| I originally ordered the Nexstar 80 GT because I wanted to see the bands of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn during winter of 2001-2 while those planets were high and bright. Before it shipped, an astronomer friend suggested that I save [price] on a 5" or 8" scope by not buying that one. So I bought the Nexstar 5 instead. Overall, I am very happy with it, but now I wish that I had saved [price] on an 8" or 10" scope by not buying the 5". With the Nexstar 5 and [price] worth of accessory filters and lenses, I see clearly five or six bands of Jupiter, I watch the four largest moons change positions as they orbit, but cannot see the moons' shadows on the face of the planet. On a clear, still night I can just distinguish the red spot. Saturn is beautiful, but I cannot make out separate rings, they blur into one. I see the Great Andromeda Nebula as an indistinct splotch of light. My favorite targets are, by far, the sun and moon. With proper filters (mandatory for solar observing) I can see sunspots, but solar flares require another very expensive filter. The moon is spectacular through this scope; I can easily see many interesting features of craters and mare. These are just my observations and not meant to criticize the scope - it does exactly what it is capable of doing. While it does seem logical to spend your money on optics, until you become an expert skywatcher, the Nexstar goto and tracking features are a must. The sun, moon, and planets move so quickly across the sky that without some type of tracking system they quickly exit the field of view. Without the goto features it would be impossible for moderately experienced observers to point the scope at, say the Christmas Tree Nebula (never mind whether you can actually see anything once it gets there). The Nexstar does indeed have an internal database of 18,000 objects and 17,995 of them are either invisible or nondescript points of light - but that does not mean that they are not worth pointing the scope at. Astronomy is an expensive addiction. Even those who use the Hubble space telescope would prefer a bigger and better scope. So in summary, buy this scope if it is what you can afford, otherwise do your homework and then buy a more expensive one. |
