My Nexstar 8se

Hi all, not quite a first light review as my use this far has been a bit limited and in a light polluted back garden, but thought I would give my thoughts thus far on the Nexstar 8se.

Set up- its a doddle to assemble. Tripod, mount and OTA can be put together in 2-3 minutes. Packaging is great and can be used to transport. Portability was key for me- this ticks the box perfectly.

Alignment- have just tried the auto three star alignment method (any three unnamed bright objects). It has failed once, I'm not sure why. With mount roughly level, and three stars spread nicely in the sky (avoiding Venus/Jupiter of course) I can goto an object and have it fairly accurately centered in a 25mm eyepiece. Dropping to a 9mm on two seperate nights for Jupiter and mars was also a success. Not perfectly centred but in the eyepiece. Tracking thus far Has been spot on- left orion nebula centred for 30 mins and on return still where i left it. So for a beginner, I'm very happy.

Mount. For one arm, seems quite stable/stuff but vibrations when knocking or focusing are awful. I was on wooden decking- moving to concrete helped but still 4 seconds or so to die down. Will look to get vibration pads to help. Would say this is almost a product defect.

Optics- hard to say as my previous experience is with a 4inch reflector. Am very happy with contrast of Jupiter in less than ideal seeing conditions. Was hoping 9mm would have Jupiter (and to pesser extent Mars) bigger in eyepiece though with long focal length. Will look at Barlow / Hyperion zoom combo. Moon is stunning although need filter to block out some light.

Red dot finder - not my cup of tea. Will replace with proper finderscope in due course. Have found it hard I. Alignment process - dimming the laser to its lowest setting still obscures all but the brightest of objects so hard to know if centred.


Will write more when I get to dark site and appreciate it all the more! Overall though very happy- with couple of accessories it should keep me going for years to come (until I get an eq mount and start photography that is!6

Congratulations on your new scope ColmB, its a great scope and I wish you many years of enjoyment with it. I think this hobby is really all about having fun while learning about the skies over our heads.

Regards.

Great to hear that you are pleased with your new scope Colm. Have fun with it and do your best to resist the temptation of buying an endless succession of extras (the voice of experience ). Are you planning to goo along to any observing events? They are a great way of sharing the fun of stargazing and your the portability and ease of setup of your new system is ideal.

Mike