Thanks @CreateListenCreate, I appreciate the comment. CS!

Thanks Dennis!

Thanks @camanderson9132!

You are welcome, CS!

Thanks Tom, I appreciate the comment. Good luck with your 6SE and Clear Skies!

Do you use something else? Would you recommend the 6se?

Thanks for watching Raymond!

Thanks, I think part of it is that the guiding accuracy of the mount on the wedge is just at the edge of visual performance of the telescope. CS!

Hey Samuel, thanks for the comment, I appreciate it!

Thanks for the comment Marc, and good luck with the DSOs!

Thank you! I was aiming for informative!

Thanks @RMh297, I'm not holding my breath on endorsements, but if this helps anybody with their setups then it will have been worth it. CS!

Thank you!

Thanks @m1thumb good idea to use a tube to align on Polaris through the wedge opening. I wish there were a right angle on the fork arm to fix a polar scope to. They could have saved a lot of frustrated people with one simple mounting point! Clear Skies!

Thanks for the comment! I saw some of your observatory build videos. How's it coming along? Cheers, and CS!

@Felldisulfide Not too bad thankyou, I live in Ireland, middle of summer here in Ireland so no observing time. We've also had the worst weather too 😫 Hopefully first light soon 😀

That is very true! I find the Rokinon 135mm to be a bit too heavy to run off the back of the Celestron 6SE OTA, but connected directly to the mount should work very well! Thanks for your comment!

There's a thread on Cloudy Nights dedicated to Celestron NexStar mounts, many on wedges. There is a recurring quote on that thread attributed to an ancient proverb: the one who says it cannot be done should not get in the way of the one doing it. I have no doubt that there's marketing at play, along with people repeating what they've heard others say. There's also some truth that astro photography is not easy, whether you're using a wedge or GEM! Thank you for your comment, and good luck with your setup! There's a Facebook group called Celestron Telescope Fan Club you might also want to check out. Clear Skies!

Thanks! I've been reading up on the corrector plate since reading your comment. telescope-optics.net/Schmidt-camera.htm I'm getting a much better understanding of the necessity of using a field flattener with the SCT. It seems field curvature is the one thing the corrector plate does not address! Clear Skies!

Hi @kibble_eater, if you are budget conscious (and most people are), then a good place to start would be a home-made wedge (whether you make it yourself, or you know somebody with some basic carpentry skills and tools). If you search for home-made Celestron wedge, you'll find a few examples! A stock 6SE in AZ mode will be running at 1500mm focal length. At that focal length, you won't be able to use exposures longer than a few seconds before the field of view starts to rotate and you get star trailing. If you get a camera first, then you'll be able to take video or short images of the planets and the moon, but that's about it. With a home-made wedge, you'll be able to do much more. Also, try looking for used equipment - there's plenty of people looking to trade up by selling their old gear. Good luck, and clear skies!

Hi Tom, is that the Starsense autoguider? For longer exposures you would need to fine-tune the polar alignment further than the hand controller's Polar Align feature. A common method which I use as well is drift alignment. You will also need to enable guiding in order to deal with periodic error in the mount gears and any additional drift caused by mount flex and any remaining misalignment. I have a couple of videos on polar alignment with drift using both CPWI/PHD2 or just the hand controller which might help you. The hand controller video goes right from EQ North to drift as I did not know about the controller's ASPA functionality (just called Polar Align) until later. Celestron sure kept that one under wraps in their SE documentation!

@@FelldisulfideThanks for the response! I'm using the original Starsense but am open to upgrading to the autoguider if it would help. Once the wedge is here, I can see how the Evolution mount performs vs what you're achieving with the SE. I also exchange a 4" F/5.5 refractor (Sharpstar N4) on the Evo for wider-field images which should be more forgiving on alignment and tracking. I'll also check out your other videos on drift alignment in case the ASPA is not good enough which is likely based on your experience.

Awesome, good luck and clear skies!

Hi @1966Publio, in my opinion, the AZEQ6 Pro has more than twice the capacity of the NexStar mount, and would be able to drive the 6SE tube well. I think your guiding precision, and overall stability would be better with the Sky Watcher. As far as drawbacks go? You would have to deal with Meridian flips, but there are software tools can help automate those. CS!

