Celestron NexStar 8SE Computerized Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope Expired

Only if you actually know you want to do stargazing in a more serious way. A good pair of 10x50 binoculars ($100-$400) is where beginners should start, then hook up with your local astronomy club and learn all the details from them, probably spending 6+ months BEFORE getting any scope at all.

Most of the time, we go to our local astronomy club outings with just our binoculars. Learning the constellations, finding them in the sky can take practice. Seeing all the setup, and tuning each of the different telescopes require, learning about maintaining night-vision, etc. There a many details beyond just spending your money and pointing up from your back porch if you want a successful viewing period.

I have to drive 45 minutes to get away from the metro area light pollution and I'm already 30 minutes away from the city center traveling at speed limits. https://www.cleardarksky.com/ is a tool to check your local areas for the best places and clear sky forecast.

There are some binoculars that go on sale with larger apertures and higher focus, but to use those, you'll want a tripod. Celestron almost always as 12x70 and 20x80 binoculars on sale for sub-$100. Too much magnification to use without a stable platform.

$1100 for a maybe hobby (maybe you will enjoy it?) seems a little pricey, unless you are single and pulling in $150K+/yr. If you KNOW you are interested, that's a different decision completely.

I saw some Nikon 10x50 Aculon A211 binoculars for $120 a few days ago. Sealed, BaK-4 glass, and porro prism design. Small enough for multiple uses. If you plan to use eye glasses with these, maybe a different brand would be a better choice due to the 0.46-inch/11.8mm of eye relief; you'd need something with at least 15mm. Just a consideration. There are mounts for cameras and cell phones, but these feel weaker than I'd like, but they do work once you get them lined up. Basically, the mount is infinitely configurable.

Bought this scope 4 years ago, here are my reccomendations:

A dirt cheap Litium Ion battery that puts out 12V power. You can find these on amazon. Velcro that sucker to the side of your fork on your tripod. DO NOT use the AA battery compartment that the scope has and DO NOT waste your money on celestron's super overpriced batteries. If you try to align with the AA batteries, it will likely fail, even if your batteries are brand new. Ask me how I know.

Celestron's focal length reducer and field corrector. This is a pricier accessory but 100% worth it IMO. The problem is that the focal length of SC telescopes is super long due to the way the light has to bounce back and forth so many times in the tube. This means that your FOV will be very narrow compared to most other telescopes. I put the reducer on my scope and it stays there almost all of the time.

32mm eyepiece. I find this as the sweet spot for wide views at reasonable prices. This is by far my most used eyepiece. I went with the Celestron Omni series.

Higher magnification eyepiece for planetary viewing. Personally I went with the Celestron 8-24mm zoom, but could just as easily get one of more fixed eyepieces in the 8-12mm range.

I find an eyepiece with a laser reticle highly useful for getting a perfect alignment. Got a 24mm no-name one on amazon for dirt cheap and use it every time I pull out my scope.

1.25" variable polarizing eyepiece filter, for moon viewing, that sucker is so damn bright!

Celestron dew shield. At least here in the southeast USA, an absolute requirement due to humid conditions.

Some of those little vibration dampening pads to put under the feet of the tripod, especially when I set up on hard surfaces, sidewalk, etc.

Extra button batteries for your red dot laser and laser reticle eyepiece. Alignment becomes nigh impossible without your star finder.

What NOT to buy:

Celestron's wifi adapter. I got this thinking it would simplify alignment. IT DID NOT. I can't explain why but the alignment fails more often than not when I use the wifi adapter. Once you get good at the regular alignment procedure, it's not that hard anyways. AFTER alignment is done, the wifi / phone app works ok for go-to functionality, but IMO not worth the price if you can't use for alignment.

Celestron's adapter to use your phone to capture images through the eyepiece. I think I got this for practically free somehow but not worth the hassle and images suck, as expected. This scope is really best suited for visual observation anyways.

Again, AA batteries to power your scope (won't work well) or overpriced brand-name battery packs (waste of money, IMO).

If you buy this, expect it to rain everyday for the weeks following the arrival of your new telescope. It's just the way it works.