Celestron | StarSense Explorer LT 80AZ

In brief

• Unlock the power of your smartphone for a guided tour of the night sky—no telescope experience required.
• The patented and award-winning StarSense sky recognition technology uses your smartphone to analyze the star configuration above your head and calculate the telescope's position in real-time.
• The manual altazimuth mount with slow-motion controls on two axes makes it easy to follow the on-screen arrows to your desired target. When the crosshair turns green, it’s ready to be viewed through the telescope’s eyepiece.
• StarSense Explorer Powered by SkySafari™ app automatically generates a list of currently visible objects. Observe the brighter planets, nebulae and galaxies, star clusters, and double stars from the city. Or take your telescope to a darker sky to see even more.
  
  
• 80 mm refractor with fully coated glass optics for bright, sharp images.
• Includes 25 mm and 10 mm Kellner eyepieces, StarSense smartphone dock, StarPointer™ red-dot finder, eyepiece holder, and collimation cap.

Celestron has reinvented the tabletop Dobsonian telescope with StarSense Explorer—the first tabletop Dobsonian that uses your smartphone to analyze the night sky and calculate its position in real-time. This Celestron StarSense Explorer with a 130 mm aperture is ideal for beginners, thanks to the app's user-friendly interface and detailed tutorials. It’s like having a personal tour guide for the night sky.

Settle, move, explore

Leave behind complicated star charts, inaccurate planetarium apps, and computerized mounts. With StarSense Explorer, locating objects has never been easier, faster, or more precise. Just a few minutes after setting up the telescope, you’ll be confidently navigating the sky. Simply place your phone in the StarSense dock and launch the StarSense Explorer app.

After aligning your phone with the telescope's optics (a simple and quick procedure), StarSense Explorer generates a list of currently visible celestial objects. Make your selection, and arrows appear on the screen, guiding you as you move the telescope. When the object is ready to be observed through the eyepiece, the bullseye turns green. While you observe, listen to hundreds of audio descriptions and consult detailed information on thousands of objects in the app's robust database.

High-quality altazimuth mount with slow-motion control
An ultra-stable altazimuth mount provides a solid base for the StarSense Explorer DX. The friction clutches and slow-motion controls on both axes help you move the telescope smoothly and center your target. When celestial objects seem to drift across the night sky, you’ll be able to follow them with just a few turns of the knob. All of this is supported by a height-adjustable tripod.

Perfect for the city or dark sky sites

Even if you live in a city with significant light pollution, the StarSense Explorer is advanced enough to spot Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, the Orion Nebula, double stars, and a few other famous celestial objects.

But if you can take the telescope to an even darker location, more objects will become visible. The entire telescope kit weighs only 4.2 kg, making it perfectly portable and easy to take along on your next camping trip or to a remote observing site.

Smartphone compatibility

StarSense Explorer works with most modern smartphones; it is compatible with Android 12 and later, as well as iOS 18 and later, including iPhone XR and newer models. Users with older phones can still use this app but will not be able to reinstall it if they uninstall it.

Patented StarSense sky recognition technology

StarSense Explorer uses patented technology and your smartphone to determine exactly where the telescope is pointed in the night sky. A LISA (Lost in Space Algorithm) algorithm, similar to those used by satellites in orbit to orient themselves correctly, helps the app match the star patterns it detects in the sky to its internal database.

Other astronomy apps claim to help you find objects, but they rely solely on the phone's gyroscopes and accelerometers, which are not as accurate as the LISA technology. No other app can accurately tell you when your target is visible in the eyepiece.

Everything you need to observe right away

When you unpack your new StarSense Explorer LT, you’ll find:

• 80 mm refractor optical tube
• StarSense dock for your smartphone
• Low-power (25 mm) and high-power (10 mm) eyepiece
• The StarPointer red-dot finder, perfect for using the telescope during the day or without the StarSense Explorer app.
• Altazimuth mount with slow-motion controls
• Height-adjustable tripod with an accessory tray to help you stay organized

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