Celestron NexStar 4-SE vs 6-SE vs 8-SE telescope

If you are looking to buy a new telescope then you must have come across the NexStar series from Celestron. There is NexStar 4-SE, 6-SE, and 8-SE telescope.

You might be wondering how exactly are they different from each other, other than the cost. Should you buy a 4-SE because it costs less or should you buy 6-SE which costs a little more than 4-SE and will be a better choice or should you buy 8-SE which costs a lot more and gives excellent performance. All these questions will be answered in this article.

So this series of Celestron telescopes are made for computerized telescopes. All these telescopes are computerized with go to Alt-Azimuth mount. This means everything from focusing on locking on the star for stargazing is done with the help of a computer. If you are a beginner and you don’t know how to navigate through the night sky observing different celestial bodies, then the computerized mount is extremely helpful.

All these telescopes come with data of 40,000 celestial objects and with the red dot finder technology of Celestron you just have to point on 3 bright objects and it’ll focus in that area of the sky.

So, the main difference with these telescopes is the aperture size. 4-SE has a 4-inch aperture, 6-SE has a 6-inch aperture and 8-SE has an 8-inch aperture.

Well, now you might be thinking, is this 2-inch difference of aperture size going to make any difference in your stargazing experience?

Absolutely yes. Aperture size is all about collecting most of the light, the bigger the aperture, the clearer and better images you’ll get.

With 4-inch you might be able to see the different stars in a particular area in the sky. But the same image has a lot more details with a 6-inch aperture, with 8-inch a lot more.

Now, let’s see what you can see through these telescopes.

With Celestron NexStar 4-SE

You will be able to see Saturn’s rings, Jupiter’s bands, Stars in the Hercules globular cluster, and different surface features of our moon.

With Celestron NexStar 6-SE

You will be able to see craters on the moon with the diameter as small as 1600m; you’ll be also able to see some of the Saturn’s moons and its cloud belts. This telescope will show you Jupiter’s moon as well. You can observe the globular star cluster and the details of the distant nebulas. You will be also able to see clouds and dust storms on Mars. Also, you will see some asteroids and stars with a 13.4 magnitude.

With Celestron NexStar 8-SE

You will be able to see everything that you can see with 6-SE plus Saturn’s rings in more detail such as Cassini or Encke division on its rings. You’ll see Jupiter’s clouds and the GREAT RED SPOT. You’ll also see “The messier 51 whirlpool galaxy and many more”.

So that's it that's the difference between these 3 telescopes.

One of the hard things about choosing a telescope is knowing how you want to use it. Whether you want to look at planets (which are super bright) or deep space objects (which are super dim) affects your choice. A scope with tons of magnification from a long focal length may be great for Saturn but have too much zoom for things like the Andromeda Galaxy.

Portability is also a factor. Can you carry the entire assembled scope out onto the deck yourself each night, or do you need to spend an hour assembling, leveling, and aligning it? Once it's set up, how easy is it to find objects? If you want to look at Jupiter and the Moon is very easy. What about objects too faint to see with your naked eye? Considering all this we answered your questions in the next segment.

Let’s discuss which one you should buy.

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