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• Achromatic refractor optical system: 80mm aperture (900mm focal length f/11) aluminum tube. Fully coated optics for high light transmission and good contrast. A no-tool quick release dovetail connects the tube to the mount for fast set-up and take-down. A good-sized lens shade is provided to shield the lens from ambient light for improved contrast and retard the formation of dew for maximum uninterrupted observing time.

• Finderscope: Star Pointer non-magnifying variable brightness red dot finder on a quick-release dovetail mounting bracket. The Star Pointer is a quick and easy way to point your telescope exactly to the desired object in the sky. There’s no need to worry about the inverted images you see through traditional finders. Just align the red dot seen in the Star Pointer with the desired star in the sky and you’re done.

• Focuser: 1.25” rack and pinion.

• Star diagonal: 1.25” 90° prism.

• Two eyepieces: The first is a 1.25” 25mm fully coated Kellner (36x). The eyepiece field of view is 1.25° across, two and a half times wider than the diameter of the full Moon for expansive views of open star clusters and terrestrial observing. The second is a 1.25” 9mm fully coated Kellner (100x) with a 0.45° field for more close-up views of the planets, globular star clusters, and a full Moon that more than fills the eyepiece field.

This Telescope’s Mount . . .

• Fork mount/drive system: Single fork arm altazimuth design with pre-installed dual DC servo motor drives. A compartment in the drive base accepts eight user-supplied AA batteries for powering the telescope. Selectable lunar, solar, or sidereal (star) tracking rates, with nine different slewing and centering speeds for locating objects (4°/sec, 2°/sec, 1°/sec, 0.5°/sec, and 32x/16x/8x/4x/2x the sidereal rates). For more details, click on the “mount” icon above.

• NexStar computer control: The supplied computer hand control has an illuminated numeric keypad and a two-line 16-character LCD display. It has a database of 4,033 stars and objects, including the complete Messier and Caldwell catalogs of famous deep space objects; a selection of the brightest and best deep space objects from the Revised New General Catalog (NGC); selected SAO stars, including the best variable stars and multiple star systems; the planets; the Moon; and more.
      A few keystrokes on the NexStar hand control automatically slews the 80 SLT to any of those 4,033 objects, including over 600 galaxies, 300 star clusters, and dozens of beautiful binary stars. The computer’s software can be flash upgraded via the internet so you will always have the most up-to-date software version available. For more details, click on the “computer” icon above.

• SkyAlign Technology: With new patent-pending Celestron SkyAlign technology, you don’t have to know Altair from Zubenelgenubi or know how to read a star chart to line up your telescope on the sky. Simply input the date, time, and your location into the computer hand control. The computer will normally default to your last observing site automatically, but can remember up to ten different favorite observing locations for you to choose from.
      Once you’ve entered the date, time, and location, use the Star Pointer red dot finder to align the telescope on any three bright stars, or to two stars and a bright planet or the Moon. The NexStar computer system will automatically determine which objects were chosen and then generate an internal map of the sky that lets it move automatically to any star or object you select for the rest of the night.
      After the scope has aligned itself with the sky, it takes only a few keystrokes on the computer hand control to have the scope move automatically to your night’s first observing target and start tracking it so you can observe at your leisure. You can find hundreds of fascinating deep space objects your first night out, even if you have never used a telescope before. No matter what level of experience you start from, your NexStar SLT scope will unfold all the wonders of the Universe for you, your family, and your friends. For more details, click on the “computer” icon above.

• Supplied software: The scope comes with a CD-ROM of TheSky Level 1 planetarium and star charting software. This Windows-based program will let explore the Universe on your PC and print out custom star charts of the sky to help you find faint objects that are not in the scope computer’s database. In addition, you also get the NexStar Observer’s List (NSOL) control software. This program lets you connect your SLT scope to your Windows-based laptop or PC (with an optional RS-232 cable). It brings up on your computer screen a list of all the objects it the scope’s database. Simply click on any of the objects in the list and the scope will slew to that object (if it’s above the horizon) and start tracking it for you to observe. For more details, click on the “software” icon above.

• Adjustable height tripod: The preassembled tripod has stainless steel legs to damp vibrations quickly. The center leg brace holds a convenient no-tool quick-release accessory tray to keep your eyepieces and accessories up and out of the dew-soaked grass.

• Two-year warranty: All Celestron telescopes have a two-year warranty, double that of competitive scopes.