Details
The largest of the NexStar SE family with 78% more light gathering than a 6" model, the NexStar 8 SE will enable you to see deep into the Universe. The distinctive patented fork arm with ergonomically designed integrated hand control cradle gives solid support to Celestron’s classic 8" optics. The NexStar 8 SE features Schmidt-Cassegrain 8" aperture optics with our premium StarBright XLT coatings, powerful 2,032mm focal length and an f/10 focal ratio.
The NexStar 8 SE has all the same features as Celestron’s most advanced computerized GoTo telescopes, including our revolutionary SkyAlign™ alignment technology, a sky tour feature, a database of over 40,000 celestial objects and easy to use hand control.
Plug the optional SkySync GPS Accessory into NexStar’s Auxiliary port and download data from orbiting GPS satellites for truly quick and easy alignments. The universe may be full of mysteries, but using the NexStar 8 SE isn’t one of them.
In the tradition of Celestron's famous orange optical tubes, the new NexStar SE Family combines the classic heritage of the original orange tube telescopes with state-of-the-art features including a fully computerized operating system, flash upgradeable hand control, superior StarBright XLT coatings, our revolutionary SkyAlign™ telescope alignment software and much more.
Whether you are a seasoned astronomer looking for a portable scope with advanced features, or just starting your astronomy adventure and looking for an easy way to enjoy the night sky, a NexStar SE will help you take a closer look.
Every NexStar SE includes a version of The Sky® software Level 1 Planetarium software for exploring the Universe on your PC and printing out custom star charts of the sky. In addition, you receive our NexRemote software that allows you to operate your telescope via your PC. Software package valued at over $100 included free with your NexStar SE!
The NexStar 8 SE has all the same features as Celestron’s most advanced computerized GoTo telescopes, including our revolutionary SkyAlign™ alignment technology, a sky tour feature, a database of over 40,000 celestial objects and easy to use hand control.
Plug the optional SkySync GPS Accessory into NexStar’s Auxiliary port and download data from orbiting GPS satellites for truly quick and easy alignments. The universe may be full of mysteries, but using the NexStar 8 SE isn’t one of them.
In the tradition of Celestron's famous orange optical tubes, the new NexStar SE Family combines the classic heritage of the original orange tube telescopes with state-of-the-art features including a fully computerized operating system, flash upgradeable hand control, superior StarBright XLT coatings, our revolutionary SkyAlign™ telescope alignment software and much more.
Whether you are a seasoned astronomer looking for a portable scope with advanced features, or just starting your astronomy adventure and looking for an easy way to enjoy the night sky, a NexStar SE will help you take a closer look.
Every NexStar SE includes a version of The Sky® software Level 1 Planetarium software for exploring the Universe on your PC and printing out custom star charts of the sky. In addition, you receive our NexRemote software that allows you to operate your telescope via your PC. Software package valued at over $100 included free with your NexStar SE!
Additional Information
| Optical Design | Schmidt-Cassegrain |
|---|---|
| Aperture (mm) | 203.2 mm (8 in) |
| Focal Length (mm) | 2032 mm (80 in) |
| Focal Ratio | 10 |
| Eyepiece 1 (mm) | 25 mm (0.98 in) |
| Magnification 1 | 81 x |
| Finderscope | StarPointer |
| Star Diagonal | 1.25" |
| Mount | Single Fork Arm Altazimuth |
| Optical Tube | Aluminum |
| Tripod | Steel (sku 93593) |
| Power Supply | 8-AA batteries (not included) |
| Highest Useful Magnification | 480 x |
| Lowest Useful Magnification | 29 x |
| Limiting Stellar Magnitude | 14 |
| Resolution (Rayleigh) | 0.69 arc seconds |
| Resolution (Dawes) | 0.57 arc seconds |
| Light Gathering Power | 843 x |
| Angular Field of View (deg) | 0.63 ° |
| Linear Field of View (@1000 yds) | 33 ft (10 m) |
| Secondary Mirror Obstruction | 2.5 in (64 mm) |
| Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Diameter | 31 % |
| Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Area | 9.77 % |
| Optical Coatings | Starbright XLT |
| Optical Tube Length | 17 in (432 mm) |
| Telescope Weight | 24 lbs (11 kg) |
