Celestron NexStar 4 SE Telescope

by Celestron

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 32.4 x 27.2 x 13.4 inches ; 30 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 42 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000GUFOBO
• Item model number: 11049
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,429 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
  • #3 in Camera & Photo > Binoculars, Telescopes & Optics > Telescopes > Catadioptric
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Amazon.com Review Celestron’s NexStar 4 SE is the smallest and most portable telescope in Celestron’s NexStar SE series. Using a Maksutov-Cassegrain optical design, the NexStar 4 SE puts the magnifying power of a four foot long telescope into an optical tube only 13 inches long.

Moon

The NexStar 4 SE features computerized finding and tracking of nearly 40,000 celestial objects, no-tool setup is easy, and planetarium software for your PC is included.

Jupiter

The NexStar 4 SE delivers great views of the Moon, the planets, and bright deep space objects. The standard equipment 25mm E-Lux plossl eyepiece gives a magnification of 53X, enough to see the Lunar disk, Saturn’s rings and the major cloud bands on Jupiter. It’s easy to add optional eyepieces to zoom in for more detail. Using a 12.5mm X-Cel eyepiece for 106X magnification I can see several cloud bands on Jupiter and I can even pick out the small dark shadow as one of Jupiter’s moons passes in front of the planet. On a good night I can push the magnification up to 230X with a 6mm plossl eyepiece while viewing the Moon and planets.

The NexStar 4 SE package also includes a sturdy adjustable tripod, a motorized alt-azimuth mount, and the NexStar hand held computer controller. I don’t need star charts or a GPS reciever to operate this telescope. Celestron’s patented SkyAlign procedure is easy to use, and experienced users will like the two-star align and solar-system align options because they are even quicker to set up. The steel tripod and alt-azimuth mount provide a solid base for the NexStar 4 SE. Vibration is not a problem, even while focusing at high power. The computerized tracking is also very good, easily keeping planets in the field of a high power eyepiece. The disadvantage of a computerized scope, of course, is battery consumption. I find that rechargeable NiMH batteries work very well in the NexStar 4SE; a set of batteries lasts all evening and I don’t need to worry about electrical cords getting tangled in the dark.

The NexStar 4 SE is a great portable telescope, just right for visual observing or for taking short exposure pictures of the Moon and planets. It’s only fair to warn you that a small telescope has its drawbacks, however; there are thousands of objects in the NexStar database that are simply too dim to see with a four inch telescope. --Jeff Phillips

Venus

Pros:

• Small, portable and affordable
• Very good optics
• Easy computerized tracking

Cons:

• Rechargeable batteries not included
• Small size limits deep space viewing

Product Description

TE1) CELESTRON NEXSTAR 4SE TELESCOPE

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good telescope., January 20, 2008

By 

Ken N. Wickham (Hattiesburg, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Celestron NexStar 4 SE Telescope (Electronics)

Found this easy to use. I chose this one to buy as my first telescope after reading several reviews concerning a few different telescopes and comparing prices vs features.

The NexStar 4 SE telescope set up rather quickly. Sky align worked well, though sometimes the scope seemed to become less accurate as the hours went buy, and I tried to re-align to different stars but eventually I encountered the same alignment results.

The motor does sometimes jump and looses track of objects. Approaching the objects from a certain side seemed to help, as mentioned in the instruction book.

I did have to buy the additional eyepiece/filter kit. Clarity was rather good up to 6mm eyepiece, though the 4mm was pretty blurred, even for moon views.

Although the AC adaptor is a necessity for continuous power, I found out I already had one that fit my telescope from a car seat back massage/heater cushion which also had a car cig adaptor (which I bought for $19.99).

The computer info included in the hand controller is great though some of the 40,000 objects might not be viewable. I had problems finding some nebula and galaxies, maybe that are too faint.

I have seen Andromeda Galaxy, Orion Nebula, great Moon views, a very blurred mars view (cannot see any features), and extremely blurred Uranus (basically just blue color blurred).

I would have given it a 5 out-of 5 had the motor tracking been smoother, alignment stayed accurate. Besides that it met my expectations.

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Telescope, December 5, 2007

By 

Sky Observer (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celestron NexStar 4 SE Telescope (Electronics)

This is a great telescope for many reasons. First, it is very easy to use. Most telescopes out there, even if they are computerized, are still difficult to align to the night sky before beginning use. The Nexstar 4SE with the sky align makes it fool proof because you only need to point it to 3 bright objects in the sky with no need to know what they are. One of the easiest ways to align it to the night sky is using a the Solar System Align. If you don't want to choose and point it at 3 bright objects, you can choose the moon. The moon is very easy to spot and easy to point the telescope. To me, this is the easiest alignment of all. After a few minutes setting them up, I found Jupiter easily after using the moon as the alignment object.
Secondly, for the price range, it is very well made and sturdy. Most of the components are metal which appears to make them rigid and durable. A rigid telescope makes them sturdy and shake free. It's 40,000 object database gives you enough things to look at for years and years.
The 4" optics on this is superb and the overall package is well worth the money. It is great for looking at planetary objects and deep sky.
Highly recommended.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent Scope, July 6, 2008

By 

Coconut the Critic (Sweet Home AL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celestron NexStar 4 SE Telescope (Electronics)

I purchased the scope from a chain camera shop during a 50% off clearance sale. The scope appears to be well made. The tripod and mounting are solid.

The optics seem pretty good but it has been hard to get a sharp focus on Jupiter and Saturn. Moon viewing has been great. I bought the lens accessory kit as well but have been unable to get a sharp view on the planets.

I have not had much luck with the sky align. Half the time the align fails and when I do get a good alignment it has only been marginal at finding objects. I normally resort to a sky map for navigation. The spotter scope is great when properly aligned to the telescope and it is easy to align. The scope is much better than the Tasco toy scope I had when I was a teen, but I wish I could get a sharp focus on the planets.