Nexstar 8SE

This scope does not readily accept 2" diagonal and eyepieces.
How can I improve its deep-sky, wide-field performance over stock?

Walter Schmitt said:

This scope does not readily accept 2" diagonal and eyepieces.
How can I improve its deep-sky, wide-field performance over stock?

Walter: Two ways:

A focal reducer like the Celestron F/6.3. This reduces the effective focal length to around 1300mm. This will allow you to use your 1.25 inch eyepieces and get TFoVs up to about 1.2 degrees. I have one I rarely use that I could loan you...

Or you can buy a 2 inch visual back and 2 inch diagonal or a 2 inch diagonal designed to fit an SCT. Then you can use 2 inch eyepieces.

If you try to use both the focal reducer and a 2 inch eyepiece, Vignetting will become an issue...

Jon Isaacs

Walter Schmitt said:

This scope does not readily accept 2" diagonal and eyepieces.
How can I improve its deep-sky, wide-field performance over stock?

This past weekend I spent some hours in the virgo cluster with an 8" out under dark sky, down a two track out in a meadow on public land. An 8" f/5 newt on an altaz mount. Most of the time at 90x or more with, 65 degree eps and Uranometria. I was able to pretty much just skip using my lowest power eps because of having detailed charting. I know that may not be a wide field answer for you, but detailed charting plus a portable scope really works well on deep sky. The Nexstar 8's that I have seen are pretty darn nice... and portable.