![]() I canceled the original order and tried again using Doug’s link ( which is here - apparently the scope is still in stock). Note the ruler sitting on the OTA–this is a big scope, in a big package.įrequent commentor, sometime observing buddy, and telescope-purchase instigator Doug Rennie came to the rescue, with an AmazonSmile link to NexStar 8SEs that were said to be shipping in just a few days. The square vacuity at the lower right held the box for accessories. Each big component is sandwiched in styrofoam or ethofoam, inside its own box, and all of them are in two bigger boxes. More than a week after I placed the order, the scope still hadn’t shipped, and there was no sign that it was going to do so anytime soon.ĭuring the unboxing. Turns out, Amazon had a few, so I put in an order. I usually prefer to support friendly local and not-so-local telescope stores like Oceanside Photo and Telescope, Woodland Hills Camera & Telescopes, Astronomics, and Orion, but none of them had the scope in stock when I was looking. A lot of people are looking for hobbies while they are stuck at home, and sales of astronomical gear are, well, sky-high, at least according to the vendors I’ve heard from via email or on Cloudy Nights. This is apparently less about the pandemic disrupting supply lines and more about a completely bonkers demand for telescopes during the era of COVID. The first point in this saga is that the NexStar 8SE, like almost all NexStar scopes, and like almost all computerized scopes, and in fact like almost all scopes period, is almost completely sold out right now, from sea to shining sea. If the NexStar 8SE is actually less hassle–I’m new to computerized scopes, or indeed even to motorized scopes, and my first night getting the whole system set up was not without some frustration. It will be nice to have something between the 5-inch Mak and the 10-inch Dob for those times when I want a little more oomph and a little less hassle. Also, the XT10 weighs about 55 lbs all set up and kitted out, and some evenings I wuss out. Yes, the Apex 127 and the XT10 both do great on planets, but after a while I get tired of nudging them along, especially at high power. What tipped my hand was the planets: I’ve had great fun these last few weeks observing Jupiter and Saturn almost every evening, and Mars on many evenings, as we speed toward opposition with the Red Planet in mid-October. I figured it was time to rectify both of those omissions. Between 2007 and now, I’ve owned reflectors from 70mm to 300mm, refractors from 50mm to 102mm, and Maks from 60mm to 127mm, but I’ve never had a Schmidt-Cassegrain, and I’ve never had a GoTo scope. I’ve been low-key lusting after one of these scopes for a few years now. His 60mm Meade refractor waits in the background. ![]() London looking through the scope the first evening, when I had it on the AZ-4. ![]()
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