Celestron 8" Advanced VX Series Go-To Equatorial Schmidt-Cassegrain

The Celestron AVX8SC Advanced VX Series telescope with Starbright XLT coatings is an 8" aperture Schmidt-Cassegrain optical tube on a newly-designed and refined AVX computerized go-to German equatorial mount. For the ultimate in optical performance from a standard 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain, it has new Starbright XLT multicoatings that are 16% brighter than original Starbright multicoatings across the entire photo/visual spectrum.

For the purely visual observer, its light grasp of almost 850 times that of even the sharpest dark-adapted eye can reveal to you star clusters, nebulas, planets, and galaxies in amazing detail. The go-to mount makes finding over 40,000 of those stars and objects easy and automatic, so you can spend more time looking at them, not looking for them. Its high-precision AVX mount, with its many features that optimize it for astrophotography, makes serious deep space and solar system imaging a very real possibility for amateur and advanced astrophotographers alike.

The optical tube is the latest version of the Celestron-pioneered optical system that took phenomenally expensive Schmidt-Cassegrain optics out of the hands of professional astronomers and made them available for the first time at a reasonable price to all amateur astronomers. In essence, the original Celestron 8" SCT made modern amateur astronomy possible.

The Celestron AVX8SC with Starbright XLT multicoatings is priced to make big aperture go-to astronomy available to almost everyone. Its light weight optical tube and easily assembled mount make it easy to set up and enjoy - either in your back yard or at a distant dark sky site. Its superb optical quality and very reasonable price for a computerized go-to mount make it a telescope that virtually any beginning or advanced astronomer can afford and enjoy.

This Telescope's Optical System . . .

Schmidt-Cassegrain optical tube: 8" aperture (2032mm focal length f/10). Guaranteed diffraction-limited optical performance. High light transmission Starbright XLT optical multicoatings. The 17" long aluminum optical tube weighs only 13 lbs., making it easy to transport and assemble the scope in the field.

Finderscope: 6 x 30mm straight-through achromatic design, with a wide 7 degree field of view. Focuses by loosening the trim ring behind the objective lens cell, screwing the lens cell in or out to focus, and tightening the trim ring to lock in the correct focus.

Visual back: Removable 1.25" visual back holds visual accessories such as star diagonal, tele-extender, etc.

Star diagonal: 1.25" prism type.

Eyepiece: 1.25" 20mm Plössl (102x). The eyepiece field of view is 0.47 degrees, nearly the width of the full Moon.

This Telescope's Mount . . .

Heavy duty Advanced VX Series computerized go-to German equatorial mount: This scope's new Advanced VX mount was specifically designed to provide optimum imaging performance for telescopes 30 lbs and under. It has the imaging-friendly features of Celestron's larger telescope mounts, such as permanent periodic error correction (PPEC) and the ability to image across the meridian without doing a meridian flip, so you can seamlessly image the best part of the night sky.

Experienced imagers will love taking this portable mount to a dark sky site (the head weighs only 26 lbs, the tripod only 18 lbs, plus one 11 lb counterweight), as it provides all the performance of their larger observatory mounts in a portable package. If you're new to imaging, the Advanced VX mount will help you get started with the hobby and keep up with your needs for years to come.

The mount includes dual-axis slewing/tracking low-cog DC servo motors with positioning encoders on each axis for go-to computer control. The new motors provide improved tracking performance and more power to handle an unbalanced load than previous Advanced Series drives. Built-in adjustable backlash compensation and permanent user-programmed periodic error correction (PPEC) permits precise corrections during astrophotography and when observing visually at high powers. The maximum slewing speed is a fast 4° per second.

The scope is supplied with a car battery cord to operate from the cigarette lighter plug of your car or from a rechargeable 12V battery pack. The mount requires a 12VDC 3.5A power source, so the Celestron 17 amp hour capacity Power Tank #4517V is recommended for extended use in the field. The Power Tank can be recharged hundreds of times and will operate the scope all night long without danger of running out of power. Celestron AC adapter #2338PRO is also available to operate the scope from household AC in your back yard.

The sliding 11 pound counterweight is locked in place with a single hand-tighten thumbscrew each, making it easy to rebalance the scope if you add heavy photographic accessories. The mount is easily capable of handling the scope and any reasonable combination of photographic accessories you might want to use. Covers keep the motor drives free from dust and debris. A set of optional vibration suppression pads #4525 under the tripod feet will improve the telescope damping time for steadier high power observing.

To make a casual polar alignment for visual use quick and easy, there's a latitude scale and fine adjustment controls in both altitude and azimuth. The scope can be used over a wide 7° to 77° latitude range in both the northern and southern hemispheres. The scope includes Celestron's unique All-Star computerized polar alignment that lets you do an accurate polar alignment even when Polaris is hidden by trees or buildings.

Adjustable height tripod: The tripod has 2" diameter steel legs with a center leg brace for rigidity, with excellent damping characteristics. The center leg brace is drilled to form a convenient accessory tray that holds 1.25" and 2" eyepiece to keep them up out of the dew-soaked grass. The tripod can be adjusted to put the mount height anywhere from 44" to 64".

Dovetail slide bar: An adjustable Vixen-style dovetail slide bar allows the optical tube to be quickly and precisely balanced fore and aft on the mount, eliminating the need for an extra counterweight to balance a camera or other accessories. Setup and takedown times are exceptionally fast, as a single large hand-tighten knob holds the optical tube in place. A second lock knob prevents the tube from sliding off the mount should the hand-tighten knob loosen. The Vixen-style dovetail on the mount allows you to use other optical tubes on the Advanced VX mount, adding to the scope's versatility.second lock knob prevents the tube from sliding off the mount should the hand-tighten knob loosen.

NexStar+ computer hand control: The supplied NexStar+ computerized hand control has a built-in database of more than 40,000 stars and deep space/solar system objects it can find for you. These include the complete RNGC, Messier, Caldwell, IC, and Abell catalogs; selected SAO stars, such as variables and multiple star systems; the planets, the Moon, and more. There is enhanced information on over 200 of the most note-worthy objects.

You can also store and edit the right ascension and declination of additional user-defined objects of your own choosing, such as the comet and asteroid coordinates published monthly in Astronomy and Sky & Telescope magazines. The computer control can find any of those objects with at your command, and accurately track them for visual or photographic application.

All of the database and telescope operation information is displayed on a double line, 16-character, liquid crystal display on the hand control, which has user-selectable multiple language display (English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish). There are 19 fiber optic back-lit LED buttons to make it easy for you to control the computer without affecting your dark adapted vision. An RS-232 communication port on the hand control allows you to operate the telescope via a personal computer. The computer hand control software can be upgraded over the Internet from Celestron's website, assuring that you always have the most current software version at your command.

Several different alignment methods are built into the NexStar+ computer, allowing you to choose a level of computer accuracy in automatically finding objects with which you are comfortable. Both two-star and more-accurate three-star computer guided alignment methods are easily accomplished in only a few short minutes. You can be observing in less than 15 minutes after you first take your scope outdoors, including telescope assembly time.

In addition, the NexStar+ computer hand control is GPS-compatible (using an optional inexpensive SkySync GPS module) for full GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite accuracy. Adding GPS to the computer is something no competitive scope can do. With the Advanced Series go-to mount and the SkySync, orienting the scope in time and space on earth and aligning the scope on the sky becomes almost as easy as simply turning the scope on.

Two-year warranty: All Celestron go-to telescopes have a two-year warranty.