Outside the Solar System, the NexStar 6SE is a solid performer, albeit limited somewhat by its aperture and field of view. You can expect to see a lot of open star clusters like M35, M11, and M67. Some large clusters, like the Pleiades (M45) and Beehive (M44), cannot fit into the field of view with the 6SE, though they can still be enjoyed. The bright globular star clusters such as M13, M15, and M22 are kind of resolved with 6 inches of aperture-though barely, and only with fairly decent skies. Smaller globulars will remain fuzzy patches of light.

The Evolution 6” has just enough aperture to resolve globular clusters like M13 and M15. Some globulars have different concentrations of stars than others, and some appear out-of-round, like M92. Others, like M13 and M22, have dust lanes. Don’t expect color, however, and you’ll need high magnification to resolve the stars clearly. Planetary nebulae, like globular clusters, excel even under less-than-ideal conditions, and the smallest ones may show colors. Open clusters are harder to fit in the Evolution’s narrow field of view, but sparkle with dozens or hundreds of colorful stars. While the telescope slews to its target — this model possesses nine speeds — the mount does make a great deal of noise, particularly when we used the moderate to fast settings. If you find the noise off-putting and are happy to observe without a computerized mount, it’s quite easy to switch over to a manual one given that the tube possesses a Vixen-style dovetail. Remember though, you will need a Vixen adapter if you want to fit the tube to another Celestron mount. In terms of specific models, the best are the NexStar 6SE and 8SE with the wedge added, or any of the Evolution models, but specifically the 8 EdgeHD.The NexStar Evolution 6” can show you a lot, both within the solar system and of faint deep-sky objects, and its GoTo system means it takes less time to locate the latter for viewing. Additionally, a dew shield for the Evolution 6” is de facto necessary if you plan on observing for any significant length of time, and also shields the scope from bugs, stray light, and curious hands-the former means you’ll actually get superior contrast at the eyepiece with the dew shield versus without it under most circumstances. What can you see with the Celestron Nexstar Evolution 6? The Celestron NexStar 6SE is an assured telescope best suited to amateur astronomers looking for higher magnifications and sharper, more refined views of both deep-sky and solar system objects. However, despite being hugely impressive from an optical point of view, its NexStar+ hand controller is beginning to look a bit old-fashioned and clunky compared to how more modern ‘smart’ telescopes work. For now, it’s a classic telescope worthy of investing in, but it won’t be too long before its high price will be difficult to justify when there are even easier-to-use alternatives to choose from. Celestron NexStar 6SE review: alternatives to consider SkyAlign, 1-Star Align, 2-Star Align, Auto 2-Star Align, Solar System Align, EQ North / EQ South Alignment (EQ align requires an equatorial wedge) The Celestron NexStar 6SE’s fork mount is a simple altazimuth design – as most motorized GoTo telescopes are – so there’s no need to get involved in complicated polar alignments and balancing using counterweights, as is necessary on equatorial mounts.

Saturn’s rings are easy to see with the Evolution 6” at low power; pop in a high power eyepiece and the Cassini Division within them can be spotted too, along with a few cloud belts on Saturn itself and a handful of its moons. Uranus and Neptune are bluish star-like points on all but the best nights, with Uranus’ moons just out of reach due to their low brightness and Neptune’s moon Triton proving to be quite a difficult catch. Pluto is, similarly, just a bit too dim to spot with the Evolution 6”, though you’d have trouble distinguishing it from a faint star anyway. Like the 6SE above, it can be converted into an astrophotography powerhouse with the addition of the wedge to optimize the included mount. The Celestron NexStar Evolution 6” is the smallest of the three NexStar Evolution scopes. All three are f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrains with Celestron’s StarBright XLT coatings, Hyperstar capability, and the same alt-azimuth mounting – though the 9.25” model swaps the tripod for an impressively bulky unit with bigger legs. Along with the motorized Alt-Az mount is also a field tripod with 1.75” legs. This is easily sturdy enough to hold the weight of the mount and optical tube without much influence from the wind or other vibrations.

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I "think" at this point I understand well what is needed to create the image train when using the f/6.3 focal reducer (getting to the 105mm spacing). A 9mm “gold-line” will provide 167x with the Evolution 6”, which is a pretty good magnification for viewing the Moon, planets, and small deep-sky objects such as globular star clusters or planetary nebulae, along with double stars. You can also get a 6mm goldline, which will provide 250x-about the most you ever want to use. Using a power greater than 250x to 300x will merely give you a fuzzy, hard-to-focus, and dim image with no appreciable gain in detail compared to lower powers. On nights of poor seeing, even 200x might be too much magnification to get a consistently sharp image. gaxaies and nebula are hard to see with light pollution. Although aperture helps, no amount of aperture makes galaxies and nebula look good in heavy light pollution. Lastly, the Evolution mount can accept any telescope with a Vixen-style dovetail thanks to its universal dovetail saddle, though you should make sure whatever you put on it can both balance properly and achieve clearance above the base of the mount, which limits you mostly to short, small instruments such as other catadioptric optical tubes. Should I buy a Used Celestron NexStar Evolution 6”?