Celestron's NexStar 4SE 125mm f/13 Maksutov-Cassegrain GoTo Telescope is a powerful, versatile, and user-friendly catadioptric-style scope that can be used for observing everything from the moon and planets to bright deep-sky objects like stars, galaxies, and nebulae. Using Celestron's proprietary StarBright XLT multicoating system, light transmission is increased throughout the entire optical path with anti-reflection multicoated lenses, highly reflective multicoated mirrors, and crown optical glass elements. Similar to their Schmidt cousins, the Maksutov design exchanges the conventional front corrector plate with a convex meniscus lens, which results in a smaller secondary mirror—limiting obstruction and increasing contrast, while eliminating the need for periodic collimation. While the focal ratio is a relatively slow f/13, the scope's optical performance, added to the mount's precision tracking system and integrated equatorial wedge, allows it to be a competent astrophotography/imaging platform for the moon and planets.

Driving the dual servo motors on the mount is the brain of the NexStar 4SE: the iconic NexStar+ computer hand controller. Packed with 40,000+ celestial objects, it can hold up to 100 additional user-defined destinations and is updatable via the Celestron website. It has multiple alignment procedures to get you observing fast—including the super-easy SkyAlign system. Capable of being used in the Northern or Southern Hemispheres, the NexStar has sidereal, lunar, and solar tracking speeds to accurately follow near- and deep-sky objects, plus nine slew speeds and the ability to automatically trigger a camera's shutter release for Fastar or piggyback wide-field photography or conventional prime-focus astrophotography.