Celestron Celestar 8 Telescope

Hi, I'm new to astronomy and bought myself a Celestar 8 off e-bay for around $600. The telescope is split into three main components, the OTA (optical tube assembly), the wedge and tripod. In the case of the Celestar (basic model, not deluxe) the tripod and wedge are combined into a wedgepod. The telescope is very high quality and Celestron, in particular the 8" (otherwise known as the C8) has a very good reputation for being a great all round telescope. The wedgepod is suitable for observation but needs modifying or upgrading for long exposure photography. I managed to take a few shots of the moon and planets using the wedgepod but you really need a sturdier and more adjustable mount for longer exposures. The main problem is that the wedge cannot be adjusted in azimuth easily, the tripod's legs are not height adjustable and there is no fine control for the latitude adjuster. A better version of the tripod and wedge is supplied with the Celestar Deluxe model so you may want to consider spending that bit extra for a better mount. All that said, the optics are excellent and views of the planets, deep space nebulas, star clusters and double starts are pretty impressive.

Another couple of minor drawbacks are the diagonal, which you can upgrade eventually and the finder scope which is only 6x30. I improved the finder scope by opening it up and removing a metal spacer that closes the field of view. You may want to upgrade to a 8x50 finder. An essential accessory is a red dot finder or Telarad, which I’ve invested in. These sites give you a zero magnification and project a red dot onto the sky in the direction you’re looking at. They are easy to use and make searching for objects a lot easier.

The Celestar comes with a Celestron 25mm SMA eyepiece which is fine to start with but you will soon start looking for new eyepieces. I’ve bought a 32mm, 9mm, 6.4mm and upgraded to a 25mm Wide angle Konig Eyepiece. Many stargazers recommend naglers (widefield), orthos (for planets) and other eyepieces but you’ll learn which eyepieces suite your needs. The basic ones to start off with are plossles which are better than the SMA or Kellners. These are all 1-1/4” eyepieces so you may want to consider upgrading to 2” eyepieces and a 2” diagonal which would provide wider fields of view but which set you back more cash of course. A mirror diagonal, ideally dielectric is a 'must' upgrade to replace the cheap prism diagonal which comes standard with the scope. I recommend a 2" diagonal with a 1-1/4" adapter (comes standard most of the time)

For photography you can opt to use CCD, film or Digital cameras. I chose to use a digital SLR and you can get started by simply buying a piggy back mount or T-adapter with a T-ring for you brand of camera. Planetary photography can be achieved using a Tele-extender and T-ring to project lens images onto the camera, whilst deep space long exposure requires a radial guider with a guiding illuminated reticle eyepiece and T-ring.

As you can gather from the above, the Celestar is a very versatile telescope that you can be content with for a lifetime. It is upgradeable, takes almost all known attachments. Polar alignment gets some getting used to especially if you want to be accurate but otherwise it’s a compact scope that you can take anywhere and see almost anything the armature astronomer could ever wish.

what do i love about it , the perfection the price the quality and of course the newness this is as new as a product could have been bought, there may have been a small scuff on it someware but i couldnt find it. like with any lenses u get what you pay for in the telescope business unless u choose them u buywhat you get meaning there are quality differences through the prices all the way to the best of the best.. Ibought this paticular scope because of newness first and price second.also a bigg factor had been the place it was,within 50 miles of my apt. which also worked out onsaving the shipping charges.all in all an exellent buy...