Is the Celestron NexStar 6SE good for beginners?

Yes, for observing. The GoTo mount finds and tracks the targets for you, and the tube, mount, tripod, finder and eyepiece all come in one box.

Can I do astrophotography with the NexStar 6SE?

You can, but the camera is a separate purchase: a dedicated astronomy camera or a multi-purpose DSLR. At f/10 and 1,500 mm it suits the Moon and planets better than large nebulae.

Should I buy the 6SE new or used?

Either. New gets you the whole kit straight away with nothing to hunt for; a used one takes patience, and what you save can go towards a camera.

Can I fit a HyperStar to the NexStar 6SE?

You can, but a HyperStar can cost more than a whole Sky-Watcher HAC125. For fast f/2 imaging on a budget my recommendation is the HAC125DX.

How heavy is the NexStar 6SE?

Celestron gives 3.6 kg for the optical tube, 5 kg for the mount head and 4.08 kg for the tripod: 12.7 kg for the whole kit.

What comes in the box with the NexStar 6SE?

The optical tube, the single fork arm GoTo mount and tripod, an accessory tray, a StarPointer red dot finder, the NexStar+ hand control, a 25 mm eyepiece giving 60x and a 1.25 inch star diagonal.

Have I used the NexStar 6SE myself?

Yes. The frames in the hand on this page are from my own video with it, at the eyepiece under a very dark sky, and the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn views are from the same video.

What have I not tested on the NexStar 6SE?

I have no deep-sky captures, FITS headers or measurements of my own through the NexStar 6SE: my time with it was at the eyepiece and on the Moon and the planets.

Celestron NexStar 6SE review: quick, assured GoTo views

Where does it rank on our leaderboard

Nine of the 42 telescopes on my board, against price
Rank	Telescope	Stars for Your Buck	Recorded UK price
1	Askar 50P	95 out of 100	£299
2	ToupTek Hope D60	93 out of 100	£749
11	Askar SQA130	82 out of 100	£4,695
17	Askar 80ED	77 out of 100	£379
23	ZWO FF80 APO	73 out of 100	£1,175
24	Celestron NexStar 6SE	72 out of 100	£1,199
36	Nakoh 60GT	52 out of 100	£899
41	Celestron 114 LCM	42 out of 100	£361
42	Celestron AstroMaster LT 76	13 out of 100	£200

Contents

01 Where does it rank on our leaderboard
02 Specifications and features
03 In the hand
04 The Moon and the planets
05 The rig on the mount
06 Watch it in my videos
07 Should you buy it?
08 Questions and more about this review

In 30 seconds

Stars for Your Buck 72/100

Reviewed 5 Nov 2022 Updated 26 Sep 2026

Rank: #24 of 42 telescopes
Verdict: Worth a look

Written by Damon Scotting 3 min read

Buy it if

You want one box that finds and tracks objects for you: tube, GoTo mount, tripod, finder and eyepiece included.
You mainly want to look at the Moon, the planets and bright deep-sky objects through an eyepiece.
You want something quick and assured rather than weeks spent hunting the used market.

Skip it if

You want deep-sky photographs on a £1,000 budget: bought new, it leaves nothing for the camera.
You have time to shop around: a used 6SE, perhaps with accessories included, costs less than new.
You plan to hang a heavy imaging train on it: Celestron rates the single fork arm mount at 5.44 kg, and the tube alone is 3.6 kg.

If you're in search of the simplest but most powerful telescope setup, you'd perhaps be best off with what is almost universally considered the best overall telescope at its price: the Celestron 6SE.

Specifications and features

Against the telescopes I have reviewed

Compare with

Celestron NexStar 6SE reviewed #24 of 42	Celestron C5 #39 of 42	Sky-Watcher Skymax 180 #33 of 42
Recorded UK price	£1,199	£850	£1,021
Stars for Your Buck	72/100	49/100	58/100
Aperture	150 mm	127 mm	180 mm
Focal length	1,500 mm	1,250 mm	2,700 mm
Focal ratio	f/10	f/10	f/15
Optical design	Schmidt-Cassegrain	Schmidt-Cassegrain	Maksutov-Cassegrain
Image circle	1 inch (25.4 mm)	1 inch	1 inch
Back focus	127 mm from rear baffle tube lock ring, native f/10	127 mm (5 in) from the rear baffle tube lock ring	not recorded
Focuser	Manual rear focus knob	Internal moving primary mirror; rear manual focus knob	Moving primary mirror, twist knob
Weight	3.6 kg tube; 12.7 kg kit	2.72 kg	7.8 kg tube
Length	406 mm	330 mm	520 mm
Mount	Computerised alt-azimuth single fork arm, 40,000+ objects	Not supplied	Not supplied
Eyepieces supplied	25 mm (60x)	25 mm Plossl	10 mm and 25 mm
Dew shield	Not supplied	Not supplied	Not supplied
In the box	Tube, SE mount and tripod, accessory tray, StarPointer finder, NexStar+ hand control, 25 mm eyepiece, 1.25 in diagonal	25 mm Plossl, 45 degree diagonal, 6x30 finder, lens covers, carrying case	10 mm and 25 mm eyepieces, 9x50 finder, 2 in diagonal with adaptors, 45 mm dovetail bar

