package for beginners because it includes everything you need to start observing the night sky. The answer to “how long of an exposure can you take with the Nexstar 8SE before getting star trails” is complicated, but in general, probably about 30 seconds. The 8″ NexStar is more popular than both the 4” and 5” models and collects 77% more light than the 6″ model. The Celestron NexStar 8SE Computerised Telescope has Celestron's signature orange-tube and combines advanced features and excellent optics in one easy-to-use system.

A similar discussion about what the 8SE can see was had in the Stargazers Lounge forum, and you can read the conversation here. When you see a picture of Celestron’s 8-incher, you might not appreciate just how easy it is to set up and transport. This 8” go-to telescope is a brilliant telescope for beginners and upgrading novices that's easy to set up and use.The electronics of your camera produce inherent noise in the sensor, which shows up in the bias photos.