| Tripod Weight | 9 lbs (4.08 kg) |
| Payload Capacity | 12 lbs (5.44 kg) |
| Motor Drive | Integrated D.C. Electronics |
| Slew Speeds | Nine slew speeds: 5°/sec, 3°/sec, 1°/sec, 64x, 16x, 8x, 4x, 1x, .5x |
| Tracking Rates | Sidereal, Solar and Lunar |
| Tracking Modes | Alt-Az, EQ North & EQ South |
| Alignment Procedures | SkyAlign, Auto 2-Star Align, 1-Star Align, 2-Star Align, Solar System Align |
| Software Precision | 24 bit, 0.08 arcsec calculations |
| Communication Ports | RS-232 communication port on hand control, Autoguider port, Aux port |
| Computer Hand Control | Double line, 16 character Liquid Crystal Display with 19 fiber optic backlit LED buttons |
| Database | 40,000 objects, 200 user defined programmable objects. Enhanced information on over 200 objects |
| Dovetail Compatibility | Quick Release Tube Clamp |
News
- 06/19/2007 - Celestron Partners With The Historic Adamson House in Malibu
- 02/28/2007 - Celestron Takes The Mystery Out Of Exploring Deep Space As Its New NexStar SE Series Of Telescopes Puts Thousands Of Stars, Planets And Galaxies Within Reach At The Touch Of A Button
- 12/09/2005 - Sky & Telescope Magazine Names SkyAlign as Hot Product for 2006!
Knowledge Base
- What size of scope is best for different kinds of objects?
- Aperture
- Focal length
- Contrast
- Light gathering power and magnitude limit
- Telescope-Astronomy Resources on the Web
- What does magnitude mean?
- Exit pupil
- What are diffraction-limited optics?
- What is the focal ratio? How is it related to the f-stop?
- Near focus
- Field of view
- Magnification or power
- Resolution - resolving power
- Optical design aberrations
- How do I align the SCT's corrector plate and secondary?
- Why don't the images I see through my telescope look the same as photos I see taken with the same type of telescope?
- How far can I see with a telescope?
- How do you determine a telescope's magnification?
- I upgraded-reflashed my hand control and now I'm not getting the control functions for my mount, but for another mount. What happened? How can this be fixed?
- I hibernated my GOTO mount. When I powered back up and woke up the scope, it did not point as accurately as before. What gives?
- I'm using a focal reducer and can't seem to focus my SLR camera on my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT). What am I doing wrong?
- What is vignetting?
- I'm doing photography with an eyepiece, using my camera with and without a lens. What are the f-numbers of my setup for the afocal and eyepiece projection methods?
- Which screws are safe to remove for mounting an accessory finderscope on my Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT)?
- What are the pros and cons of adding aftermarket collimating screws to my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT)?
- Can my NexStar hand control be repaired instead of replaced?
- What is back focus? What problems does it cause for visual and photographic use of my scope? What are related focus issues?
- I need to box up my scope and ship it. What's the best way to pack it?
- Why won't my image erecting eyepiece or image erecting diagonal always give right side up images with my scope?
- My image shifts when I'm focusing my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT) and after I get a great focus, the focus will change. What is happening?
- My StarPointer red-dot finderscope battery is dead. How do I replace it?
- What is field rotation? How does it affect my scope's viewing and imaging?
- Why do I need to guide my telescope for photography? Don't accurate alignment and firmware functions like periodic error correction (PEC) take care of it all?
- My GPS-equipped scope is showing the wrong time information. How do I correct this?
- What is a star party? Where do I find information on star parties in and around my area?
- I "accidentally" took apart my eyepiece, removing the lens that goes closest to my eye. Help! How do I put it back together?
- My NexStar SLT or SE hand control has firmware version 4.13. Yet when I use the latest NexRemote with my scope, I can only get version 4.12. What gives?
- I am using a SkyScout Connect with my Celestron GOTO telescope. Do I still need to align my scope?
- I am using a GPS with my Celestron GOTO telescope. Do I still need to bother with SkyAlign?
- I'm looking at my Celestron scope and it has a serial number on it. Can you tell me the model, type and year it was made?
