Celestron NexStar 8


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Brand and Model:Celestron NexStar 8
Price ($USD):$1499.00
Type:Schmidt-Cassegrain
Attributes: checked Go-To un-checked PEC
Aperture:203mm (8")
f Ratio:f/10
Focal Length:2032mm
Finder:Starpointer
Electric Power:12 AC Adpt. & (8) AA Batteries
Mount:Alt/Az
Tripod:Yes
Weight (lbs):35 lbs.
Dimensions (w/h/d):
Description:All of the standard features of the NexStar 5 are repeated in the NexStar 8, with the addition of Celestron's famous 8" optics with Starbright multi-coating. This NexStar telescope offers images twice as bright as a 5" telescope. An adjustable aluminum tripod, premium 1¼", 40mm Plössl eyepiece, Star Diagonal, Star Pointer and AC adapter are standard. You may also want to add an optional solar filter, lens shade/dew cap or a wide selection of eyepieces. Numerous optional accessories are available to enhance your observing including a four-element, fully multicoated reducer/corrector which increases the brightness to f/6.3 while reducing the focal length by 37% for more visual coverage of wide field objects.

Celestron's Nexstar 8 Page
Todd Gross's Review
Cloudy Nights' Review 1
Cloudy Nights' Review 2

Vote Highlights Vote
Celestron NexStar 8
This scope is a wonderful balance of portability, aperture and goto capability. Properly collimated, the optics shine! ( Well, you know what I mean ). And one is able to pick one up on the used market at a very reasonable price.

Enhanced with Ray's brackets and a 2" diagonal, a properly balanced scope can manage to slew a Siebert 2" binoviewer handily... and provide wonderful views. ( Be sure to tighten the bolt that adjusts the clutch!)

The 8" aperture brings in most of the Messiers handily and provides very acceptable views of planets, for an SCT. ( Collimate, collimate, collimate! ).

However, with heavy weights it's easy to have the OTA swing up or down at extremes in/de-clinations.. There were virtually no problems experienced, of that kind, given the stock 1.25" eyepiece configuration.

The goto is easy to set up... I'd recommend periodically "re-aligning" by slewing to a couple of stars several times a night, and replacing previous alignment stars. Do this a couple of times and you'll find the scope putting objects in the middle of the FOV of a 9mm Nagler.

Backlash will be a problem until you adjust the setting in the computer.. but even then, the long pauses and rapid swings between slewing at settings of 5 or less can be irritating.

I'd recommend the heftiest tripod, and vibration suppression pads... they *do* make a difference.

The Red dot finder is more acceptable than I'd thought it would be... ( someone is gonna make a mint if they put a 5 minute auto shut-off in their red dot finders ).

Overall, I find this scope very well suited for my purposes ( used alone or in "bloodhound" support of larger aperture newtonians without DSC's or computers, when we just can't seem to find those harder objects!).

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:7 Ease of Use:9 Value:10
Weight: 5 (Veritable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=163536


Celestron NexStar 8
Excellent light weight telescope for the money.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:7 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=87911


Celestron NexStar 8
An outstanding instrument. For portability, top quality optics, and good GOTO accracy at a reasonable price, the NexStar 8 can't be beat.

I've had mine for 3 months, and have learned many tricks. Collimating it is esential for razor sharp images, and that's an easy process to learn. GOTO accuracy is excellent, once you understand how to get the OTA at right angles to the mount. And tracking accuracy is very good once you understand how to center an object - I can keep an object in the FOV for an hour in a 40mm Plossl with a .9 degree FOV.

All in all, this is by far the best telescope I have ever owned!

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:10 Mount:10 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=82594


Celestron NexStar 8
I just purchased this scope for $1349 and the price keeps going down since they are apparently clearing them out for the new gps systems. This is a real bargin. At these prices your get an incredible amount of scope for the money. I am very pleased with the portability since i use it much more often than i would if it were larger and heavier. The goto has worked everytime and put the object in the fov at low power. i have joined the yahoo nexstar group and am learning some nice tricks to enhance my experience and accuracy. anyone interested in a scope that will be very good as an "all purpose" scope should not let this one get away before they are all gone and a much higher price will need to be paid for a scope that does not have any better optics.

Overall Rating: 10
Optics:9 Mount:8 Ease of Use:10 Value:10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=78720


Celestron NexStar 8
Outstanding value for the money! Good combination of high quality, medium aperature, computer controlled optics in a very portable, easy to use package.

Overall Rating: 9
Optics:9 Mount:8 Ease of Use:10 Value:9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=62281


Celestron NexStar 8
If you buy a cheap Celestron it sucks. If it's over $700 it's
great! In this case so is the NexStar 8. When I saw the
NexStar 5 I knew the mount was too big for it.
Whatever. The tracking is good, but the mount is not designed
for long-exposure astrophotography. The optics are also pretty
good. I've seen better computerized 8-inch SCTs.
However it's a good choice for a highly portable, computerized
SCT. What I don't like is that it's not built for a tripod.
Have you seen it on one?

daSentinel

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40577


Celestron NexStar 8
im 15 and new to astronomy. a few months back, my dad and i began shopping for a telescope. we started in the meade ds-127 range, and built up to the etx-90, then the etx-125 or nexstar 5. we decided on the nexstar, mainly because we heard it was used aboard the space shittle, and NASA wouldnt use crappy things. we went down to the store to get it, and we started thinking. for a few hundred bbucks more, we get 3 more inches of apature in the nexstar 8. we got it, and not for one second have i regretted getting the celestron over the meade, or getting the 8 over the 5.

i think this is a great all-around scope. obviously, the tele vue 102 im planning to get will otperform it on planets. adn a 25 inch dob will be better for deep sky. but the nexstar offers a nice middle groung, good for both.

about the mount, i think its fine. its not unsteardy at all.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40576


Celestron NexStar 8
Bought mine at a Natural Wonders going out of business for just under $1k. No complaints to speak of... Great optics, quiet GOTO, and very portable. I bought a hard case with wheels and take the scope with me frequently.

Overall Rating: 10
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40575


Celestron NexStar 8
Great scope with beautiful optics. This replaced a C8 and it's optics are as good if not better than the C8. I bought the scope with the heavy tripod, rather than the flimsy aluminum one. If you are considering buying this scope DO GET the heavy tripod option, it will solve your stability problems.

Overall Rating: 9
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40574


Celestron NexStar 8
The N8 has been a very good visual scope but worthless for long term astrophotos. The goto works very well but the tracking is a little to be desired. It will stay in fov for about 15 min's with the supplied 40mm ep. This is ok for a quick hop from area to area. Setup to view is around 5 min's, That is a big plus for me and the weight is a lot less than others of the same size

Overall Rating: 8
Weight: 1 (Unreliable Vote)
Date:
By:
Link to this vote: http://www.excelsis.com/1.0/displayvote.php?voteid=40573

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