Celestron Starsense 12" Dob

[helicon]

I just came across the Starsense Dob on the Celestron site and was blown away by the fact that you can mount a cell phone on the tube and it will guide you to an object based on centering arrows on the phone screen. This is a super easy to use example of GOTO I would say.

I am really interested in picking up the 12" Dob at some point to replace my Zhummell 10" that I gave away in 2022. Probably not right away, but eventually.

Anyway the 12" costs $ 1499 which seems fine for such a unique capability. No more panning around to find faint galaxies!

Does anyone have any experience with one of these??? I am thinking it would be an incredible addition for skilled observers like @kt4hx or @Bigzmey .

What do you guys think? Maybe I am missing something but it seems pretty cool.

https://www.celestron.com/products/star ... -telescope

[SkyHiker]

I have experience with both a 12" and 10" Dob albeit not of the Celestron kind. The 12" Dob is disproportionate heavy and bulky compared to the 10" one. It's because weight increases with the 3rd power of the aperture while light gathering increases only with the 2nd power. Since you mentioned physical challenges elsewhere, I would stick with a 10". I see that Celestron has a 10" StarSense Dob.

Here's a thread that discusses the adaptation of StarSense to any scope. Is it just about the adapter that holds the cell phone? It looks like it. You may also want to check out the PiFinder if you have money to burn. I think there are also people who used SkEye on a cell phone mounted to their Dob.

[helicon]

I have experience with both a 12" and 10" Dob albeit not of the Celestron kind. The 12" Dob is disproportionate heavy and bulky compared to the 10" one. It's because weight increases with the 3rd power of the aperture while light gathering increases only with the 2nd power. Since you mentioned physical challenges elsewhere, I would stick with a 10". I see that Celestron has a 10" StarSense Dob.

Here's a thread that discusses the adaptation of StarSense to any scope. Is it just about the adapter that holds the cell phone? It looks like it. You may also want to check out the PiFinder if you have money to burn. I think there are also people who used SkEye on a cell phone mounted to their Dob.

Thanks Henk. The PiFinder also looks revolutionary. I am not sure if the Celestron Dob is heavier than the rest but I suppose it would work on any Dob.

[kt4hx]

While I am not interested in buying the dob itself as I have plenty of those, the adaptation of the Star Sense system to any dob is an interesting concept. From my perspective as a devout galaxy hunter I would like to know the extent of the SS database contents. While I would expect it to contain the entire NGC/IC catalogue, I frequently also observe galaxies from the PGC, MCG and UGC catalogues that are plotted in Uranometria or found in Sky Tools 4 Pro and SkySafari 7 Pro. Admittedly there is some cross-over between those catalogues, but I would like the database to encompass those as well in order to give me the most for my galaxy hunting dollar! Thus far I have not found the contents, but am still looking. If I could bring the SS system to my 17.5 inch at the dark site house and do away with the unity and optical finders, I would see that as a good thing.

Its an interesting take on a push-to system, getting away from installation of the encoders and the ensuing cables to connect them to the handset. If the Star Sense databse is robust in its contents, to the tune of what I need, then its something to consider as an add-on to my existing scopes.

I did read that the Star Sense application was developed for Celestron in conjunction with Simulation Curriculum, the developers of SkySafari - that is a good thing.

Just FYI, here is noted telescope reviewer Ed Ting's impressions of the Star Sense dobs:

[Bigzmey]

Phone based push-to navigation is definitely an option to consider. Depends on how much they want for it.

At the dark site I enjoy manual navigation. For my light polluted home location after considering several options I went with a full GoTo system with tracking. Both of my GoTo mounts can be controlled from SkySafari app on phone which resolves the concern Alan has mentioned about having comprehensive catalog of DSOs and stars down to 15 mag.

At one point I was considering a large DOB but because of the weight and size decided to go different direction. Once I run out of the sky for my 9.25" SCT I will get some sort of EAA setup. I am thinking about 3d gen white phosphor night vision since it comes closest to visual observing.

https://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=36

[kt4hx]

I have also considered that Andrey, and am still looking at it from time to time. I downloaded the Star Sense android app. While it seems to cover the NGC/IC as I suspected, I am not so sure it goes beyond that, at least in terms of galaxies. But I will spend more time with it to see just what it does contain. I will let you know.

