First time with the Celestron 4SE

[Dave Smith]

Last night I had my first chance to use my Celestron 4SE.. I set the telescope up in my driveway and only had a small area of clear viewing. But that area included Jupiter and Saturn.. I did not set my Go-To up, but rather searched the two manually.. All I can say was WOW, was I impressed with that little 4SE. Using my Celestron 8-24X EP, I could clearly see the bands of Jupiter and Jupiter's four moons. I then switched to Saturn and was further amazed when I could clearly see Saturn's rings and the Cassini Division between the rings.. This was more than I expected from the 4SE.... NOW, I have been bitten by the Aperture Bug and want a bigger scope... I am looking at either the 6SE or the 8SE..  I understand that both of these telescopes use the same tripod and one of my questions is this... Will the tripod that comes with the 8SE  be strong enough to work with the 8SE or will I have to get another tripod...//


Thanks

[Ed McDonough]

Hi Dave.

As I recall, the 4SE and 5SE use the same tripod, the 6SE and 8SE is SLIGHTLY different. The tripod that comes with the 8" is perfectly OK.

I met you at the last club meeting. My suggestion remains the same. Learn the ropes with the 4" and when you are ready, skip the 6" and go straight to the 8". If you buy the 6" you will shortly thereafter long for the 8", so don't do that to yourself. And if you REALLY want to treat yourself, consider the Evolution 8". More money but not needing external power is to me, life changing!!!  You'll also want to get a lens shade (dew) and perhaps an upgraded finderscope.

Just my 2 cents.

[George B Grimm]

The 6SE and the BSE both use the same mount and tripod. I started with the 6SE and the got an 8in OTA and put that on the SE mount. Several in the club have done so. In truth the 8in is a challenge for that SE Mount in that it will vibrate more that the 6SE. It is livable however. Now however I fear the next "fever" might involve a camera. This is a challenge for the 8SE as it's length will hit the base at about 75 degrees up with a camera attached. Done it so many times it drives me crazy.

The 6SE is a wonderful setup. Take the entire setup outside in one trip. With the 8SE not so easy. I must remove the OTA to be really safe getting through doors etc. The 8in gets 78% more light. 

My recommendation is to buy the 8in. The 8SE is $1199.  However to complete your journey you can get the 8in AVX model for $1739. I say this because you will outgrow the SE mount technology and you wont be limited heading down the "astrophotography" money pit. Watch for sales on either model. I think August has sales coming up.

Take your time and use the 4SE .... find out what you want to really do. Fuzzy stuff requires Crowley dark skies and even in an 8in they are still fuzzy. Enjoy the solar system while the planets are out.  Jupiter changes nightly.

[Ed McDonough]

George makes excellent points. He is our Guru.

And not to confuse poor Dave even more, in August the AVX Edge HD 8" is on sale for $1949. If you do want to head down the astro imaging road, and many do (but not me - LOL), you will need an EQ mount. An Alt Az mount such as the SE or Evolution mounts are largely not suitable for imaging.

But Dave, there will always be sales. Take your time.

[Dave Smith]

Thanks for the replies... I am definitely going to go with the Celestron 8SE when I change... I am going to play around with this Celestron 4SE for a while.. My brother has the 6SE and he is waiting for a sale and he will probably change to an 8 SE also.. He says there may be a sale around Black Friday...

[Ed McDonough]

Hi Dave. Historically the SE's are on sale from 11/1 - 12/31.

[Dave Smith]

Thanks Ed... I will be ready for the sale.. In the meantime, I will enjoy this little 4SE....

[Wolf Schutze]

Another way to increase the performance of the 4SE is to take it out to a dark sky site. And take your time at the eyepeice. Back in '06 we went to Murphy NC for a Jeep Jamboree. We were staying at a campsite on the back side of a mountain from Murphy which was blocking the very little light pollution that was there. I packed my Celesteron ED80 (3") refractor for the trip along with a camera tripod. I was actually blown away by what I could see with it. For the first time when looking at Andromeda, I could see M110 sitting right next to it. Not to mention that Andromeda completely spanned the 32mm eyepiece. The scope has a focal length of 600mm so this is a very wide field view. Next i swung around to Alberio in Cygnus and the amount of stars behind that double was breathtaking. I would definitely keep that little 4 as a grab and go when you don't want to or have the time for big gear. All the stuff mentioned above is good, but a question you need to ask yourself is "what do you want to do with the hobby? Visual or astrophotography? Both?" If the answer is mainly visual, then you might want to look into some of the dobsonian scopes. Bigger aperture for less money. Just a thought.

Here is an interesting article to consider...
https://www.bbastrodesigns.com/TipsToImproveTelescopePerformance.html


Wolf.