Celestron 22460 StarSense Explorer DX 102AZ Smartphone App-Enabled Refractor Telescope, iPhone/Android Compatible, Silver/Black

Product Information

Not compatible with #93648 Off-Axis Guider, not compatible with #93519 2" Mirror Diagonal (discontinued)

The accessory tray that sits in the middle of the tripod legs needs to be attached by fiddly thumb screws that are already in place. (Image credit: Celestron)Award-winning and patented StarSense sky recognition technology uses your smartphone to analyze star patterns overhead and calculate its position in real time. But if you can take the telescope to an even slightly darker location, more objects will become visible. With this 10" Dobsonian and relatively dark skies, hundreds of fascinating objects are well within your reach. Because all these mountings use a standard Vixen-type or CG-5 dovetail attachment, you can attach any other instrument that uses the same dovetail, taking into account the load capacity of the mounting. 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.

With a large 127mm (5”) objective lens, this telescope has enough light gathering ability to bring out detail in celestial objects. You can expect sharp, bright views of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, its cloud bands and Great Red Spot, the rings of Saturn, the trapezium in the Orion Nebula, and beautiful Ple ia des Open Star Cluster. All mirror surfaces are coated with our XLT optical coatings to visibly increase contrast and light throughput for brighter views. With XLT, you'll be able to discern subtle details while viewing the Moon and planets, as well as faint galaxies and nebulae. The mirrors are made of low-expansion optical glass, which helps ensure the best images under changing environmental conditions.

Slick new tech on this great value large telescope sees the return of the Dobsonian design, but astrophotographers will struggle

This one-of-a-kind app uses patent-pending technology in combination with a Celestron StarSense Explorer telescope (sold separately) to analyze star patterns overhead to calculate the telescope’s position in real time with pinpoint accuracy. The process of extracting star pattern data in images to determine a telescope’s current pointing position is called “plate solving.” It is the same method used by professional observatories and even orbiting satellites. Mitigation of potential damage caused by user attempting to use wrench to turn focus motor while powered on StarSense Explorer uses image data captured by the smartphone’s camera to determine its pointing position. The app captures an image of the night sky and then matches the star patterns within the image to its internal database in a process similar to fingerprint matching or facial recognition.