[JayTee]

Michael,

There is a free app for both iOS and Android called SkEye. It does exactly what you read for the StarSense 12". I've been using it on my 8" dob for about 4 years now. I've had it on 3 different smartphones and basically, the better the phone's sensors, the more accurate SkEye is. Download it and give it a try.

Cheers,

[helicon]

Michael,

There is a free app for both iOS and Android called SkEye. It does exactly what you read for the StarSense 12". I've been using it on my 8" dob for about 4 years now. I've had it on 3 different smartphones and basically, the better the phone's sensors, the more accurate SkEye is. Download it and give it a try.

Cheers,

Thanks. How do you mount the phone to the scope??? Also, how do you orient it?

[SkyHiker]

Michael,

There is a free app for both iOS and Android called SkEye. It does exactly what you read for the StarSense 12". I've been using it on my 8" dob for about 4 years now. I've had it on 3 different smartphones and basically, the better the phone's sensors, the more accurate SkEye is. Download it and give it a try.

Cheers,

SkEye just uses the phone's sensors (mechanical for altitude and magnetic for azimuth) to estimate its position, but it does not do plate solving like the starsense app does (I don't have it but that's what I think it does). My experience with an old phone near a metal tube is that the magnetic sensor can be way off. Maybe modern phones are better. Also, SkEye needs the phone to be perpendicular to the line of sight, which is quite inconvenient unless you mount a mirror to view it and see everything in mirror image.

I think the celestron starsense holder with its mirror has enough advantages to go for the celestron dob not just any dob. The price is not bad.

[JayTee]

SkEye needs the phone to be perpendicular to the line of sight, which is quite inconvenient unless you mount a mirror to view it and see everything in mirror image.

This is not true. I use a simple plastic cell phone mount attached to the saddle of my Dob mount so that the phone lays flat against the fiberglass tube. You orient SkEye by doing an alignment just as you would a normal go to mount.

Forget the fact that it's FREE. It usually gets me within two EP's FOV widths (using a low power EP) of my intended object.

[SkyHiker]

SkEye needs the phone to be perpendicular to the line of sight, which is quite inconvenient unless you mount a mirror to view it and see everything in mirror image.

This is not true. I use a simple plastic cell phone mount attached to the saddle of my Dob mount so that the phone lays flat against the fiberglass tube. You orient SkEye by doing an alignment just as you would a normal go to mount.

I did not know that, thanks for setting me straight. I was thinking about the way SkEye will show the sky by first waving it in a figure 8 for calibration, then holding it towards the sky where SkEye shows all the celestial features. That is one way to get SkEye to show what you are looking at. And I believe it is held perpendicular to the object in the sky.

Just trying it, I see an align button, have to try that some time. I don't have the pro version BTW.

[JayTee]

I don't have the pro version BTW

Go ahead and splurge Henk, at $3.99 it costs less than a beer.

[coopman]

I am using the Starsense Explorer with my DIY 8" Dob and having a blast, finding new things to see and also realizing that maybe this object looks familiar but I didn't know it's name until now. The plate solving is great because there is no leveling required and no point the scope to three bright stars in diff. parts of the sky to align - none of that is necessary. This thing is a game changer, IMO. I've been a casual astronomer for 50+ years.

[kt4hx]

Another option for using your smartphone is AstroHopper, a free ware program developed by Artyom "Artik" Beilis. You can check it out below. Be sure to look at the links he provides as well:





Also, here is a thread over at CN by the developer with more information. I may check into this myself.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/8787 ... -released/

[kt4hx]

Just a quick look at it on my phone, I see you can set the depth to only mag 14.0 for DSOs. That is a limiting factor for me at the dark site, but not at home. I tried one object, NGC 7680 in Pegasus. It listed its mag as 13.5, which is its photographic mag per Telescopius. That site has its visual mag at 12.6. Then again, I don't typically go by the mags listed in programs/applications as they have a tendancy to utilize photographic.