Tired of having to align your Celestron go-to telescope on the sky each night? Let the Celestron StarSense auto alignment retro-fit kit take care of it for you. Just turn it on and watch it go to work. In three minutes you will be aligned and ready to observe.
The unique Celestron StarSense brings the same advanced automatic alignment technology found in the award-winning Celestron SkyProdigy telescopes to almost all of Celestron's computerized scopes and mounts.
Before StarSense, using a computerized telescope required an often lengthy alignment process of identifying, finding, and centering at least two bright stars in the telescope's eyepiece. But StarSense allows you to simply turn on your Celestron scope and let it automatically identify the stars needed to align the telescope on the sky. It takes only about three minutes for the Celestron StarSense to align your telescope for go-to observing of the 45,178 accessible celestial objects in its database - without your needing any prior knowledge of the night sky. With this one-of-a-kind accessory, you become an instant astronomer - even if you've never used a telescope before.
The Celestron StarSense consists of a small digital camera that attaches to your Celestron telescope's optical tube, along with a new specialized StarSense hand control that replaces your scope's existing hand control and adds new functions to your telescope. The camera uses a high sensitivity, low noise 1.2 megapixel CMOS sensor with 3.75 micron square pixels. It images through a fully multi-coated 20mm f/2 doublet objective lens.
The integrated StarSense camera uses advanced multi-point mount modeling to take a series of images of different parts of the sky. Using up to 10 stars as reference points, StarSense compares those images against its internal database of over 40,000 celestial objects. It uses these images to identify star patterns to determine your telescope's position in relation to the sky so the scope's StarSense hand control can take you on your nightly sight-seeing tour of the heavens.
The StarSense is controlled by a dual-core 32-bit CPU running an embedded operating system. The new hand control has a red back lit four line LCD. For increased pointing accuracy when imaging, you can add up to ten calibration reference points using a plate-solving database of 40,000+ stars.
Just attach the StarSense to your telescope (in place of your existing finderscope or using the mounting holes for a second finder found on most 8" and larger scopes) and push the Align button on the hand control. Your scope will start slewing to different parts of the sky, stopping periodically to take an image and compare it to the StarSense internal database. In about three minutes, StarSense gathers enough information to triangulate its position and align itself on the sky so you can begin imaging or go-to observing. If you have no particular object to observe in mind, simply press the Sky Tour button on the hand control and StarSense automatically slews your scope to all of the best stars, planets, galaxies, and more that are visible that night, based on your exact time and location.
The lightweight and compact StarSense has two brackets to mount it in place of the finderscope on most non-SCT optical tubes (refractors, reflectors, etc.) or in the second set of finder holes at the one o'clock position on the rear cell of most Celestron SCT optical tubes. A cable attaches the StarSense to the new supplied StarSense hand control on your scope. The StarSense has user-upgradable firmware and a USB 2.0 connection to let you download upgrades from Celestron's website.
The Celestron StarSense works with most existing Celestron computerized telescopes and mounts. It will not work with other brands of scopes. Compatible go-to Celestron scopes and mounts include: the NexStar SE series, all NexStar Evolutions, all CPC and CPC DX, all CG-5 Advanced Series scopes and mount (with CG-5 Aux Splitter), Advanced VX series scopes and mount, all CGEM, CGEMII, and CGEM DX scopes and mounts, all CGE and CGE Pro scopes and mounts, all CGX and CGX-L scopes and mounts, and all NexStar SLT and LCM scopes.
You will need an optional and inexpensive Auxiliary Port Splitter #93919 for the older NexStar GT and current LCM series scopes and for the CG-5 mount and scopes on a CG-5 mount. The StarSense will not work with the NexStar i, NexStar GPS, Ultima 2000, and older generation Compustar scopes.
Tech Details:
Lens Diameter:
40mm (1.57")
Battery:
1x CR2032 (included)
Mounting Brackets Included:
1x Large Schmidt-Cassegrain | 1x Small Schmidt-Cassegrain | 1x Small Telescope with dovetail mount | 1x Small telescope with holes for threaded posts
