Celestron NexStar Evolution 6
This catadioptric GoTo promises accessibility for astronomers of all abilities, but does it live up to this statement for the price?
“The GoTo was supplied with 40mm and 13mm eyepieces of exceptional quality”
Ever since Celestron introduced the NexStar Evolution, we couldn’t wait for its arrival at the All
About Space office. According to Adam Hinds of David Hinds Ltd, this catadioptric instrument brings the latest technology to the already comprehensive GoTo and promises to make finding your way around the night sky simple, even if you have very limited knowledge. Not only that, but this telescope is a great way to get into astrophotography.
The assembly was a breeze, something we saw as a big plus, and certainly making this telescope a winner for beginners with quite a large budget – though we wouldn’t recommend paying out for an instrument if it won't get very much use. The build of the telescope – from the tripod all the way down to the 1.25” star diagonal – is of excellent quality.
The only real drawback was the StarPointer finderscope, which felt a tad flimsy. The handles, which you intuitively reach out for when you need to pick up the telescope, have been well thought out in terms of their positioning on the alt-azimuth mount, ensuring that carrying the NexStar isn’t awkward to the point of causing an injury or, indeed, dropping the telescope.
Upon closer inspection we learned that there is a lithium-ion phosphate battery that you can simply recharge to power the telescope. Many GoTo telescopes have an external powerpack, but without one we quickly reaped the rewards, and it certainly was a step in the right direction for the design of this breed of telescope. Celestron has also ensured you’re not restricted to having to charge up the instrument before heading outside to observe, since it has supplied a power cable that allows you to use the mount. It was nice to have the choice – and it's a manufacturing move many astronomers will benefit from.
To look at, the mount dominates the telescope. As well as the Evolution’s battery, the mount houses an internal WiFi network that allows the observer to control the telescope using either a tablet or a smartphone – what’s more, both Android and iOS users can utilise this feature. Once again Celestron has covered all bases, also suppling a standard GoTo controller to command the telescope if you would rather not use your device.
We were very interested in using our iPhone to control the ‘scope, and we downloaded the free Celestron SkyPortal app with ease. Flicking the mount on, we were connected up to the built-in SkyQ Link WiFi in no time, and it wasn’t long before we were embroiled in polar aligning the telescope – this was completed quickly and we were very impressed with the Evolution’s response. The GoTo was supplied with 40mm and 13mm Plössl eyepieces of exceptional quality, which gave magnifications of 38x and 115x, respectively. Suggesting a few targets for the Evolution to find, we quickly found that while the telescope located them with no trouble at all, the objects did appear quite a small way off from the field of view’s central point. Carrying out the star-alignment process again using the 13mm Plössl we were able to achieve much more accuracy. The mount was a little noisy on occasion, but this didn’t bother us at all.
Popping the 40mm eyepiece back into the ‘scope, we enjoyed a stunning display of craters along the lunar terminator of a final quarter Moon. We got a superb view of the crater Archimedes, which presented itself as an almost perfectly circular impact. Not too far from Archimedes, we used the 13mm Plössl to witness pleasing views of the Apennine Mountain range, where the peaks had beautifully caught the Sun’s light. The SchmidtCassegrain’s optical system truly offered the bright, sharp views that it promised thanks to the excellent StarBright XLT optical coating. Jupiter and its four largest moons – Ganymede, Io, Europa and Callisto – were also an excellent sight.
Turning our attention to the constellation Lyra, the Harp, we were able to pick out the double star Epsilon Lyrae, which can be found up and to the
left of bright star Vega. The Evolution not only split the stars in this system cleanly, but also revealed a double double star system thanks to a calm atmosphere. Moving back to Vega after opting to use the NexStar's hand controller, we did detect a slight touch of coma around this 0.03-magnitude star, however, due to the impressive clarity of such a bright source, we felt that this was only a very slight flaw in the optics.
Moving over to the star Albireo in the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan, we were treated to a wonderful colour contrast as the Evolution split the double star with ease, treating us to its amber and blue-green components. Meanwhile, deep-sky object the Ring Nebula (M57) as well as the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) were also pleasing October night treats.
Studying the Evolution for astrophotography potential, the telescope offers some scope for the novice astroimager. With its alt-azimuth mount, you’re in luck if you are interested in imaging the Moon and brighter planets, but only some deep-sky targets can be imaged using this telescope and with the required kit. Overall this telescope is excellent and, despite the hefty price tag, is an instrument that not only makes astronomy easy for the novice, but is a good all-rounder.