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Product Description
Amazon.com
After using older computerized telescopes, Celestron's new SkyAlign system seems almost like magic. I don't need to remember obscure star names or use a star chart, I just point the telescope at three bright stars or planets and the CPC 800 tells me the star names! SkyAlign is one of several alignment options, and some options can even be used during daylight.
The drive base and heavy duty CPC tripod are unusually solid, it's the same base and drive system used on the larger CPC 1100 telescope. When I rap on the telescope fork the vibration is gone in less than a second. In practice this means easier focusing even at high magnification. The solid base and precise tracking is a real advantage while viewing the planets and while photographing them. I've been able to image the planets at focal lengths of f/30 and f/40 which would be quite difficult without perfect tracking.
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| Mars as seen through the Celestron CPC 800 XLT computerized telescope. |
The excellent optics of the CPC 800 XLT telescope show me excellent views of the planets. When I look at Jupiter with a 12.5mm plossl eyepiece (about 160x magnification) I see multiple cloud bands and I can see the pale color of Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot. One night when the air was unusually still and clear I used a 7.5mm Ultrascopic eyepiece with a 2x Barlow for a magnification of 533X. Jupiter's moons were plainly resolved as tiny disks that night. When I look at Saturn at 200X I can usually see the Cassini division in the rings and make out four or five moons. When Mars comes closest to Earth every two years I've even been able to spot dust storms blowing across the Martian dessert.
The CPC 800 XLT also delivers beautiful views of deep space objects. The CPC 800 is large enough that galaxies begin to reveal their structure and globular star clusters are well resolved. At a recent Astronomy viewing night at a local school, some of the students liked globular cluster M13 the best. They said it looked like a snowflake made of tiny stars! The well known Orion Nebula is a winter highlight. Most telescopes will show four stars in the Trapezium, the bright multiple star inside the Orion Nebula, but with the CPC 800 I can often pick out faint stars "E" and "F" as well.
The accessories with this CPC 800 XLT package include an 8x50 finder scope, a 40mm plossl eyepiece (50X magnification), the NexStar computer hand control, and a 12 volt car battery adapter. You'll also need a 12 volt power supply. An AC adapter is available, but I like using a 12 volt battery pack because I don't need to be near an extension cord to use the telescope.
A few good eyepieces help me take full advantage of the CPC 800's excellent optics. Plossl eyepieces like the ones in Celestron’s Accessory Kit would be an economical way to get started, and of course premium eyepieces like the TeleVue 10mm Radian offer delightful views of the planets. If I were choosing just two eyepieces to add to the CPC 800, I'd pick a 10mm X-Cel eyepiece (200X for planet viewing) and a 21mm X-Cel eyepiece (100X for globular clusters and galaxies) to go with the standard equipment 40mm (50X) eyepiece.
The CPC 800 XLT is an excellent all around telescope. The C8 optics are large enough to give me delightful views of deep space objects, and the optics are powerful enough to show me amazing views of the planets. Even with all this power the whole system is portable enough that I can easily transport my telescope to the local high school and share the view on Astronomy night. --Jeff Phillips
Pros:
- excellent optics
- solid drive base
- easy computerized finding and tracking
- 12 volt power supply not included
Product Description
Customer Reviews
But what is really most impressive is the new SkyAlign technology and the sophisticated easy-to-use electronics. Previous alignment systems require for you to point and align it at a bright star that the telescope chooses randomly. There is a chance that the bright star you decide to align your telescope is the wrong bright object. With the new SkyAlign on this telescope, you choose any 3 bright objects in the sky, Moon and planets included. There will never be a shortage of bright objects at any time in the nightsky. It also guarantees that you are going to have an accurate alignment.
When I first turned on the telescope, the built in GPS unit links up to provide the telescope with the time and location. Next, I pointed it to a bright object. The instructions on the hand control display was very easy to follow. After pointing the telescope to a bright object, I pressed enter then I used the telescope hand control to point the telescope to a secod bright object on the other side of the sky. After pressing enter, I decided to point it at the moon, the most recognizable object in the night sky. After pressing enter, the hand control indicated to me that I pointed it at Vega, Jupiter and the Moon. That was just amazing. I then asked the telescope to go to Saturn. The telescope took off and after a few seconds stopped and placed Saturn right in the middle of the eyepiece view. With over 40,000 objects in its database, I was able to view several galaxies and nebulae that I was never able to locate before, all in one night.