In the hand

The Moon and the planets

The planets and the Moon

The Moon

Date: not recorded
Gear: Celestron NexStar 6SE

I instead turned the telescope to our more local neighbours and got some excellent shots of our moon, Jupiter and a few of its largest moons, as well as the beautiful luminous gem of our solar system, Saturn.

Jupiter

Date: not recorded
Gear: Celestron NexStar 6SE

Saturn

Date: not recorded
Gear: Celestron NexStar 6SE

The rig on the mount

On the JUWEI-17, then on six other mounts

Watch it in my videos

I visited the CLEAREST SKIES on our planet! Here's what I saw... · published 5 November 2022 · 10:21 · Watch on YouTube · 198,922 views, 5,771 likes on 2 Oct 2026

Jump to

5:12 What I saw!
6:12 When I use my telescope
8:00 The Seven Sisters
8:31 Another meteor
8:49 What is this??
9:01 The telescope on the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn

Transcript of the video 397 words · 6 chapters · searchable

Press a time stamp to play from there.

5:54 What I saw!

5:54 Behind me, just over there, that's a volcano. 5:58 I couldn't care less, I really couldn't, because there are far more fascinating things around me right now than a volcano, such as billions of stars. 6:09 I can see literally thousands with my naked eye, and when I use my telescope, I unlock a lot more of our universe.

6:12 When I use my telescope

6:16 And I can see so much more. 6:19 And I cannot tell you how exciting that is. 6:22 I'm going to share with you some of the shots I did take. 6:25 I'll be showing you a live view of what the object looks like through the telescope with just our naked eye to view it. 6:31 And I'm going to be doing this by adjusting the camera settings to best replicate what our eyes can see. 6:36 I'm then going to show you a long exposure image of that same object so you can witness all of the miraculous details present that our own eyes cannot quite make out. 6:47 I have made so many videos during this trip, so if you are interested in learning about astronomy and want to see the adventures involved when trying to capture our cosmos, then subscribe because there is plenty more like this to come.

8:00 The Seven Sisters

8:00 That little cluster of stars just up there is the Seven Sisters and I'm going to be honest from where I live you can barely tell they're seven because the skies are nowhere near as clear as they are here. 8:10 They are crystal clear.

8:31 Another meteor

8:32 See that one? 8:34 That's another meteor which has gone past.

8:49 What is this??

8:49 I'm in disbelief because there were so many more stars visible than you can see in these clips. 8:54 I remember looking up and thinking that there were more stars than you could possibly count in one night. 9:00 It was beautiful.

9:01 The telescope on the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn

9:01 For the last three nights of the trip, the moon washed away the majority of stars, meaning instead of imaging stars, nebulae and galaxies, I instead turned the telescope to our more local neighbours and got some excellent shots of our moon, Jupiter and a few of its largest moons, as well as the beautiful luminous gem of our solar system, Saturn. 9:29 In fact, thanks to one Spanish lady's lack of spatial awareness during an astronomy talk, I even got an amazing view of Uranus. 9:43 You normally have to pay a lot of money for a view like that.

Check out more videos on the Celestron NexStar 6SE

What YOU can SEE with a $1000 Telescope?!

29 May 2024

This COULD have been the BEST Telescope EVER?!

28 Nov 2024

Is this the BEST Telescope to buy for under £300?

19 Nov 2024

Should you buy it?

72/100 Stars for Your Buck

Pros

“I think most amateur astrophotographers will agree that this is a far more suitable scope for beginner astronomers.”
“When I use my telescope, I unlock a lot more of our universe, and I can see so much more.”
It is the simplest powerful setup in one box: a 150 mm Schmidt-Cassegrain, GoTo mount, tripod, StarPointer finder, 25 mm eyepiece and diagonal.
The GoTo mount finds and tracks objects for you from a database of more than 40,000, with no star-hopping to learn.
The tube is 406 mm long and 3.6 kg on a Vixen-style dovetail, and the whole kit breaks down into pieces of 5 kg or less.

