New scope on it's way II

Hi All,

I placed an order this week for a Celestron NexStar 6SE. I'm looking forward to the Goto feature and also to having a very portable system. I'll post pics and review once it arrives. I'm already planning the list of accessories (pending spousal approval, of course...)

A 6" f/10 CAT, Startbright XLT coatings, Goto and under 30lbs? This hobby gets cooler all the time!

Congrats on the new scope!! I think you're going to like it a lot I have the S version since I don't use automation much at all and have mounted it on an Alt Az setup instead. It pulls a surprising amount of light for a 6" and I am very pleased with it even after being used to a 10". Saturn with a 12mm Nagler is quite spectacular in it. Incredibly portable and capable!

Well, it finally cleared up enough to get the new scope outside. The universal law that says it will remain cloudy for a week after your new telescope arrives held true in this case.

The best way to describe this telescope is with one word -- wow! I only had about 30 minutes to observe, but I was very impressed with the whole package. I carried the whole scope outside, plugged in the power tank an opened up the eyepiece case in about 5 minutes. A quick Solar System align and we were in business.

The first target was Saturn. Using Meade 6.7 ultrawide, I saw details on Saturn that I've never seen before -- clear banding on the planet, a clear Cassini division and clear color/pattern variations in the rings. Wow. Could this thing provide better views than my old 8" SCT? So far, yes.

Next Target: M42. Clear, poinpoint star images here. The factory collimation was dead-on. The trapezium was clearly resolved -- all four stars show as sharp points of varying magnitude. The Nebula glows and fills the eyepiece. I can't get over the contrast and the detail this little 6" provides.

The Goto is excellent. M42 was placed in the center of the FOV of a 32mm eyepiece on the first try. The NexStar interface is easy to use. The one-arm fork mount is very sturdy. A few sharp raps to the OTA and the tripod and vibrations damped out in less than a second. The slew motors are noisy only at the highest slew rate. Adjusting this down will cut any noise that might wake the neighbors. A nice improvement from Celestron would be to allow the user to set the max slew rate and keep that adjustment. You can change the rate, but it resets on the next goto. We also need a bubble level built into the telescope base. That little bubble level will be lost in no time.

Overall, this is an excellent product and I can't believe we can get all this for $999. If you are on the fence about this scope, jump off and go buy one -- you won't regret it! I considered the C6-SGT, but the heftier mount reduced some of the portability I was looking for. The NexStar 6" is a great value -- I'm already planning to attend the next OPT star party. The mount and NexStar add value to this scope, but the outstanding quality of the optics is better than anything else I've owned.

Wow!