Best Telescope for Gadget Lovers: Celestron NexStar Evolution
Hailed “the coolest app-cessory in the galaxy” by Wired.com, NexStar Evolution isn’t just the Best Telescope for Gadget Lovers, it’s a game-changer for amateur astronomy. This Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, available in 6”, 8” and 9.25” apertures, generates its own WiFi network, so you can control it wirelessly using your smartphone or tablet. SkyPortal, Celestron’s free app for iOS and Android, provides an intuitive, user-friendly experience under the stars. In addition to wireless telescope control, it also includes a full-featured planetarium with over 120,000 celestial objects and audio descriptions for hundreds of the most popular planets, galaxies, and nebulae.
As if communicating wirelessly with your phone
wasn’t cool enough, NexStar Evolution offers other enhancements to make
your stargazing experience seamless. It’s the first telescope with a
built-in lithium ion battery with enough juice to power a 10-hour
stargazing marathon. There’s also a USB port so you can tap into the
battery to charge up your mobile device if it’s running low. With
NexStar Evolution on the scene, stargazing will never be the same.
Product Highlights
- 150mm Schmidt-Cassegrain OTA
- 1500mm Focal Length, f/10 Focal Ratio
- StarBright XLT Optical Coating System
- Wireless Control with iOS/Android App
- NexStar Computer Hand Controller
- Motorized and Computerized Fork Mount
- Multiple Automatic Alignment Systems
- 40mm, 13mm Eyepieces, 90° Diagonal
- Adjustable Stainless Steel Tripod
- Rechargeable Battery, up to 10 Hour Runtime
The NexStar Evolution telescopes, including this advanced 6"
f/10, are the first Schmidt-Cassegrain go-to telescopes with integrated WiFi so
you are not tethered to your scope by a hand control on a coiled cord. You can
slew to all of the best celestial objects with a simple tap on your smart phone
or tablet.
Simply connect your smart phone or tablet to your NexStar
Evolution’s built-in wireless network, and you can explore the universe with
Celestron's mobile app for iOS and Android. The app has a database of over
120,000 celestial objects for you to explore, including a specially selected
list of 220 of the best deep sky and solar system objects that you will come
back to enjoy again and again.
You can use the app’s planetarium interface to view the night
sky in real time or to display a list of the best celestial objects that are
visible to you based on your time and location. You can then have your Evolution
6 slew to the object of your choice at speeds of up to four degrees per second,
center it precisely in the eyepiece field, and then track it flawlessly while
you observe and enjoy at your leisure. In addition, Celestron’s proprietary
SkyAlign alignment procedure is built right into the Celestron mobile app, so
you can have your scope set up and ready to observe within minutes. (If you
don’t have a wireless device, or your smart phone or tablet runs out of juice in
the field, a conventional hand control is included so you can still enjoy your
scope.)
Celestron engineers designed the NexStar Evolution 6 based on
years of customer feedback. Its upgraded single fork arm design offers many
thoughtful features that combine to provide you the best possible experience out
under the stars. For example, forget about buying boxes of AA batteries to power
the scope, or a bulky external battery pack. For the first time ever on a
consumer telescope, the NexStar Evolution 6 includes its own built-in
rechargeable lithium-ion battery. You can enjoy stargazing for up to 10 hours on
a single charge, then recharge it at home using the supplied AC adapter. You can
even use your NexStar Evolution’s built-in USB charge port to top off the other
devices in your life that need to stay powered on during an observing
session.
Large, ergonomic handles make setting up your NexStar
Evolution 6 quick and painless. With a total weight of only 35.4 lbs, the
Evolution 6 is easy to transport, whether it's out to the backyard for a quick
half hour of observing or away on an all-night observing session at a distant
dark sky site. The adjustable height stainless steel tripod features lines
etched on the legs to help you achieve a level, uniform height for your
telescope without guesswork. Manual clutches in both altitude and azimuth give
you the flexibility to manually point the telescope when it is powered
off.
You get two quality Plössl eyepieces to give you observing
options right out of the box. If you expand your eyepiece collection, you can
store up to seven eyepieces in the 2 accessory trays, one on the tripod and one
on the telescope drive base. An adjustable brightness red LED in the fork arm
casts a soft red glow onto the accessory tray in the base to make it easier to
select a different eyepiece while observing.
If you’re interested in astroimaging, the 6” NexStar
Evolution 6 is an excellent and very affordable way to get started. It’s the
only fork-mounted telescope in its price range that offers precision worm gears,
along with improved motors, for precise speed control and low periodic error.
With the NexStar Evolution’s good tracking accuracy, you can capture images of
deep-sky objects like the Orion Nebula by simply attaching your DSLR camera. As
you progress in the hobby of astroimaging, you can add an optional wedge for
longer exposures to bring out faint and hidden details in your
astrophotos.
Celestron's time-tested Schmidt-Cassegrain optics and
industry-standard StarBright XLT optical coatings give you the bright, sharp
views Celestron is famous for – making the Evolution 6 a great choice for visual
observers and budding astroimagers alike.
