Celestron NexStar 6SE

the telescope’s excellent tracking ability. Many novice astronomers might find the idea of using a GoTo telescope daunting, but Celestron’s comprehensive manuals and software will put any worries to bed.

With the nearly full Moon in the sky quite late into the evening, we took the opportunity to view our natural satellite’s cratered surface. The lunar views that we saw were impressive: the NexStar revealed well-defined crater walls and lunar mare to a very high standard – the craters Copernicus and Tycho were particularly impressive using the modest 5.91” aperture.

With gas giant Jupiter also at a good position in the sky and not too far from the Moon, the NexStar made short work of locating the planet and its four largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Jupiter took pride of place in the field of view as a bright disc, with Ganymede and Europa appearing as sharp points of light flanking the giant’s left, while Io and Callisto could be found relatively near to the planet’s right limb. As we discovered when observing the Orion Nebula, views through the Schmidt-Cassegrain’s optics were impressively clear and bright with no chromatic aberration – or colour fringing – evident. Jupiter will only continue to make an excellent target by increasing the telescope’s magnification, something we highly recommend either by using a Barlow lens or filters, as well as additional eyepieces with a 1.25” fitting.

Despite a price tag that many might find is way beyond their budget, we highly recommend the Celestron NexStar range, with the 6SE in particular being good value for money. With little to no maintenance required provided you treat the telescope with care, this 'scope is one that will last a long time, all the while providing impressive views of a wide selection of night-sky targets. There’s even room for basic astrophotography.

With its StarBright XLT optical coatings the Celestron NexStar 6SE provided clear and bright views of nightsky targets with no defects, such as colour fringing, seen