Overall, a very impressive scope with superb optics (high transmission XLT), nice sleek look and sophisticated software.
I chose to align the Telescope using a single star aligment (Sirius) follow the instructions of my nexstar computer and in few seconds it was align .....so the computer said.
Any way to test the alignment I order the computer to go to M42, in just few seconds the telescope moved and the moment of truth was just a blink of an eye in front me.
I just look and focus the scope and it was the M42 right center of the field of view. Let me say that I was so surprise that I could not believed that in the first try the CPC 800 did its works close to perfection.
Still there are many things to test from the OPTICAL point of view but I do not think I will be disappointed.
Any way I recommend this telescope to anyone interested in doing some serious astronomical observations.
I also suggest people to go to YOUTUBE and check all the information in there on how to COLLIMATE the telescope, the instruction manual is not the best for that , rumor has it that one Video is better than a 1000 words.
My astronomy friends tell me that an "8" is really the biggest scope to still be "portable", that is, able to be transported in your car.
And this is the bottom line for most of us, unfortunately. Light pollution is really extreme where I reside in the suburbs, and likely for most people.
If I lived in the depths of West Texas or SW New Mexico, I would probably opt for a permanently mounted 11 inch or even 14 inch reflector. That would be the ultimate. With a permanent set up, so much work could be avoided each time you wished to enjoy viewing.
But where I live, on the best nights, late, I can get some decent planet viewing and possibly a few other objects of interest. The sky will NEVER be dark enough, or transparent enough, to really see what the telescope can do.
The closest dark sky site to me (Dallas area) is about 3 hours (153 miles, 3hrs, 11 mins. google maps) away to the west. The CPC 800 is portable enough to make this trip. You have to be able to set up very near your car as the scope IS heavy.
I find when practicing with the scope in my driveway, the alignment is crucial. I use the 3 star method. I also use an eyepiece with cross hairs, as the alignment star must be exactly in the center of the fov for the best alignment. The better the initial alignment, the better everything goes after that. The telescope's mounting tri-pod has been beefed up, I am told, in recent years. It has a very important leveling bubble to ensure that the tripod is perfectly level before you put the heavy telescope on top of it. This is a crucial feature. Bolting the telescope to the tripod is a fairly simple procedure, although one of the 3 bolts on my unit is troublesome and does not tighten down readily, as do the other two.
Reading the provided manual cannot be overemphasized, as using the hand held controller is not always perfectly user friendly and intuitive. You will have to use the controller to slew the scope, and make tiny corrections to get your alignment stars perfectly centered. With practice, I have been able to find objects from the data base well in the fov of the eyepiece on the first try, without slewing in search of them.
The final word for using this telescope is, again, dark skies. I used to be astounded that many deep sky objects were discovered over a hundred years ago with very primitive equipment. The reason those guys could find those objects was their dark skies. Even right outside Paris or London, it got VERY dark once the sun set. Now it requires a pilgrimage. When I was a young 20something guy, my friends and I often took note of an open star cluster visible with the naked eye called the "beehive", used by the ancients to gauge the quality of observing. That was just west of the Dallas area. In this same area today, no one will ever see the beehive.
BTW, if your ultimate goal in amateur astronomy is to possibly achieve good astro photography, this telescope is not for you. To perfectly track the stars as the earth rotates, you need an equatorial mount, one that tilts to exactly match your observing latitude. These mounts are more expensive. There is an adaptor "wedge" that can be purchased for the CPC 800, but I have read that users are disappointed with it.
Many of us are fascinated with the notion of receiving the ancient photons that have traveled through space for thousands or millions of years, directly into our own eyes.
Do not sip on the wine you brought until AFTER the set up and alignment and testing phase is complete! You will need your scruples! After that, when it's really dark, relax and put on your music earbuds and enjoy the heavens.