@@Felldisulfide Thank you very much for your reply

@CodaSloth haha, congratulations! Best thing you can do for guiding is really good polar alignment. The guide scope/camera can help quite a bit to make your alignment better through methods like Drift Alignment. If you are using a reducer, then you should get pretty good results with guiding error under 1.8", but ideally closer to 1". Welcome to longer exposure times. Now you're going to need filters! CS!

@Felldisulfide what filters would you recommend. Also, I have been looking at focail reducers. What would you recommend for that as well.

I only have experience with the Celestron f/6.3 reducer, but there are other options, including some unnamed brands, and some more expensive options like the Starizona reducer, which is at least $100 more than the Celestron version. The Celestron reducer is not perfect, and still leaves a bit of lensing. As far as filters go, stay away from cheap light pollution filters. I also have not had much luck with the high-contrast filters when it comes to imaging. Get a good UV/IR Cut filter to start with. UV/IR Cut filters give you most of the broadband spectrum. I leave mine on unless I'm imaging in narrow-band. From there, most people get an Ha filter or a dual band Ha/OIII. Dual band is more expensive, but you can't go wrong with it! There are additional, more expensive filters which are broader than the narrow pass Ha/OIII/SII filters, but still tighten to limit which colours they permit through, such as RGB. I just ordered the Antlia Quad Band filter for the fall galaxies, hoping to use it as an all-in-one broader spectrum filter.

Haha! I tried that a few weeks ago, the tab snapped right off. It was incredibly brittle. I have since used two sided Gorilla tape to add tab-like strips of velcro tape, soft side out, from the outside edge to the inside of the dust cap so that the dust cap slips onto the scope without catching. This has worked out very well.

@@Felldisulfide my c8 has grooves and locks in. I don't know why the 6 would be made like this. Quite a nice setup you have and presentation.

@TornadoCrewStormChasers I've seen that on other Celestron scopes. I thought that the C series and the SE series were basically the same scope with different paint, so I don't understand why they would not put the locking grooves on the 6SE (unless that's a model/year difference?). Anyway, thanks for watching the video and for your comment, I appreciate it!

Hi @GamesofAnunna, great question. Optically, I don't know 100% but I'm fairly certain that the same optical tube is used for the C6, the 6SE, the 6SLT, and the Evo 6" - namely a 6" SCT with StarBright XLT coatings. What this means is that the viewing capacity would likely be the same, and importantly, the tubes come with the same visual back. The difference then is in the mounts. The SLT has the least capable mount, with just 4,000 objects in its go-to database, and only 8lbs weight capacity. You would have a harder time adding a camera to the 6SLT because of this weight limit. This mount is not compatible with the Celestron wedges. Have a look at the following site which does a pretty good job of comparing the different product lines: skiesandscopes.com/celestron-nexstar/ The good news is that the SLT line is supposed to work with CPWI: www.celestron.com/pages/celestron-pwi-telescope-control-software If you are looking for a starter scope which will work for visual, and which you might be able to transfer to a different mount in the future for imaging, the SLT looks like a good option. If you want to start with imaging, and don't mind spending a bit more, the AVX line comes to mind (keeping in the Celestron family). CS!

Thank you for your fast reply and advise. I will look further into it! 👍🏼

Hi @GamesofAnunna, as luck would have it, I came across someone selling a 102GT, which is the Costco version similar to the 102SLT, for 1/5 the retail price of a new scope. I was looking for something with a go-to mount that I could potentially use for visual, and/or rig up with a makeshift wedge to run as a star tracker for my Samyang/Rokinon lens. I can now tell you from experience that the SLT mount is about 1/2 the size of the NexStar SE mount. It feels much more flimsy, and the tripod it comes with is very wobbly and in bad need of reinforcement (something I'm planning on doing). However, on the plus side, it does connect to my laptop. I have tested it with CPWI and my x-box controller, and it works great. If you are still considering the SLT, go see it in person and compare it to the SE before you make a decision! Check out this comparison video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eqqPZdNn3ZeWXXk.html CS!

Hello@@Felldisulfide , Thank you very much! I will think about it! Thank you again for your time and effort!

