The NexStar 4 SE brings excellent views of the Moon, the planets, and bright deep space objects. The standard equipment 25mm E-Lux plossl eyepiece provides a magnification of 53X, enough to see the Lunar disk, Saturn’s rings and the key cloud bands on Jupiter. It’s simple to add optional eyepieces to zoom in for extra detail. Utilizing 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 together with a 6mm plossl eyepiece while viewing the Moon and planets.
The NexStar 4 SE package in addition consists of a sturdy adjustable tripod, a motorized alt-azimuth mount, and the NexStar hand held computer controller. I don’t want star charts or a GPS reciever to operate this telescope. Celestron’s patented SkyAlign procedure is simple to use, and experienced users will like the two-star align and solar-system align options for the reason that they are even quicker to set up. The steel tripod and alt-azimuth mount offer a solid base for the NexStar 4 SE. Vibration is not a problem, even while focusing at high power. The computerized tracking is in addition very good, effortlessly keeping planets in the field of a high power eyepiece. The disadvantage of a computerized scope, of course, is battery consumption. I locate this rechargeable NiMH batteries work very well in the NexStar 4SE; a set of batteries lasts all evening and I don’t want to worry concerning electrical cords getting tangled in the dark.
The NexStar 4 SE is a excellent portable telescope, just right for visual observing or for taking short exposure images of the Moon and planets. It’s only fair to warn you this a small telescope has its drawbacks, however; there are thousands of objects in the NexStar database this are just too dim to see together with a four inch telescope. --Jeff Phillips