he telescope OTA (optical tube assembly) is top-notch, while the mount is just enough to get you by. Unlike traditional telescopes, the RASA design ingeniously places the imaging sensor at the front of the telescope tube, creating an ultra-fast f/2. But, people have taken impressive images with this telescope, it just requires a different approach. If you’re interested in astroimaging, the NexStar SE is Fastar-compatible for ultra-fast, wide field imaging. I used an AC adapter to plug the mount into household power in the backyard, but this mount can also be powered via 8 x AA batteries for complete mobility.

They have Celestron’s own Starbright XLT coating for better light transmission and, as should be the case with a well-constructed compound scope, there are almost no noticeable aberrations. For planetary imaging, there’s no better choice than a NexStar 8SE paired with one of our Skyris cameras.

Happily, this is a great telescope to part with a significant chunk of cash for, which is why we declared it one of our best telescopes for seeing galaxies and DSOs.

The 8″ telescope has enough aperture to deliver amazing views of the moon, planets, and brighter nebulae and galaxies. Today, our world-class team of optical and electronic engineers continues to push the boundaries of technology. They need to be taken at the same ISO and exposure time as the Lights and the camera should be at the same temperature as the Lights. In this review, we’ll break down why it such a desirable scope and, more importantly, whether it’s the right one for you.

If I were to do a long-exposure of Saturn, the disc of Saturn would stay centered but, like a snow-angel’s wings, Saturn’s rings would fan out into blurry arcs and its moons would trace star trails. You can mount the 8SE on an equatorial mount and the Celestron C90 T-adapter and T-mount let you attach your DSLR camera to the 8SE.

Amazing bit of kit, finds objects well, tracks well, definitely worth making the jump from 4inch to 8inch, can definitely see more! The tracking is easy to set up with 3-star alignment (we’ll look at that in more detail later) and the computer which controls it contains a database of 40,000 objects. Continue reading for an explanation of the individual values and you can also see a test report that was done on one of our RVO Horizon 60 OTAs. Place the new CR-2032 battery, positive (+) side up, under the two copper battery clips at the front of the battery compartment.This 8” go-to telescope is a brilliant telescope for beginners and upgrading novices that's easy to set up and use. Finally the 'Travel Pro' - the first variable-use fork mount from Celestron, with built-in stand, which can also be used without a tripod. If it’s planets you’re after, get a decent high-magnification eyepiece too, something in the 10mm or lower range.

Users of this Celestron NexStar 8SE mentioned that a dual-arm fork design (like the one on the CPC series telescopes) would help the OTA feel a lot more secure. 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 long focal length of these telescopes, the OTA itself has a very short length, making the system a compact telescope which is extremely easy to transport. There were some tracking issues that caused the elliptical stars, so I’ll be sure to repeat this imaging.