StarSense Explorer

StarSense Explorer

Type
Inventor
Inception
Manufacturer
Available	Yes
Website

Search StarSense Explorer on Amazon.

StarSense Explorer is a series of manually operated amateur telescopes made by the American company Celestron. Each telescope carries a dock that holds the user's smartphone, and an accompanying app uses the phone's camera to work out where the telescope is pointed by plate-solving images of the sky. The app then displays on-screen arrows that guide the user to push the telescope by hand toward a chosen object, a "push-to" approach rather than a motorized GoTo system. The line was introduced in January 2020 with four models and has since grown to include refractors, Newtonian reflectors, Schmidt–Cassegrains, tabletop reflectors and Dobsonians up to 12 in (300 mm) in aperture.

History

Celestron announced the StarSense Explorer on January 6, 2020, around the CES 2020 trade show. The company said the project had been developed in secret for more than two years, and it promoted the product as the first consumer telescope to bring the kind of sky-recognition technique used at professional observatories to an affordable instrument, using the camera hardware already present in smartphones. Four models were available at launch, among them the DX 130AZ, a 130 mm (5.1 in) reflector priced at US$399.95; refractor versions were also offered. The initial range comprised two smaller "LT" models and two larger "DX" models. Celestron chief executive Corey Lee described it as the industry's first smartphone-driven telescope able to locate objects automatically.

The series was later extended to full-size Dobsonian reflectors, beginning with 8-inch and 10-inch models announced on May 4, and subsequently a 12-inch model, which European retailers listed from late 2023. Tabletop Dobsonians with 114 mm (4.5 in), 130 mm (5.1 in) and 150 mm (5.9 in) mirrors, and a 5-inch Schmidt–Cassegrain on the DX mount, were also added.

Technology

Plate solving

The StarSense Explorer app runs on a user-supplied phone held in the StarSense dock. A mirror in the dock reflects a view of the sky into the phone's rear camera; the user first performs a short one-time alignment so that the camera's field matches what the telescope's eyepiece shows.

The app then captures images, extracts the pattern of stars in them and matches the pattern against a catalogue to determine the coordinates at the centre of the frame, a process known as plate solving. According to Celestron, this makes the phone a self-contained plate-solving system, and because the app re-solves every time the telescope is moved, no star alignment is needed at the start of a session. Celestron describes StarSense Explorer as the first smartphone app to use plate solving to find its pointing position, and states that the technology is patented. Retailer material names the matching method a "Lost in Space Algorithm" (LISA). The system does not require a Wi-Fi or cellular connection.

Guidance

Once the user selects a target, the app shows arrows indicating which way to move the telescope; when a bullseye on screen turns green, the object should be visible in the low-power eyepiece. The app generates a list of objects currently visible from the user's location and includes descriptions of them. Reviewers have noted that the telescopes remain entirely manual: the phone determines position but nothing drives the mount, and every model can also be used without the app by means of the included red-dot finder.

App and compatibility

Celestron developed the app together with Simulation Curriculum, the maker of the SkySafari planetarium software. Later product listings refer to the software as "StarSense Explorer Powered by SkySafari". Each telescope ships with an unlock code that activates the app. At launch the app supported the iPhone 6 and later and Android 7.1.2 or later; by 2025 retailers listed higher minimum requirements for newer versions, such as an iPhone XR or later running iOS 18 and Android 12.

Models

Models are grouped by mount type. "LT" models use a lighter altazimuth mount and "DX" models a sturdier one with slow-motion controls. Model availability varies by region.

Model	Optical design	Aperture	Mount
LT 70AZ	Refractor	70 mm (2.8 in)	LT altazimuth
LT 80AZ	Refractor	80 mm (3.1 in)	LT altazimuth
LT 114AZ	Newtonian reflector	114 mm (4.5 in)	LT altazimuth
LT 127AZ	Newtonian reflector	127 mm (5.0 in)	LT altazimuth
DX 102AZ	Refractor	102 mm (4.0 in)	DX altazimuth
DX 130AZ	Newtonian reflector, 650 mm (26 in) focal length, f/5	130 mm (5.1 in)	DX altazimuth
DX 5"	Schmidt–Cassegrain	127 mm (5.0 in)	DX altazimuth
114mm Tabletop	Newtonian reflector	114 mm (4.5 in)	Tabletop Dobsonian
130mm Tabletop	Newtonian reflector, f/5	130 mm (5.1 in)	Tabletop Dobsonian
150mm Tabletop	Newtonian reflector	150 mm (5.9 in)	Tabletop Dobsonian
8" Dobsonian	Newtonian reflector, parabolic mirror	203 mm (8.0 in)	Dobsonian
10" Dobsonian	Newtonian reflector, parabolic mirror	254 mm (10.0 in)	Dobsonian
12" Dobsonian	Newtonian reflector, 1,500 mm (59 in) focal length, f/4.9	305 mm (12.0 in)	Dobsonian

A "Lunar Edition" DX 100AZ refractor has also been sold.

Reception

The series received an IHS Markit ShowStoppers CES 2020 Innovation Award and two 2019 International Design Awards in education categories.

Reviewers generally praised the system's ease of use for beginners. Space.com gave the DX 130AZ four out of five stars, citing its approachable interface and the quality of its views, and Droid Life wrote that the system made astronomy considerably more accessible. BBC Sky at Night liked the app's spoken descriptions of objects and observing advice, but cautioned that, contrary to the impression given by marketing, the telescope does not align or move itself, and found that the DX tripod obstructed pointing near the zenith. T3 similarly remarked that aiming the beginner-oriented telescope was an entirely manual task.

Assessments of the optics differed between models. Live Science ranked the DX 130AZ among the better instruments in the range, along with the Dobsonians and Schmidt–Cassegrains, while considering the DX 102 refractor only acceptable and the smallest refractors of limited use. A review of the 10-inch Dobsonian on Telescopic Watch was favourable but observed that it shares most of its components with the Sky-Watcher 10-inch Classic Dobsonian and offers few extras beyond the StarSense technology for its price.

See also

• Celestron
• Amateur astronomy
• Plate solving
• Dobsonian telescope
• GoTo (telescopes)

External links

• Official website

---