Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD Full Telescope Review

Celestron Advanced VX 8-inch EdgeHD is a versatile telescope system for intermediate to advanced amateur astronomers, yet it is small and light enough to be easily transported for Earth 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.

Key specs of CELESTRON ADVANCED VX 8 EDGE HD

Visual design: EdgeHD (Schmidt-Casegrain improved with additional lens elements)

slot: 203.2 mm (8 in)

Focal Length: 2032 mm (80 in)

Focal Length: f/10

Lens focal length: 40 mm (50 x)

Total weight of the set: 61 pounds. (27.67 kg) (divided into 3 main transmission components)

Installation type: German equatorial line, automatic, servo motors

Visually, the EdgeHD system is excellent and with the right accessories it fits well with all types of cameras. Views of Saturn and Jupiter are delightful. Globular clusters decay into stars. All offensive things are clearly visible; With trained eyes 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 to be trustworthy.

Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD: Design

Celestron Advanced VX 8-Inch HD Telescope Mounted Tripod Mask (Photo credit: Michael Covington)

EdgeHD optical design outperforms Schmidt-Cassegrain
Lightweight, durable and computer installed
Interoperability – other telescopes, other frames, standard accessories

The jewel in Celestron’s crown is the EdgeHD optical system, the Schmidt-Casegrain lens is enhanced with additional lens elements, and while the optimization is primarily for photography, we can see it with the naked eye.

The robotic stand combines Celestron’s NexStar firmware with a German-style equatorial stand whose main axis points to the celestial pole. This provides good tracking for photography and the ability to use multiple telescopes on the same mount. For example, our high-end VX mount easily holds a telephoto lens camera instead of an EdgeHD. The current version accepts both vixen (narrow) and loosmandi (wide).

Manual control of the advanced Celestron telescope

Automated benchmark finds orbs, and receives commands from the hand chest or via USB from your computer (Photo credit: Michael Covington)

Compared to competitors, the VX Advanced Mounting Head is relatively light and robust, and is not easily damaged or shed. The telescope, mounting head and tripod can be easily separated for transportation.

The standard requires 12-14 volts DC power, usually around 0.5 amps, to 3 or 4 amps for the times when the telescope is being moved quickly. We are using a portable battery pack.

Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD: Performance

The author looks through the eyepiece on a telescopic celestron

Usually the best view is through the eyepiece, which is about 20 mm in diameter, not the corresponding 40 mm (Photo credit: Michael Covington)

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 delivers a power of 50, which appears low but ideal for star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies. Celestron assumes you’ll buy more lenses, so we recommend two additional lenses, approximately 20mm (100x for general use) and 10mm (200x for the moon and planets). In an exceptionally still sky, we were able to use a 5mm (400x) lens on nearby binary stars. High-quality lenses make the most of this precise telescope, so don’t skimp.

The nebula image is formed next to the telescope setting

The VX Advanced Mount (older version, with aftermarket saddle) can carry both a camera and a telephoto lens for capturing exciting deep-sky photos. (Photo credit: Michael Covington)

When set up properly, the mount finds orbs to be acceptable (good enough to fit the subject within 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 perform PEC training, as detailed in the manual, for smoother tracking.

However, for long exposures of nebulae and galaxies, with automatic control and a periscope sending consistent corrections to the montage, Advanced VX left me wanting (and eventually moving to) heavier montages with more precise acceleration and less backlash. This is only a problem when the Advanced VX carries a telescope of this size. It works well with carrying a smaller telescope.

Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD: Features

A stellar camera connected to the advanced Celestron telescope

Star Camera (Not Included) or DSLR Camera Mounted Instead of Telescope Lens (Photo credit: Michael Covington)

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 stabilizer, the setup is more than a normal process of automatically centering some of the stars that the telescope is pointing at. It should also target its polar axis Polaris, then correct the alignment by seeing the stars and letting the stand computer tell you the errors. This process, which Celestron calls “align all the polar stars,” 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 most suitable for beginners.

An image of Jupiter taken by the Celestron Advanced Telescope

Digitally modified image of Jupiter with 8-inch EdgeHD and stellar camera (previous image). Image processing stands out much more than meets the eye (Photo credit: Michael Covington)

This is a good telescope for viewing all kinds of celestial bodies. You can also use the camera (smart phoneand the DSLRand the no mirroror 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 required and you immediately need one or two lenses of higher power (shorter focal length).

A deep sky object captured by the Celestron Advanced Telescope

Add a rangefinder, autofocus and a good camera and you can get deep sky shots with the telescope, but the Advanced VX’s better stabilization makes it much easier. (Photo credit: Michael Covington)

Should I buy a Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD Telescope?

If you are a serious 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 but 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 much higher cost).

If you are new to astronomy and not yet good at recognizing stars, this can be a lot; You can get very similar images by using Celestron’s NexStar 6 or 8 inch telescope on a fork-arm mount that is easy to carry and set up.

Leofric Averille

“Thinker. Coffeeaholic. Award-winning gamer. Web trailblazer. Pop culture scholar. Beer guru. Food specialist.”

Celestron Advanced VX 8 Edge HD Full Telescope Review

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