Description

Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 5″ Schmidt Cassegrain AZ Telescope

Celestron has reinvented the manual telescope with Celestron StarSense Explorer DX Schmidt Cassegrain AZ Telescope — the first telescope that uses your smartphone to analyze the night sky and calculate its position in real time. This special edition Popular Science by Celestron 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 computerized 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 to move the telescope. When the object is ready to view, the bullseye turns green.

Popular Science by Celestron 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. For a complete compatibility list, click here.

Celestron StarSense Explorer DX Schmidt Cassegrain AZ Telescope uses patented 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.

An ultra-stable altazimuth mount provides a sturdy foundation for StarSense Explorer DX. Slip clutches and geared slow motion controls in both axes help you move the telescope smoothly and zero in your target. As celestial objects appear to drift across the night sky, you’ll be able to follow them with just a few turns of the knobs. It’s all anchored by an adjustable, full-height tripod.

With a large 5” Schmidt-Cassegrain optical tube—Celestron’s tried-and-true optical design for over 50 years—this telescope has enough light gathering ability to bring out impressive detail in celestial objects while remaining compact and lightweight. 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 the beautiful Pleiades Open Star Cluster. While the StarSense Explorer DX 130 Newtonian has a slightly larger aperture, the 5″ Schmidt-Cassegrain has twice the focal length of the 130, allowing higher magnification for better lunar and planetary views.

All air-to-glass surfaces are coated with our StarBright XLT optical coatings to visibly increase contrast and light transmission for brighter deep space views. With StarBright XLT, you’ll be able to discern subtle details while viewing the Moon and planets as well as faint galaxies and nebulae. For more information about our patented StarBright XLT coatings, visit here.

Even if you live in a light polluted city location, the Popular Science by Celestron 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. With this 5” Schmidt-Cassegrain and relatively dark skies, the Andromeda Galaxy, Hercules Open Star Cluster, and so many more are easily within your reach.

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 patented StarSense sky recognition technology uses your smartphone to analyze star patterns overhead and calculate its position in real time.
• StarSense Explorer Powered by SkySafari™ 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 smooth, dual-axis slow-motion controls makes it easy to follow the on-screen arrows to your desired target. When the bullseye turns green, it’s ready to view in the telescope’s eyepiece.
• 5” Schmidt-Cassegrain optical tube with StarBright XLT coatings and enough light gathering ability to view all the best celestial objects. Special edition Popular Science branding makes your optical tube stand out.
• Includes 25mm and 10mm eyepieces, StarSense smartphone dock, a StarPointer red dot finderscope (in case you want to use the telescope without your phone), an erect image diagonal, and a sturdy, full-height tripod.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Optical Design: Newtonian Reflector
• Aperture: 130mm (5.11″)
• Focal Length: 650mm (25.59″)
• Focal Ratio: f/5
• Focal Length of Eyepiece 1: 25mm (0.98″)
• Magnification of Eyepiece 1: 26x
• Focal Length of Eyepiece 2: 10mm (0.39″)
• Magnification of Eyepiece 2: 65x
• Barlow Lens: Not Included
• Finderscope: StarPointer red dot finderscope
• Optical Tube: Steel
• Highest Useful Magnification: 307x
• Lowest Useful Magnification: 19x
• Limiting Stellar Magnitude: 13.1
• Resolution (Rayleigh): 1.07 arc seconds
• Resolution (Dawes): .89 arc seconds
• Light Gathering Power (Compared to human eye): 345x
• Secondary Mirror Obstruction: 45mm (1.73″)
• Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Diameter: 34%
• Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Area: 11%
• Optical Coatings: Glass mirrors coated with aluminum and SiO₂
• Optical Tube Length: 635mm (25″)
• Optical Tube Diameter: 165mm (6.49″)
• Optical Tube Weight: 8.8 lbs (3.99 kg)
• Dovetail: CG-5 Dovetail Bar