The Celestron Advanced VX 8-inch EdgeHD is a versatile telescope system for intermediate and advanced amateur astronomers, yet it is small and light enough to be easily transported for land observation. The 8-inch aperture is sufficient for viewing and shooting all kinds of celestial objects, and the computerized equatorial stabilization is easy to find and follow.
CELESTRON ADVANCED VX 8 EDGE HD KEY SPECIFICATIONS
Visual design: EdgeHD (Schmidt-Casegrain enhanced with additional lens elements)
slot: 203,2 mm (8 inch)
Focal Length: 2032 mm (80 inch)
focal length: f/10
Lens focal length: 40mm (50x)
Total weight of the set: 61 pounds. (27.67 kg) (divided into 3 main transport components)
montagetype: German Equatorial Line, Automated, Servo Motors
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Visually, the EdgeHD system is excellent and with the right accessories it fits well with all types of cameras. The views of Saturn and Jupiter are exhilarating. Globular clusters decay into stars. All Messier objects are clearly visible; With a trained eye and a dark rural sky, galaxies up to 12 degrees can be seen. It’s a telescope you can’t get rid of.
Since this telescope is intended for relatively advanced users, we look at it from this point of view. The author has been using Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD as their main equipment since 2014 and knows them very well. As a long-time member of the user community, the author is also known for being trustworthy.
Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD: Ontwerp
- EdgeHD optical design outperforms Schmidt-Cassegrain
- Lightweight, durable and computer proven
- Interoperability – other telescopes, other frames, standard accessories
The jewel in Celestron’s crown is the EdgeHD optical system, an improved Schmidt-Casegrain lens with additional lens elements, and while the improvement is primarily for photography, we can see it with the naked eye.
The automated stand combines Celestron’s NexStar firmware with a German-style equatorial stand whose major axis points to the celestial pole. This provides well-oriented tracking for photography and the ability to use several telescopes on the same mount. For example, our Advanced VX mount easily holds a camera with a telephoto lens instead of an EdgeHD. The current version accepts both vixen (narrow) and loosmandi (wide).
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Compared to competitors, the VX Advanced Mounting Head is relatively light and robust and is not easily damaged or thrown out of tune. The telescope, mounting head and tripod can be easily separated for transport.
The standard requires 12-14V DC power, usually about 0.5 A, to 3 or 4 A for the times when the telescope is moved quickly. We use a portable battery pack.
Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD: Prestaties
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- Excellent optics
- Searches for celestial bodies and follows them reliably
- Serious deep sky photography requires better composition
All good telescopes of the same size will provide similar images, so this is not much different from other well-made 6 to 10 inch telescopes. However, compared to conventional Schmidt-Cassegrains, we think EdgeHD is more pronounced, especially further away from the center of the field.
The 40mm eyepiece offers a power of 50, which seems low but is ideal for star clusters, nebulae and galaxies. Celestron assumes that you will buy more lenses, so we recommend two additional lenses, approximately 20mm (100x for general use) and 10mm (200x for the moon and planets). In exceptionally still sky, we were able to use a 5mm (400x) lens on the nearby binary stars. High-quality lenses make the most of this precision telescope, so don’t skimp.
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When properly set up, the mount finds celestial objects acceptable (good enough to fit the subject in the field of a 20mm lens) and tracks them well. You can select objects on a handheld console, a computer with Celestron’s PWI software, or many other aerial map packages such as stellarium† Astrophotographers will want to do PEC training, as detailed in the manual, for smoother tracking.
However, for long exposures of nebulae and galaxies, with an automatic control and periscope sending consistent montage corrections, the Advanced VX left me wanting (and ultimately moving to) a heavier montage with more accurate acceleration and less backlash. This is only a problem when the Advanced VX carries a telescope of this size. It works very well with carrying a smaller telescope.
Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD: Functies
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- Computer assisted installation process
- Spectacular views of all kinds of celestial bodies
- Needs more lenses (about 20mm and 10mm)
Since the Advanced VX is an equatorial stabiliser, the setup is more than a normal process of automatically centering a few stars the telescope points to. You should also aim for his polar axis Polaris, then correct the alignment by seeing the stars and letting the stand’s computer tell you the errors. This process, which Celestron calls “All-Star Polar Alignment,” is easy to use and impressively accurate, but you need to identify the bright stars. If the computer says to center Enif and you center Alpheratz, you will get incorrect results. This is the main difference between tropical mountains and those that are most suitable for beginners.
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This is a good telescope to view all kinds of celestial objects. You can also use a camera (smartphoneAnd the DSLRAnd the no mirrorof astral) for images of the moon, and carefully and skillfully, the planets and deep sky objects. One of the most satisfying things we’ve done is capture thousands of video frames of Jupiter, Saturn, or Mars with an astronomical video camera, then stack and sharpen them to get a much better view than the human eye can get with the same telescope. †
This is an expandable system, many standard accessories are needed and you immediately need one or two higher power (shorter focal length) lenses.
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Should I Buy a Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD Telescope?
If you are a serious amateur astronomer who has developed a deep understanding of both the sky and the telescope, this is an attractive product. The telescope is as good as you want it to be in its size range. The mount works well for everything except long exposure deep sky photography, and there’s plenty of room to grow with standard accessories and even a heavier mount if needed.
If this product is not suitable for you
If you’re primarily interested in slow exposure astrophotography, skip the Advanced VX and buy the same telescope on a Celestron CGX or Losmandy GM8 mount (at a significantly higher cost).
If you are new to astronomy and not yet good at recognizing stars, this could be a lot; You can get very similar images with Celestron’s NexStar 6 or 8 inch telescope on a fork arm mount that is easy to carry and set up.
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