The Celestron Advanced VX 8-inch EdgeHD is a versatile telescope system for intermediate and advanced amateur astronomyists, yet it is small and lightweight enough to be easily transported for domestic observations. An 8-inch aperture is enough to display and photograph all kinds of celestial bodies, and computerized equatorial stabilization is easy to find and track.
Main specifications of CELESTRON ADVANCED VX 8EDGE HD
Visual design: EdgeHD (Schmidt-Casegrain has been improved with additional lens elements)
slot: 203.2 mm (8 inches)
Focal distance: 2032 mm (80 inches)
Focus ratio: f / 10
Lens focal length: 40 mm(50 x)
Total weight of the set: 61 lbs (27.67 kg) (divided into three major transport components)
Mount type: German equatorial line, computerized servo motor
Visually, the EdgeHD system is great and can be successfully combined with any type of camera with the right accessories. The views of Saturn and Jupiter are exciting. Globular clusters collapse into stars. All Messier objects are clearly visible. With trained eyes and dark country skies, you can see galaxies up to 12 degrees. It’s a telescope that you never remove.
This telescope is intended for relatively advanced users, so we are considering it from this perspective. The author has been using the Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD as a key device since 2014 and is familiar with them. As a longtime member of the user community, the author is also known to be credible.
Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD: Design
- EdgeHD optical design is better than Schmidt-Cassegrain
- Lightweight, durable and computer proven
- Interoperability-Other telescopes, other mounts, standard accessories
Celestron’s crown jewel, the Edge HD optics, is an improved Schmidt-Cassegrain lens with additional lens elements, optimized primarily for photography, but visible to the naked eye.
The computerized stand is a combination of Celestron’s NexStar firmware and a German-style equatorial stand whose main axis points to the celestial pole. This provides proper orientation tracking for photography and the ability to use different telescopes on the same mount. For example, our advanced VX mount makes it easy to hold a camera with a telephoto lens instead of EdgeHD. The current version accepts both vixen (narrow) and loosemandi (wide).
The VX Advanced Stabilizer Head is relatively lightweight and rugged compared to its competitors, and won’t easily get damaged or out of tune. The telescope, mounting head and tripod can be easily separated for transportation.
The stand requires 12-14V DC power, which is about 0.5A in most cases and up to 3 or 4A for quick telescope movements. I am using a portable battery pack.
Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD: Performance
- Excellent optical system
- Search for celestial bodies and track them reliably
- Serious deep-sky photography requires a better composition
This is not much different from other well-made 6-10 inch telescopes, as all good telescopes of the same size provide a similar view. However, compared to the traditional Schmidt-Cassegrain, I think EdgeHD will be more noticeable, especially away from the center of the field.
The 40mm eyepiece provides 50 power. This looks low, but is ideal for clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. Celestron expects to buy more lenses, so we recommend two lenses, about 20mm (100x for general purpose) and 10mm (200x for the moon and planets). I was able to use a 5mm (400x) lens on a nearby double star in very quiet air. High quality lenses bring out the best in this precision telescope, so don’t look down on it.
After being set up correctly, the mount will detect celestial bodies within acceptable limits (enough to fit the subject in the field of a 20mm lens) and track them properly. You can select objects on a handheld console, a computer running Celestron’s PWI software, or many other Skymap packages. Stellarium.. Astrophotographers will want to perform PEC training as described in the manual for smoother tracking.
However, for long exposures of nebulae and galaxies, Advanced VX wanted a heavier mount with more accurate gearing and less backlash, as automatic steering and periscopes send consistent mount corrections (and). Eventually moved to it). This is only an issue if the Advanced VX has a telescope of this size. It works very well by carrying a smaller telescope.
Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD: Features
- Computer-aided setup process
- Spectacular views of all kinds of celestial bodies
- Need more lenses (about 20mm and 10mm)
Since Advanced VX is equatorial stabilization, the setup is more than the normal process of automatically centering the two stars pointed to by the telescope.You also need to aim for that polar axis PolarisThen look at the stars and notify the computer on the stand of the error to improve the placement. This process, which Celestron calls “all-star polar alignment,” is easy to use and very accurate, but it requires the identification of bright stars. If the computer tells you to center Enif and Alpheratz is centered, you will get incorrect results. This is the main difference between a tropical mount and a mount that is perfect for beginners.
This is a telescope suitable for seeing all kinds of celestial bodies. You can also attach a camera (smartphoneAnd that DSLRAnd that No mirrorAlso Astral) Moon images, and carefully and skillfully, planets and objects in the deep sky. One of the most satisfying things we’ve done is to shoot thousands of video frames from Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars with an astronomical camcorder and stack them to sharpen them. The eye is to get a much better view than you would get with the same telescope.
This is an extensible system and uses many standard accessories. You will soon need one or two high magnification (short focal length) lenses.
Need to buy a Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD telescope?
This is a fascinating product for serious amateur astronomy who has a deep understanding of both the sky and the telescope. The telescope is as good as it is within the size range you want. The mount works well for everything except long-exposure deep-sky photography, and there’s plenty of room to grow with standard accessories and heavier mounts as needed.
If this product is not suitable for you
If your primary concern is long-exposure astrophotography, skip Advanced VX and get the same telescope with the Celestron CGX or Losmandy GM8 mount (at a fairly high cost).
This is often the case if you are new to astronomy and still not good at recognizing stars. A Celestron NexStar 6 or 8-inch telescope mounted on a fork arm mount that’s easy to carry and set up will give you a very similar view.