Celestron NexStar 8 SE Schmidt-Cassegrain Computerized Telescope

Celestron NexStar SE

Celestron

<a rel="nofollow" class="promo-financing short trackEvent popup" data-track-data="financing apply,suggested minimum payment credit,pdp" data-callback-context="adrma" data-callback-arguments='{"financeMonth":"12","financePrice":"125","TotalPrice":"1499","financeDateEnd":"12/31/9999"}' data-callback="renderFinancingPromoPopup" data-href="/api/getContent?ContentName=CAFinancingPromo&Output=Desktop" data-popup-class="popup800 popupFinancing">$125/mo suggested payments with 12&#8209;month special financing. Learn&nbsp;how.</a>

5x rewards

In Stock

Adorama Protect 2-Year Protection Plan

Adorama Protect 3-Year Protection Plan

Adorama Protect 4-Year Protection Plan

Adorama Protect powered by Extend is available for purchases to customers in the United States only. Not available for international or U.S. territories purchases. Adorama Protect plans are available for ABS clients.

<a class="percent-off-everyday-promo popup promo-financing trackEvent" data-href="/api/getContent?ContentName=CAFinancingGenericPopup&amp;Output=Desktop" data-popup-class="popupFinancing popup800" rel="nofollow" data-track-data="financing apply,ways to save every day savings,pdp" 
		data-callback-context="adrma" data-callback-arguments="{&quot;financeMonth&quot;:&quot;{1}&quot;,&quot;financePrice&quot;:&quot;{0}&quot;,&quot;TotalPrice&quot;:&quot;{2}&quot;}" data-callback="renderFinancingPromoPopup"><img alt="edge-creditcard" src="/col/assets/edge-creditcard.png">
 <h3>Save 5% Every Day†</h3>with the Adorama Edge Credit Card.Learn More</a>

Adorama

Optics & Binoculars

Telescopes & Astronomy

Telescopes

Celestron Telescopes

Celestron NexStar SE 

Explore the universe with the Celestron NexStar 8 SE Telescope. Featuring 8" aperture, StarBright XLT coatings, and computerized mount. Shop now!

Experience the wonders of the universe with the NexStar 8 SE Schmidt-Cassegrain Computerized Telescope from Celestron, a leading name in high-quality optical instruments. This advanced, user-friendly telescope is the perfect tool for both novice and intermediate astronomers, offering superior views of celestial bodies at an affordable price.The NexStar 8 SE is a reimagining of our founder Tom Johnson's vision, who revolutionized the field of astronomy in the 1970s with the creation of the classic Celestron 8. This updated model retains the signature orange-tube design and combines it with cutting-edge features for the 21st-century stargazer.With a full 8 inches of aperture, the NexStar 8 SE offers exceptional light-gathering ability, revealing intricate details in even the faintest celestial objects. From the cloud bands on Jupiter to the spiral arms of the Whirlpool Galaxy, this telescope brings the cosmos to your backyard. The NexStar 8 SE features a revolutionary single fork arm mount, a patented design unique to Celestron. This innovative feature ensures the telescope is not only portable but also quick and easy to set up. Despite its robust construction, the NexStar SE disassembles into compact, lightweight pieces for convenient transport, even in small vehicles.The NexStar 8 SE is equipped with a NeXStar+ hand control, allowing you to locate over 40,000 celestial objects with ease. The SkyAlign process simplifies alignment, requiring you to just center three bright objects in your eyepiece and press ALIGN. For an even more effortless experience, attach our StarSense AutoAlign, and your NexStar SE will align itself!This telescope is designed to grow with you, compatible with a range of high-tech accessories. Control your telescope using your iPhone or iPad with our SkyQ Link, or add GPS functionality with SkySync. For those interested in astroimaging, the NexStar SE is Fastar-compatible for ultra-fast, wide-field imaging. Whether you're embarking on your first stargazing session or have years of experience, the NexStar 8 SE Schmidt-Cassegrain Computerized Telescope is your trusted companion in exploring the universe.

I purchased this complete combination in March of 2025.  The scope was delivered safely contained in its two original boxes and everything was like new condition.  Great job guys!

Great used purchase and like new

Great scope!  I used to have a 10 inch dob, so I was looking for something with a large aperture, but would be more portable.  It also has been sometime since I had done any star gazing so the goto features are really nice.  A word of caution, do not even bother using AA batteries.  You won't get more then an hour out of a set, they just can't maintain the proper voltage and the scope will do all kinds of crazy things and point in the wrong directions.  Once I got a power tank, alignment was super easy and the goto has been working well.  I wouldn't recommend it for a complete beginner because so far I have need to do small manual adjustments, but I came into with those expectations.

Great OTA, decent goto.  Don't bother with batteries.

Great little telescope. Aligning red dot finder was much easier than with larger tubes, and good luck of having a full moon the first night we used it). 3 object auto align worked great.

Nexstar 4se

Excellent "go-to" telescope.

The Celestron telescope and accessories are awesome.

Celestron Telescope

One of the best things I have purchased in a long time. I've had it for a year now and absolutely LOVE going to dark sky places and able to set up this scope while camping. At a dark sky site, the Andromeda Galaxy & Orion Nebula look stunning. You can see the planets in the scope from anywhere and both jupiter & saturn look absolutely great as well. Globular Clusters look great in the scope as well.  However the only complain as I have is having to buy so many extra accessories-like the GPS unit-wish it would have been included in the scope for the price of it. (you don't have to buy it but it helps the set up process a lot quicker).

