Celestron 11049 NexStar 4SE Computerised Maksutov-Cassegrain Telescope with Advanced GPS, Astroimaging and AutoAlign Features, Black/Orange

Product Information

Since it can only take 1.25” eyepieces, with its long focal length of 1325mm, the 4SE is limited to a maximum field of view of around 1.2 degrees, or about 2.5 full moons across – a rather small figure for a 4” telescope. A shorter and even slightly larger instrument such as the Orion StarBlast or Zhumell Z114 can get 3.6 degrees, while the very-slightly-smaller Zhumell Z100 or Sky-Watcher Heritage 100P can achieve a field of view of about 4 degrees across—triple and nearly quadruple that of the Celestron NexStar 4SE, respectively (and they cost a fraction as much, to boot). This design uses mirrors like a Newtonian telescope. But it is a closed design with a corrector plate at the front of the optical tube. The secondary mirror on the plate is parallel to the primary mirror. And transforming it into an equatorial mount and using it for visual astronomy is just stupid. The factory alt-azimuth setup is more than enough for this telescope. Celestron NexStar 4SE Maksutov-Cassegrain design We’ve included the 6SE in our Best Telescopes for 2023 and we’ve carried out a full review of the NexStar 8SE here, and one for the NexStar 6SE here.

Exposures of bright objects for a few seconds are fine, but holding your lens open for the time needed to capture faint nebulae is not feasible.

COMPUTERISED FEATURES

Locate the red dot: Look through the red dot finder. Do not move the telescope; instead, adjust the finder itself. There are multiple modes for using the SkyAlign system, but we will go only over the two most important ones as you will be using those two most of the time. However, a wide field of view is still desirable for many of the large star clusters, asterisms, and nebulae that a small telescope excels at. Make no mistake – the Celestron NexStar 4SE is really a planetary telescope, and most deep-sky objects either don’t fit in its field of view, or don’t look particularly impressive. And if all you’re looking at is the planets, the Moon, and perhaps a few double stars, how much do you really need GoTo anyway? Accessories with the 4SE The 4SE comes only with one eyepiece with a focal length of 25mm. It is a Plossl eyepiece providing 55x magnification. That’s not a lot, but this telescope can handle higher magnification, so I recommend buying an additional smaller eyepiece for higher magnification. The telescope is made of a plastic and metal body with large rubber grips on the focuser and ‘mirror flip’ control.

On that note, it’s worth keeping the box the OTA arrives in as this makes for useful storage and a lot cheaper than a dedicated storage box. Includes a camera control feature and shutter release cable that allows you to remotely take a series of exposures using your digital SLR camera Don’t forget that the highest useful magnification for the Celestron Nexstar 4SE is 240x, so don’t go lower than 6mm eyepiece. The NexStar 4SE is highly portable. Its weight is only around 3kg or 6 lbs. And the weight of the mount is around 7 kg or 17 lbs in total. This makes it very easy to carry.With built-in mount modeling, you'll get superior pointing accuracy from horizon to horizon. When your alignment needs to be perfect, add up to 10 additional calibration stars to achieve a new level of accuracy, great for locating objects in the camera’s field of view for astroimaging.

However, you’ll be buying a Newtonian reflector instead of a compound scope. This is bulkier and will need collimating from time to time.Alignment Procedures SkyAlign, 1-Star Align, 2-Star Align, Auto 2-Star Align, Solar System Align, EQ North / EQ South Alignment (EQ align requires an equatorial wedge) Out of the box, the NexStar 4SE is well collimated and should not need adjusting if the OTA is treated well. Collimation for these scopes normally means a return to the manufacturer or professional retailer, so it is best to look after them.

The 4SE is well constructed and tightly put together. It feels heavier than it looks which adds to the sense of professional construction. Optical Performance Depending on what you’ve read so far, you’re either ready to take the plunge and buy a NexStar 4SE, or you’re thinking it’s not quite the right model for you.This means once the telescope has aligned itself it has access to a database that can find tens of thousands of objects to show you.