Hi @24kGanksta, I went through the same thing when I first got my telescope. The hand controller had (and continues to have) an arcane menu, and came with 40k objects I knew nothing about. I might as well have been pressing random buttons. It helps to have a guide to plan out your observing sessions. You can use planetarium apps or online websites like Stellarium: stellarium-web.org/ Personally, I've been using the book Practical Skywatching as it has a section for each constellation along with the catalog designations for all the objects worth seeing within the constellation. www.goodreads.com/book/show/355236.Practical_Skywatching Either way, if you have a list of targets for your observing session, you can then navigate the controller menu to get to objects you know will be visible. Here's a link to a post which contains the menu tree: www.cloudynights.com/topic/509712-nexstar-hand-control-menu-tree/ It goes without saying that you also need to make sure you have your location and time zone, and time set, and your telescope aligned. Here's a helpful guide: www.nexstarsite.com/download/manuals/NexStarHandControlVersion4UsersGuide.pdf I also urge you to check out the @AstroExplorers channel on KZfaq: www.youtube.com/@AstroExplorers He does a great job of explaining the basics of using an 8SE, including connecting to a laptop if you would like to use CPWI to navigate the sky instead. Clear Skies!

Also, the Moon and Jupiter are great viewing targets! Try to find all the lunar mission landing sites, identify all of Jupiter's Galilean moons, or catch the great red spot during its transit times. Apollo Landing Sites: yt3.ggpht.com/dN9xnhQpvJe0kRkdM3bgQhoDIyuk1suBA29xTBTsTKwk_YYyt8w0OFGdvVoZbyld1hewbuY_H69xqQ=s640-c-fcrop64=1,37fe0000c801ffff-nd-v1 kzfaq.info/love/Rh-5HLPZy7AeAdyvUNGaKwcommunity?lb=UgkxnBCjWODqgLqrBZkaHaCEGunFWeTcr-U3

Hopefully you picked up the threads! The 6SE is a great telescope, but the mount is certainly not self-instructing … it took me a few months to figure it out, but boy was I happy when it did work! I did a lot of imaging with it, too, although your limited to maybe 15 second exposures, that was fine with me. Cloudyskies was a great resource for me. Maybe starting with just a startracker and a camera with different lenses is easier, since this is much more forgiving and great fun as well. Thats what I usually use at the moment since my time and the number of clear skies is limited and I can still do some astrophotography.

Reach out to a local astronomy group. I’m sure they’d be happy to coach you on getting more out of your telescope. We have weekly meetings, depending on weather of course, and many people have brought their scopes for help.

They are good value, but if you're interested in astro photography, have a look at what you can fit into your field of view before you commit! Check out Telescopius telescopius.com/telescope-simulator Big scopes which are meant for visual tend also to have very long focal lengths, which is great for tiny galaxies, but will prevent you from fitting in most nebulas! Clear Skies!

Hi @jjmcwill1881, I've been thinking about how to respond to your comment. Alt-Az scopes have been a gateway to astronomy for many people, especially those who were interested in visual before discovering photography. This video is not meant as an endorsement of any one type of telescope over another (good luck stepping into that snake pit), however it is meant to demonstrate that you can do a lot with this type of setup. If you already have a NexStar 6SE, you can certainly get into astrophotography without spending thousands on a new mount as described in this video. Personally, if I were starting out and had the money to spend, I'd think about the 6" Edge HD for a flatter field of view. However, if you're looking for an all around scope with enough light gathering ability to work in light polluted suburbs, a wide enough FOV to get at some interesting nebulae, but also have the focal length and resolving power to capture planets, globulars, planetary nebulae, and galaxies, you'd be hard pressed to find a more cost-effective compact scope than a 6" SCT. Some examples of people who say that it is worth it to do astro photography with alt-az/wedge setups, including NexStar 6SE and 8SE: www.cloudynights.com/topic/744217-altaz-on-a-wedge-works-great/ Old proverb: 'The Person Who Says It Cannot Be Done Should Not Interrupt The Person Doing It' Clear Skies!

Thank you for your comment - that is certainly an option, as is buying a used wedge or making your own.

Good luck, and Clear Skies!