The NexStar Evolution 6 includes built-in wi-fi for cordless
operation, a StarPointer red dot finderscope, two 1.25” Plössl eyepieces (38x
and 115x), a 1.25” prism star diagonal, an AC adapter for powering the scope and
recharging the built-in battery, a computer hand control, and a stainless steel
adjustable height tripod with accessory tray.
| Alignment Procedures |
SkyAlign, 3-Star Align, Solar System Align |
| Aperture |
150 mm |
| Communication Ports |
1 hand control and 3 aux ports for optional accessories |
| Evo App Database |
Over 120,000 including 220 of the best deep sky and solar system objects |
| Finderscope |
StarPointer |
| Focal Length |
1500 mm |
| Focal Length of Eyepiece 1 |
40 mm |
| Focal Length of Eyepiece 2 |
13mm |
| Focal Ratio |
10 |
| HIghest Useful Magnification |
354x |
| Light Gathering Power (Comp... |
459x |
| Limiting Stellar Magnitude |
13.4 |
| Lowest Useful Magnification |
21x |
| Magnification of Eyepiece 1 |
38x |
| Magnification of Eyepiece 2 |
115x |
| Max Slew Speed |
4 degrees per second |
| Mount Info: |
N.A. |
| Mount Type |
Single Fork Arm Altazimuth |
| Optical Coatings |
StarBright XLT |
| Optical Design |
Schmidt-Cassegrain |
| Optical Tube Info: |
N.A. |
| Optical Tube Length |
16 in |
| Power Requirements |
Internal battery included |
| Resolution (Dawes) |
0.77 arc seconds |
| Resolution (Rayleigh) |
0.93 arc seconds |
| Secondary Mirror Obstructio... |
37% |
| Secondary Mirror Obstruction |
2.2 in |
| Star Diagonal |
1.25" |
| Total Telescope Kit Weight |
35.4 lbs |
| Tracking Rates |
Sidereal, Lunar, Solar |
| Tripod |
Stainless steel |
| USB Charge Port |
Yes |
Based on Astronomy magazine’s telescope "report
cards", scopes of this size and type generally perform as follows . .
.
|
Observing terrestrial objects (nature studies, birding, etc.) is
usually possible only with refractor and catadioptric telescopes, and convenient
only when the scope is on an altazimuth mount or photo tripod. Most reflectors
cannot be used for terrestrial observing. Scopes with apertures under 5" to 6"
are generally most useful for terrestrial observing due to atmospheric
conditions (heat waves and mirage, dust, haze, etc.) that degrade the image
quality in larger scopes. | Yes |
Visual observation of the Moon is possible with any telescope.
Larger aperture scopes will provide more detail than smaller scopes, thereby
getting a higher score in this category, but may require an eyepiece filter to
cut down the greater glare from the Moon's sunlit surface so small details can
be seen more easily. Lunar observing is more rewarding when the Moon is waxing
or waning as the changing sun angle casts constantly varying shadows to reveal
craters and surface features by the hundreds. | Great |
| Good |
| Good |
| Good |
| Yes |
Photographing terrestrial objects (wildlife, scenery, etc.) is
usually possible only with refractor and catadioptric telescopes, and convenient
only when the scope is on an altazimuth mount or photo tripod. Most reflectors
cannot be used for terrestrial photography. Scopes with focal ratios of f/10 and
faster and apertures under 5" to 6" are generally the most useful for
terrestrial photography due to atmospheric conditions (heat waves and mirage,
dust, haze, etc.) that degrade the image quality in larger scopes. | Yes |
Photography of the Moon is possible with virtually any telescope,
using a 35mm camera, DSLR, or CCD-based webcam (planetary imager). While an
equatorial mount with a motor drive is not strictly essential, as the exposure
times will be very short, such a mount would be helpful to improve image
sharpness, particularly with webcam-type cameras that take a series of exposures
over time and stack them together. Reflectors may require a Barlow lens to let
the camera reach focus. | Yes |
| Yes |
| Yes |
Celestron NexStar Evolution 6 150mm f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain GoTo Telescope
NexStar+ Hand Control (EQ)
StarPointer Finderscope
13mm Eyepiece
40mm Eyepiece
90° Star Diagonal
Tripod with Accessory Tray
AC Adapter with US, EU, UK, and AU Plugs
Limited 2-Year Warranty
WiFi Tips for NexStar Evolution
Please note the following for the most reliable WiFi connection to the telescope:
Areas
with high WiFi traffic, such as large star parties or crowded public
spaces, can potentially pose difficulties connecting to the telescope.
Additionally, multiple smart devices and multiple WiFi telescopes in the
same area can generate conflicting traffic. Follow these tips to
maintain the most robust connection to your telescope.
- If you experience lag or connection problems in areas with high WiFi traffic -
To minimize possible connection problems in high traffic areas, select a
viewing site with minimal WiFi traffic. Numerous nearby devices with
WiFi enabled can contribute to unwanted WiFi traffic. Disabling WiFi in
nearby devices can improve connectivity to your telescope.
Alternatively, high traffic areas may require the use of the included
NexStar+ hand control instead of the SkyPortal app over WiFi.
- If you experience conflicts when using multiple devices to control a telescope -
If you have multiple smart devices, and have connected to the same WiFi
telescope previously with them, then be careful of both devices
unintentionally communicating to the telescope at the same time. For
example, if you have previously used your smartphone to control the
telescope and later use a tablet to control the same telescope, the
smartphone may interfere with the telescope connection. We recommend
“forgetting” the telescope WiFi network with any smart devices not
currently in use.
- If you experience conflicts when multiple WiFi telescopes are in the same area - If
you are using multiple WiFi telescopes and have connected to them with
your smart device previously, we recommend “forgetting” the other
telescopes/devices not currently in use. This way, you won’t
accidentally connect to the other telescopes/devices. This is especially
useful at a star party where more than one WiFi telescope may be in
range.
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