Fantastic Telescope for Beginners

Wow just Wow, I tried to save some Dollars over the 8 inch model and though I would regret getting the 6 Inch model over the 8 inch Model! NOPE Not One BIT, Mind you Im 66 yrs old and was looking for a lighter weight package with good performance! and to save some money also so i bought this and added some extra goodies with the money I saved! No Regrets Here. This thing is a real sweet spot! Easy to transport and take apart and setup and has real good optics! I just Love It and Think it will Last Last me years to come!

NexStar 6SE

I couldn't be happier with my purchase as for bang for the buck, I have been nothing but impressed by its performance and the ability to computer control this unit remotely with the wifi-module is nothing but impressive, although I feel somewhat Lazy and think I should learn more about the sky's also, I do have an older model EQ mount and intend to use it some also in the future and maybe add a good manual scope to my collection, so far this 6 incher has taught me a lot and can see all kinds of stuff including deep sky objects as well , very nicely!

6 inch Power House

You must be in the right location to get the full use of it.

Great product

Amazing!

Would have like a further zooming in option once the star is spotted. Also wish the system had some kind of internal memory to record save settings, you can't keep the battery on as it drains very fast and once you turn off u need to enter the settings every single time.

The setting up is very easy and straightforward.

Good one for amateurs

Beautiful scope. We are thankful to finally have it. We?ve wanted a 6se for quite a while and we?re glad it?s here. The shipping happened fast and the package was in perfect shape when it got here. We took a picture of Orion nebula last night and we?re thrilled!   Adorama was awesome to work with. Thanks Adorama!

Great Product, Great Service from Adorama

Excellent scope.  Good for novice or experienced star gazer.  Takes a little adjusting once assembled.  Highly recommend!  Adorama salesperson was very helpful.

Great Telescope!

I knew, buying the Celestron 6SE, I would get good value for the money spent. The telescope was as good as expected.
Having lots of interesting astrophoto sessions.

Well spent

This is an excellent telescope and very easy to set up. We are new to night sky viewing so this computerized telescope makes it easy to learn about and view our night sky. I did have to call tech support as I had a question and they were fantastic! Answered my question and gave me additional information to make our experience even better! I would highly recommend this product.

Excellent telescope - worth the price

This telescope is absolutely amazing I have gotten to view the moon and a few stars and the quality is amazing. Everything came in excellent condition and just very satisfied with it and definitely gonna enjoy this telescope for many years to come and definitely gonna enjoy doing some astrophotography with this telescope. Definitely worth the money for it.

Amazing telescope and gonna enjoy it for years to come.

Love this telescope.  Purchased it for our granddaughter for Xmas and the whole family has been enjoying gazing at the stars, planets, and moon.

Awesome scope, easy to use and navigate.

Absolutely wonderful telescope, can't get enough time to use it !!

Excellent telescope !

Everything looks and works as it should. We?re still figuring some things out, but no disappointments yet.

Great computerized telescope

Excellent optics! A great sized grab and go scope! This will go where my larger scopes won't or I won't want to pack up 150 pounds of gear. So this will be a 'frequent flyer.' I've not done more with the mount yet other than power it up and get the feel for it in the house. It is a very stable mount for its size. Initial images sans alignment just for a look through the optics showed zero image shift, both the moon and Jupiter displayed chromatic free images and Jupiter's belts really popped. I would expect, owning about five Celestron GoTo mounts of various sizes, that this will be as exceptional as they are!

SUPERBLY SOLID GOTO MOUNT AND SCOPE. PERFECT FOR GRAB AND GO!!

Once I got the finder scope lined up it worked just fine. Last night, with only a one star alignment (Arcturus, alt/az mode) I observed Saturn and its rings, and some bands across the sphere. I little later I observed Jupiter, several bands, and the moons Io, Ganymede, and Europa. It was an extreme pleasure since with my much bigger CGE 2000 almost everything South is blocked by my house. It was a pleasure to once again view the planets. When seeing gets better in the fall I look forward to viewing some star clusters and nebulae.

Two giant planets with a NexStar 4SE

I have always dreamed of having a more powerful and user friendly telescope like the Nexstar 8SE, and its only limitation is its user, me! I am learning more and more about it as I use it, and it is everything I hoped it would be!

Great New Telescope Of My Dreams

Very nice telescope. Good clear images of planets and more deep space objects than I expected. Transportable yet powerful! A great mix of the 2. Very happy!

Powerful and portable!

Not a bad scope however the lack of switching to Manuel control does limit it to an experienced amateur

Good scope but mechanically limited

stay away from pretenders--get this--oh use a Telrad

If you want the top of the beginners telescope, this is it. It is absolutely fantastic for planetary and moon observation. In clean skies, visibility for galaxies is great. I recommend buying accessories to locate celestial bodies, though.

Top of beginners level telescope

As a novice to telescopes, this is my first serious telescope.  I gave my beginner scope to the granddaughters, but this one is really easy to use.  Simply follow the set up instructions, and it will take you to the object (star or planet) of your choice and track them. The images are sharp and striking.  I hoped to use it with my Nikon d7200, and it will attach, but the eyepieces are bypassed with the camera, resulting in a 2036mm super telephoto. It still provides good pictures as a telephoto lens. Saturn picture taken on first night of use.

Great for viewing but limited for camera use.

Wonderful telescope  So glad we ordered it.  Easy enough to use and learn on and still have an amazing view.

Wonderful telescope

Excellent scope. Easy to setup. Excellent shipping.  
Did not care for the finder scope though

Excellent scope

I received this as a gift, the telescope is fantastic though it will take some getting used to. The app associated with it is a mess to use, though the remote is easy. It was a bit heavy for me though, this is to be expected as telescopes get larger. I love how quiet it is, it was easy to assemble and break down and the view really was fantastic.

Celestron NexStar 8 SE Schmidt-Cassegrain Computerized Telescope

Key Features

Product Options

Protect your gear with Adorama Protect.* Learn more