Celestron NexStar SLT 5 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain

Have you always wanted to look at celestial objects with a comfortable telescope at the touch of a button? Celestron’s Star Locating Telescopesallow you to do so at an incredible price! They have built-in GoTo computer control with SkyAlign technology, German menu navigation and extensive database – all at an excellent price/performance ratio. With these telescopes you will find any celestial object of your choice immediately and without prior knowledge! Planets, comets, galaxies, comets – all just a keystroke away. A huge spectrum of observable celestial objects is available to you, and the computer will independently suggest what can be observed at the moment if you wish. The ready-to-use assembled tripod and the quick couplings for the connection to the fork mount as well as for the optical tube at the fork head allow an assembly in a few minutes – without any tools! All you have to do is extend the tripod to a comfortable height, screw the mount to the tripod, secure the telescope via the quick release of the prism rail and insert an eyepiece – done.

The NexStar 5″ SLT – The planet hunter for visual observationsn and photography

The NexStar 5″ SLT comes with a 5″ Schmidt-Cassegrain tube. The NexStar 5″ SLT is Celestron’s smallest Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. It is compact and collects a lot of light at the same time, so faint objects appear brighter and more conspicuous in the eyepiece. Provided the sky is dark, for example, all objects of the Messier catalog are clearly visible – this list contains over 100 of the most beautiful objects for amateur telescopes. Near cities, fog filters like UHC filters help to block out stray light from cities. The telescope has the 1.25″ connector common in astronomy. Thus, all common astronomical 1.25″ eyepieces (plug-in dimension: 31.7mm) can be used. The tube has the standard SC thread of the large Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes, so a wide range of accessories can be connected. The Celestron T-Adapter for C5/C6/C8/C925/C11 and C14, available separately, can also be used to connect SLR cameras and numerous other accessories, turning the telescope into a 1250mm telephoto lens. The T-thread is a standard through which almost any accessory can be connected – from a reflex camera to a binocular attachment.

Ideal for visual observers

The SLT mount is a single arm azimuthal mount. It is optimized to be quickly deployable and easily transportable. Unlike the classic parallactic mount, you do not have to align the telescope to north, adjust the polar altitude or carry counterweights. The mount is simply set up horizontally, and after alignment (which simply involves setting any three bright stars), the computer automatically takes care of moving the telescope to the desired objects and keeping them in the eyepiece: The automatic tracking independently compensates for the Earth’s rotation. This makes the SLT telescopes ideal for anyone who wants to observe the night sky themselves: Quickly ready for use and with all the necessary comfort. But this does not mean that you have to give up photography: Lunar photography with an SLR camera or planetary photography with a video camera like the Celestron NexImage 5 are also possible with the azimuthal SLT mount. A T2 thread is integrated into the 1.25″ reducer. You can also take pictures directly through the eyepiece using a smartphone adapter. However, for the photography of deep sky objects you need a parallactic mount, only this way the necessary long exposure times can be realized. The standardized prism clamp allows you to place your telescope on a suitable mount with quick coupling according to Celestron or Vixen standard at any time.

Extensive star catalogs and TOUR function for the overview

The hand controller contains a database with over 4,000 objects. Among them are, of course, the planets of the solar system as well as countless galaxies, gas nebulae, star clusters and interesting stars. The choice is difficult for you? Then use the TOUR mode, which shows you a selection of the most beautiful objects every evening and explains them in German script on the display.

SkyAlign – setup without sky knowledge.

The NexStar SLT mount has motors with encoders in both axes and a hand controller with 4,000 objects in the database. To initialize computer control, all you have to do is enter the time and location (selectable from database) into the hand controller and move to any three bright celestial objects – no matter which ones, you don’t even have to know them! Now the mount knows what the sky above it looks like, and it will steer to any other object at the push of a button.

Expandable for state-of-the-art technology – high value retention

If the SkyAlign is still too complicated for you, you can always expand the telescope. With the optional Celestron SkySync GPS module you save the input of date, time and observation location. Via the GPS satellites, this data is automatically taken over by the telescope. Can it be even more comfortable? The SLT telescopes are compatible with the StarSense module. Behind this is a small camera that is mounted on the telescope and with which the telescope orients itself fully automatically in the sky – without GPS. With StarSense, all you have to do is set up the telescope, turn it on, and wait about three minutes. Since StarSense is compatible with all modern, computer-controlled Celestron telescopes, you can continue to use it if you ever get a larger telescope – StarSense also works with observatory-class telescopes. This means that a NexStar SLT telescope can be updated at any time if there are technical innovations – this ensures that your telescope retains its value!

Control via PC and smartphone

Like all Celestron NexStar telescopes, the NexStar SLT can be controlled via PC. All you need is the USB cable. You can then control the telescope from a Windows PC via the NexRemote software or the widely used ASCOM interface. But the SLT telescopes also support wireless control! Using the optional SkyPortal WLAN adapter, you can control the telescope wirelessly – either via a Windows PC or via smartphone/tablet (with the optional SkyPortal planetarium program for iOS and Android). So you don’t need to take a laptop with you to your observing nights, an iPhone is enough and you have a modern graphical telescope control in addition to the hand controller, whose large buttons can be operated even with thick gloves. All options are open to you!

Sophisticated mount

The mount of the Celestron NexStar SLT telescopes is a solid azimuthal single arm mount that can be set up without tools. Due to the large, easy-grip screws, this is also possible with gloves. The sturdy steel stand has a storage plate for accessories and a holder for the hand control box. The SLT mount supports instruments up to approx. 4 kg dead weight, depending on the design. This allows, for example, lens telescopes with an aperture of up to approx. 10 cm or reflecting telescopes with an aperture of up to approx. 13 cm to be mounted in a stable manner. The clamp on the arm of the mount fits any standardized Vixen (V) dovetail and holds it securely. A circular bubble integrated into a tripod leg facilitates set-up.

Power supply

The computer control system is, of course, dependent on electricity. The mount offers several possibilities for power supply: Either via eight commercially available AA batteries if you want to be completely independent, or via an optional connection cable for the cigarette lighter socket of a car or via an optional power supply unit. The battery compartment integrated into the mount avoids cable clutter and allows maximum mobility.

Future-proof

The NexStar-SLT mount can not only be used with the included telescope, but also with many other telescopes or spotting scopes due to the standard prism clamp. Thanks to the hand controller, which can be updated via the Internet, you can always keep the software up to date, and upgrade to the latest technologies such as SkyQ Link or StarSense at any time via the AUX connection. The telescope can also be used on many other mounts via the standard dovetail rail, for example if you want to do deep sky photography one day. A computerized Celestron telescope has everything you need to get started right away – while keeping all your options open for the future.