- I want to use the focal reducer/corrector with an aftermarket eyepiece holder. What is the best spacing, focal length, etc?
- What are the specifications for an AC adapter that will work with Celestron's
- What is LST? Where do I find it in my GOTO scope's menu?
- When I use IDENTIFY with my GOTO scope, what is it showing me?
- MY SE mount is moving in the wrong direction when I use the direction arrows at slower slew rates. What is wrong? How can I change the direction of the direction buttons?
- Is there any way to run Celestron's window-based drivers and software on Macs?
- My cordwrap was turned on before I updated my alt-azimuth GOTO scope's hand control. Now it's off - what happened?
- My images with a CCD camera are showing black or white streaks on the brighter stars. They are all bloomed out. What's wrong with my scope?
- Where can I download the unified ASCOM drivers for Celestron?
- What is the operating temperature range for Celestron's telescopes?
- I'm using rechargeable batteries with my Celestron GOTO mount and the mount won't power up even though the batteries are new and fully charged. What's the problem?
- My NexStar hand control displays "Offset Too Large" when I'm trying to change my scope's alignment. What does this mean? How to I fix the issue?
- How much will the addition of a focal reducer increase my scope's field of view?
- My Celestron software won't run on my Windows 7 computer. Help!
- I need information on the RS-232 (serial) commands for NexStar controlled telescopes.
- How do I find out about my 2010 rebate for the NexStar SE telescope?
- I want to autoguide with my Alt-Azimuth mount for long-exposure astrophotography. Will this work?
- What are the instructions for getting my CN-16 or SkySync GPS working with my Celestron GOTO mount?
- I have my Celestron GOTO Alt-Az scope on a wedge and the hand display shows a slew limit warning. What's wrong?
- I have a Celestron GOTO scope, a Mac and an autoguider. I want to autoguide with the scope. Is your autoguider port Mac-compatible?
- How do you stop a GOTO slew in progress? Is there a better way than turning off power or pulling the power plug?
- The autoguiding port diagram in my manual is different than the diagram for the NexGuide connection. Are these differences important?
- How do I collimate my NexStar SE Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT)?
- How do I properly store my NexStar SE Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT)?
- What is the size of the threading holding the visual back to my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope? Is it the same for all Celestron SCTs?
- How do I wedge align my scope using All-star polar alignment?
- How do I remove the optics from the optical tube assembly (OTA) of my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT)?
- How do I remove the optics from the optical tube assembly (OTA) of my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT)?
- The standard visual back on my Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (SCT) has threads on the outside of the barrel. What are these threads for?
- How do I program my flash upgradeable hand control? What about motor control upgrades?
Downloads
International Manuals
NexStar 6 SE and 8 SE Manual (French) (3.4 MB | PDF)
NexStar 6 SE and 8 SE Manual (Italian) (3.91 MB | PDF)
NexStar 6 SE and 8 SE Manual (Spanish) (1.02 MB | PDF)
Manuals
NexStar Communication Protocol v 1.2 (80.23 KB | PDF)
Quick Setup Guide for NexStar 6 SE and 8 SE (1.59 MB | PDF)
NexStar 6 SE and 8 SE Manual (3.56 MB | PDF)
Product Info Sheets
Rebates
NexStar SE $100 Rebate (USA 11/01/10-12/31-10) (776.71 KB | PDF)
NexStar SE $100 Rebate (CANADA 11/01/10-12/31-10) (778.75 KB | PDF)
Reference Materials
Telescope Basics (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish) (481.61 KB | PDF)
Celestrial Observing (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish) (381.85 KB | PDF)
Astronomy Basics (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish) (2.26 MB | PDF)
Telescope Maintenance (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish) (640.68 KB | PDF)
Software
NexRemote v. 1.7.18 (30 day trial) (21.55 MB | ZIP)
Motor Control Firmware Updates v.2.2.5 (3.57 MB | ZIP)
Hand Control Firmware Updates v.1.1.14 (3.75 MB | ZIP)
Celestron Firmware Manager (CFM) v.1.0.2100 (ZIP)



