Cons

Bought new, it uses up a £1,000-class budget and leaves no room for a camera.
At f/10 and 1,500 mm it is a slow, narrow-field optic for deep-sky photography, on an alt-azimuth fork mount built for observing.
No dew shield is supplied, and Celestron publishes no back focus or image circle.
The mount runs on eight AA batteries, not included, or a 12 V supply bought separately.

If you're looking for something quick and assured, buy this.

Who the NexStar 6SE is for

Complete beginner who wants to observe

Buy

The 6SE is the quick, assured choice: one box, and the GoTo mount finds and tracks the targets for you.

Moon and planet observer

Buy

A 150 mm aperture at 1,500 mm focal length is made for close views of the Moon and planets; the supplied 25 mm eyepiece gives 60x.

Bargain hunter with time to shop

Skip

Skip buying new: a used 6SE with accessories included offsets some of the cost.

Deep-sky imager on a £1,000 budget

Skip

My recommendation is the Seestar S50 Pro, with its camera and mount built in, for under £1,000.

Fast-imaging fan eyeing a HyperStar

Skip

A HyperStar alone can cost significantly more than a Sky-Watcher HAC125. My recommendation for f/2 imaging is the HAC125DX.

Owner of an 8 inch SCT

Skip

Stay with what you have: the 6SE is the same design with less aperture.

Three alternatives I have reviewed

Questions and more about this review

Reviewed by

Damon Scotting

The Telescope Man Verified

BSc (Hons) Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology, Loughborough University PGCE / QTS, University of Nottingham

About Damon About Damon Damon Scotting is The Telescope Man. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics with Astrophysics and Cosmology from Loughborough University and a PGCE with QTS from the University of Nottingham, and taught physics in secondary schools before becoming an astronomy creator. He is a contributing writer for BBC Sky at Night Magazine and the author of 42 Wonders of Our Night Sky, and his photograph of the galaxy M100 with the dwarf planet Ceres was Highly Commended in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2024 competition run by Royal Observatory Greenwich. He has appeared on the BBC's Blue Peter. More than 750,000 people follow his astronomy channels on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, and he has reviewed more than 140 telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters and accessories hands-on for this site. More about Damon · How I test · Damon's book

I review all kinds of gear: most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way. How this site is funded

Eight questions, answered

Questions about the Celestron NexStar 6SE

Reviewed 5 November 2022 ·Updated 26 September 2026

I review all kinds of gear. Most of it I buy, some is gifted and some is loaned, and all of it is reviewed the same way: no company sees or approves a review before it is published. Shop links marked Ad are affiliate links: I earn a commission when you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. How this site is funded

Is the Celestron NexStar 6SE good for beginners? Yes, for observing. The GoTo mount finds and tracks the targets for you, and the tube, mount, tripod, finder and eyepiece all come in one box. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Can I do astrophotography with the NexStar 6SE? You can, but the camera is a separate purchase: a dedicated astronomy camera or a multi-purpose DSLR. At f/10 and 1,500 mm it suits the Moon and planets better than large nebulae. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Should I buy the 6SE new or used? Either. New gets you the whole kit straight away with nothing to hunt for; a used one takes patience, and what you save can go towards a camera. Watch it in my videos ↓
Can I fit a HyperStar to the NexStar 6SE? You can, but a HyperStar can cost more than a whole Sky-Watcher HAC125. For fast f/2 imaging on a budget my recommendation is the HAC125DX. Watch it in my videos ↓
How heavy is the NexStar 6SE? Celestron gives 3.6 kg for the optical tube, 5 kg for the mount head and 4.08 kg for the tripod: 12.7 kg for the whole kit. The rig on the mount ↓
What comes in the box with the NexStar 6SE? The optical tube, the single fork arm GoTo mount and tripod, an accessory tray, a StarPointer red dot finder, the NexStar+ hand control, a 25 mm eyepiece giving 60x and a 1.25 inch star diagonal. The specifications and the comparison table ↓
Have I used the NexStar 6SE myself? Yes. The frames in the hand on this page are from my own video with it, at the eyepiece under a very dark sky, and the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn views are from the same video. In the hand ↓
What have I not tested on the NexStar 6SE? I have no deep-sky captures, FITS headers or measurements of my own through the NexStar 6SE: my time with it was at the eyepiece and on the Moon and the planets. The specifications and the comparison table ↓