Editorial Reviews : The NexStar 80 GT offers a wide field of view with an 80mm aperture. This wide field of view explorer is good for locating large areas of the sky, or land viewing. It is capable of capturing the largest deep-sky objects. It features a short tube 400mm focal length refractor and comes with two magnification eyepieces (16x and 40x). The 3.1-inch diameter will provide views that are 80 percent brighter than 60mm telescopes, allowing you to go deeper into sky viewing. Finding objects couldn't be easier with the Star Pointer finderscope which is designed so you can point the telescope while scanning the sky with both eyes.
Perhaps the best feature of all is the 'go-to' hand control that can be mounted on the fork arm for hands-free operation. The hand control is fully computerized, allowing it to take you on a guided tour of the most spectacular objects visible. It has red back-illuminated buttons that help retain your night vision. It's easy to use and at the touch of a button the NexStar 80 GT will go to stars or celestial bodies of your choice, change motion rate, get information on an object, or simply tell if an object is visible.
The NexStar's catalog contains over 4,000 celestial objects all categorized in an extremely organized fashion. Here is an example of the actual text from the telescope's database as it describes M87: 'Elliptical galaxy equal in size to 790 billion solar masses. More than 1,000 globular clusters are known to surround this galaxy and it is believed to have a giant black hole at its center. Distance: 50 million light years.' The NexStar 80 GT also comes with a sturdy, preassembled, adjustable aluminum tripod as well as The Sky, Level 1 CD-ROM software.
Buyer Reviews : The only reason this product does not get five stars is due to the fact that it is still a 'beginner' model and the customer should not expect to see crisp detail in far away novas or brilliant color in the gas bands of the Gas Giants. HOWEVER, for... this telescope is one of the best bargains currently on the market. For one, it bears the top name in the business: Celestron. This is not you Home Shopping Network bargain basement model. Secondly, it come equipped with a computerized database of pre-set star coordinates that (once aligned) the telescope can point itself to with the push of a button. Finally, although (as previously stated) you won't get to see images that look like pages out of Astronomy Magazine, you will clearly see at least 4 of Jupiters moons, the rings of Saturn, the Orion Nebula, and a host of other objects that the average stargazer misses out on. On top of all of this, this telescope is mind-boggling easy to assemble. If it takes you more than 5 minutes out of the box to have it up and running, then you should probably consider a tutor of some sort. All in all, the 80 GT is a spectacular buy.
(by James Alford)
Features/Technical Specs : * 400mm focal length, with a 3.25-degree wide field of view * 2 eyepieces (16x and 40x) * Observe immediately with the computerized auto align feature * Automatic slewing to over 4,000 celestial objects * Common sense menu descriptions
