Celestron Nexstar 11 GPS Telescope (Telescope Only)

by Celestron

Product Details

Product Manual [6.28mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 35.5 x 28 x 19.5 inches ; 65 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 88 pounds
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• ASIN: B00006371B
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #56,292 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 11, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

The Celestron Nexstar 11GPS is a powerful and tidy package. The compact SCT (Schmidt Cassigrain) format makes for a light-weight unit suitable for portable or fixed operation. The accuracy of its GOTO function (which automatically points the telescope at celestial objects) is exceptional, and more importantly, repeatable. Using the GOTO functions I found I could easily place objects in the center of the included 45mm Plossl eyepiece. When doing astrophotography I was able to place objects on the CCD chip of my ST-7 almost every time.

As with every Celestron telescope I have owned over the past thirty years, the optics are superb. The OTA (Optical Tube Assembly) now consists of a carbon fiber tube, not the old aluminum tube of past years. carbon fiber reduces the weight slightly, but, more importantly, reduces the tube expansion that can take place due to temperature changes.

The drive base and electronics have been completely re-engineered from the ground up. Celestron has done away with the old sand cast housing and replaced it with a new lighter-weight design which is beefier than the previous drive base and fork arms. The new design also sports two ergonomically placed handles that make lifting the telescope and forks a breeze. On the electronics side, it is now possible to perform an upgrade of the motor controller software via the Internet, and the scope can be controlled via a laptop using any number of star charting programs. I found it was possible to simply click on an object on the star chart and the scope tracked right it.

First time setup is smooth as silk. It takes perhaps 15 to 20 minutes and works like this: The telescope downloads the needed information from the GPS satellite constellation for later setups, so all setups after that take only moments. Later setups consist of telling the telescope to perform a GPS alignment, and then centering two setup stars in the finder and eyepiece.

Once the scope is set up, there are three ways to control it: hand controller, virtual hand controller (on your laptop), or via a star charting program, also on a laptop. The end result is pretty spectacular. The rings of Saturn were clearly visible for me, as well as the Cassini division. Using high power, I was able to see the cloud bands and patterns on Jupiter, as well as surface detail on Mars. At low power, I found that deep sky objects such as the Great Nebula in Orion also made for fantastic viewing. --Dave Cole

Pros:

• Portable
• Excellent GOTO accuracy
• Great optics
• Sturdy carbon fiber tube

Cons:

• A bit heavy for a single person to mount
• Takes Some getting used to seat the telescope on the tripod
• Hand Controller mount is not too useful during operation
• Does not come with a carry case of any kind

Amazon.com Product Description

The NexStar 11 GPS is the culmination of years of engineering research and development. This large-aperture telescope with a carbon-fiber tube is the first instrument of its kind to boast an integrated global positioning system (GPS) and electronic compass. As soon as you turn it on, the integrated GPS and compass system automatically pinpoint your exact location and point to your first alignment star. No need to enter the date, time, longitude, and latitude or even know the position of north.

With the filter-limits feature, the NexStar database displays only those objects that are above the horizon for your exact date, time, and location. If the seeing conditions are bad, you can filter out objects below a certain altitude above the horizon. Consequently, as you scroll through the database's lists of objects, only objects within the altitude limits you set will be displayed on the hand control.

Other features include:

• 279mm (11-inch) diameter Schmidt-Cassegrain refractor
• Focal length of 2800mm and focal ratio of f10
• Computerized hand control with backlit LCD
• 40,000+ object database
• Storage for numerous user-defined objects

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of The Best Scopes Available, January 7, 2003

By 

Brian W Robinson (Newburyport, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celestron Nexstar 11 GPS Telescope (Telescope Only) (Electronics)

This scope is worth every penny. It's now been out for a while so all of the "bugs" in the first ones have been fixed (and there were very few issues even with the first N11 models). The scope is incredibly easy to set up with a genuine "can't miss" alignment procedure that only a moron could screw up. Once aligned (it takes no more than a minute or two) the scope will find every object you ask it to find. Not only will it find the stuff (and it finds EVERYthing) but it will put them right in the middle of the eyepiece just about every time. I can use an 8mm Meade Ultra Wide and the scope still puts everything in the middle of the eyepiece - - incredible. In addition, the tracking is fantastic. You can go to an object, view it for a while . . . go away for hours and when you come back it's still there - - right in the middle of the eyepiece.

The optics are great too. To beat this scope you would have to make a huge investment. I comparison shopped this scope and the equivalent Meade scopes and came to the conclusion that this was the hands down winner (and I was a dedicated Meade user before buying this instrument). It's one of the most satisfying purchases I have ever made.

I haven't used this or any scope for astrophotography, but it's tailor made for that kind of application as well.

It's only drawback is the obvious one - - it's big, heavy and not a lot of fun to cart around. That's not a knock on the scope - - it would be an issue for any large scope of any design. Despite it's size and weight I find it comfortable to transport to dark sky sites and fairly easy to set up. If you're used to little 5" SCTs this will be a big change, but once you look through the thing you will gladly endure the minor workout that comes with lifting and moving the scope.

I highly recommend getting the JMI case that fits this scope - - another worthwhile investment. You should also consider investing in a high quality 2" star diagonal and a set of very good 2" eyepieces for the instrument as well (i.e. Meade Ultra Wides or Naglers). The big eyepieces through this scope are like going on a spacewalk.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Automated astronomy, May 15, 2002

By 

Prof G. J. Parker "cybermystic" (U.K.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Celestron Nexstar 11 GPS Telescope (Telescope Only) (Electronics)

If you're new to GoTo astronomy I might save you some grief with this scope. When you set up on the two alignment stars after the GPS has found North, you will find the stars to be quite a way off the eyepiece. Don't worry about this, just align to the correct star (this will need quite a bit of scope movement) and all will be o.k. You will find that when you type in your Messier or NGC object, it will now appear right in the middle of the eyepiece. Totally amazing! I've always had astronomy as a hobby, but try as hard as I could I never found the vast majority of Messier objects with my binoculars. With the Nexstar 11 all I had to do was type in the number and it found it immediately. The first time I used this scope I found 27 of the 34 objects listed on one of the pages in Norton's in one observing session. This was the most amazing hour's observing I have ever had. Don't have any worries about buying this scope, it will fulfil your dreams.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!! Great Value, August 3, 2002

By 

Brian W Robinson (Newburyport, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Celestron Nexstar 11 GPS Telescope (Telescope Only) (Electronics)

All of the hype about this scope is on the money. Go To accuracy is amazing. Two star alignment is a breeze and once aligned the scope will find and track any object in the sky all night long. It's heavy, but still very portable. When "fully loaded" (i.e. 2" star diagonal, Nagler eyepieces, etc.) this instrument is even more amazing. It's easier to set up and use than its Meade equivalent in my view. The Meade and Celestron optics are about the same, but this is a better value and its slightly cheaper than the Meade product. Quieter than Meade too. Some folks have complainted about the tripod, but I find it perfectly sturdy and see no need to upgrade.