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

Product Information

However, you will need to purchase the Celestron T-Adapter for Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope as well as the relevant T-ring for your camera such as the Canon EOS T-Ring or Nikon T-Ring. Despite the excitement of a moving into a new house under Bortle Class 6 skies, I’ve had a rough start to the new year in terms of astrophotography. What’s awesome about the Ring Nebula is that it looks exactly like this visually through the telescope eyepiece. If deep space galaxies and faint nebulae are your things, then that’s more of a challenge, although this guy seems to be doing just fine, judging from his pictures.

The 8SE has a 3-star alignment process by default, which requires you to center stars it picks in the finder scope. Keep in mind that this telescope does not have tracking like the NexStar 8SE has, so you will have to manually follow objects by slowly pushing the telescope. Generally, I’ve been successful imaging things in the Messier catalog, although it depends on the color of the target (I don’t have a modded camera and targets with deep reds are harder to photograph than targets with greens). There are a few quirks of course (the red dot finder scope is rudimentary, and the single-arm fork mount is a little shaky), but overall everyone seemed to agree that it was a smart purchase and they got a lot of use out of it.

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. Beyond the solar system, your 8SE will show you hundreds of pinpoint stars in the Hercules Globular Cluster, the spiral arms of the Whirlpool Galaxy, and more. Sturdy construction from high-quality components give NexStar SE the pointing and tracking accuracy needed to observe and follow your favorite targets with pushbutton ease. Your first night as an 8SE owner will be so much more rewarding if you’ve got your power source sorted! When we test your telescope, we will ensure that it is of the highest quality otherwise, we will reject the scope under our strict quality control and test another model for your peace of mind.

Like all catadioptric scopes, the optical tube is a sealed unit, so takes a long time for the air trapped inside to equalize its temperature with the outside world.

This will make it easier to carry and provides your precious telescope with great protection during storage and transportation. Within the interferometer is a calibrated laser that is pointed through the optical test surface, then onto a high quality reference sphere, then back through the test subject then to an internal camera which gives us the measurement on the screen. I am a casual astronomer who doesn’t do any astrophotography but love to sit at the Ep for hours observing the planets and the rest.

This simply means that the telescope is a little too heavy for the tracking mount that is supplied with it, and I would have to agree with this. Just select Zygo Test Report from the drop down box at the top of the listing and we will test the optics in house and provide a full 2 page report with your scope. This is a good segue into the next misconception I had for astrophotography: what you see in the telescope doesn’t remotely look like the Hubble-telescope-type photos posted on the internet. I was loaned this telescope from OPT for testing purposes, and was under no obligation to provide a positive review, nor was I compensated in any way for this article (or video).When deciding if the 8SE is the best telescope for you, there are several key factors you need to consider. The views you see at the eyepiece will take your breath away if you’ve never used a scope before, or even if your used to something smaller.

You will be able to clearly examine the likes of Cassini’s Division in Saturn’s rings, the cloud bands and Great Red Spot of Jupiter as well as all of the craters and geographical features of the Moon. When slewing the telescope at slower speeds (4 or below), I noticed that the response is “laggy”, meaning that the telescope does not move for a second or two after pressing the arrow button. Instead, with these clever electronics, you’ll go straight to the object you want to see and use your precious viewing time studying it rather than trying to find it! So, I think my biggest misconception about astrophotography was that all of those amazing internet photos were taken with giant telescopes.However, lots of magnification is no use if there’s not enough light coming in, and that’s where the 8-inch aperture comes into play.