Celestron has reinvented the manual telescope with StarSense Explorer, the first telescope that uses your smartphone to analyse the night sky and calculate its position in real time. StarSense Explorer is ideal for beginners thanks to the app’s user-friendly interface and detailed tutorials. It’s like having your own personal tour guide of the night sky.
Leave complicated star charts, imprecise planetarium apps, and computerised mounts behind. With StarSense Explorer, locating objects has never been easier, faster, or more accurate. Within minutes of setting up the telescope, you’ll be navigating the sky with confidence. Simply place your phone in the unique StarSense dock and launch the StarSense Explorer app. After aligning your phone to the telescope’s optics (a quick, 2-minute procedure), StarSense Explorer generates a list of celestial objects currently visible. Make your selection, and arrows appear onscreen, guiding you as you move the telescope. When the object is ready to view, the bullseye turns green.
StarSense Explorer works with most modern smartphones, including iPhone 6 and up and most devices running Android 7.1.2 or later manufactured since 2016.
StarSense Explorer uses patent-pending technology and your smartphone to determine exactly where the telescope is pointed in the night sky. A Lost in Space Algorithm (LISA), like the ones satellites use in orbit to correctly orient themselves, helps the app match star patterns it detects overhead to its internal database.
While other astronomy apps may claim that they can help you find objects, they rely exclusively on the phone’s gyros and accelerometers, which aren’t as accurate as LISA technology. No other app can accurately tell you when your target is visible in the eyepiece.
StarSense Explorer LT’s simple altazimuth mount makes it easy to move the telescope to find your target. An altitude slow motion adjustment with a sliding rod helps you fine tune the telescope’s pointing position and follow targets as they appear to drift across the night sky. It’s all anchored by an adjustable, full-height tripod.
You can expect sharp, bright views through this 70mm refractor. Fully coated glass optics provide increased light transmission, enhancing details in celestial objects. The telescope also includes a 90-degree erect image diagonal, so you can use it during the day to view birds, wildlife, landscapes, and more.
Even if you live in a light polluted city location, StarSense Explorer is advanced enough to be able to pick out Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, the Orion Nebula, double stars, and a few more of the most famous celestial objects.
But if you can take the telescope to an even slightly darker location, more objects will become visible. The entire telescope kit weighs just 7.4 pounds, so it’s perfectly portable and easy to bring on your next camping trip or to a remote observing site.
Features
- Unleash the power of your smartphone to take you on a guided tour of the night sky, no telescope experience required.
- Award-winning and patent-pending StarSense sky recognition technology uses your smartphone to analyse star patterns overhead and calculate its position in real time.
- StarSense Explorer app automatically generates a list of objects currently visible. View planets, brighter nebulae and galaxies, star clusters, and double stars from the city. Or take your telescope to darker skies to view faint, deep sky objects.
- Manual altazimuth mount with altitude slow motion adjustment with a sliding rod makes it easy to follow the onscreen arrows to your desired target. When the bullseye turns green, it’s ready to view in the telescope’s eyepiece.
- 70mm refractor with fully coated glass optics for bright, sharp views.
- Includes 25mm and 10mm eyepieces, 2x Barlow Lens, StarSense smartphone dock, erect image diagonal, a red dot finderscope (in case you want to use the telescope without your phone), and a full-height tripod.
Specifications
Optical Design: Refractor
Aperture: 70mm (2.76")
Focal Length: 700mm
Focal Ratio: f/10
Focal Length of Eyepiece 1: 25mm
Magnification of Eyepiece 1: 28x
Focal Length of Eyepiece 2: 10mm
Magnification of Eyepiece 2: 70x
Barlow Lens: 2x (1.25")
Finderscope: StarPointer red dot finderscope
Star Diagonal: Erect image 90°
Optical Tube: Aluminum
Highest Useful Magnification: 165x
Lowest Useful Magnification: 10x
Limiting Stellar Magnitude: 11.7
Resolution (Rayleigh): 1.99 arc seconds
Resolution (Dawes): 1.66 arc seconds
Light Gathering Power (Compared to human eye): 100x
Optical Coatings: Fully Coated glass optics
Optical Tube Length: 812.8mm
Optical Tube Diameter: 76mm
Optical Tube Weight: 1.63 kg
Dovetail: None
Mount Info:
Mount Type: Manual Alt-Azimuth
Height adjustment range (includes mount and tripod): Aluminium, 1320.8mm max height
Tripod Leg Diameter: 31.75mm steel
Accessory Tray: Yes
Tripod Weight: 1.72 kg
Slew Speeds: Manual
GPS: Uses phone's GPS
Dovetail Compatibility: None
Power Requirements: None (Recommend PowerTank Glow to keep phone charged while using App)
Alignment Procedures: Use StarSense Explorer App
Software: StarSense Explorer App | SkyPortal App | Celestron Starry Night Basic Edition Software
Total Kit Weight: 3.35 kg
Included Items: Optical tube | Mount and tripod (preassembled) | 25mm and 10mm eyepieces | Erect image diagonal | 2x Barlow Lens | StarPointer finderscope | Accessory tray | StarSense Explorer phone dock
Note: Smartphone shown in images is not included.
