pointedstick

7 hours ago, Starslayer said:

Looks great. Clearly the phone will need a powerpack of some sort. Big drain on battery would think.

Yeah, but those are common and cheap on the open market, so I didn't see thew need to buy Celestron's branded version. I think my mother already has one anyway.

Yup, this thingummy: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescopes-in-stock/celestron-starsense-explorer-dx-6.html

2 hours ago, Second Time Around said:

The StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ seems like a good fit.  The app is very easy to use.

However, Celestron have just brought out 5 and 6 inch SCTs equipped with Starsense Explorer and these are worth investigating.  They're now in stock in the UK, but you'll need to check whether they're available yet in the States. 

I also agree that a zoom eyepiece would be perfect for your father.  If you do a search here you'll find lots about them.

Thank you so much for this information! the 6" SCT version was exactly what I was hoping to find but hadn't yet found, probably because it isn't available at any of the USA-based websites I was looking on. I just placed an order for one from FirstLightOptics, along with a Baader Hyperion zoom eyepiece. My dad and I am really excited about this! It seems like exactly the right telescope. It's gotten me interested in astronomy too, and shown me a whole new side of my father that I've never seen before. We've been geeking about about telescope stuff and astronomy together for the past few days in a way that we've never been able to do about anything else.

Thank you so much for all your very helpful help, everyone!

Thanks for the suggestion. If I get an 8-24mm zoom and attach a Barlow, we'll get effectively 4-12mm zoom, right? If I'm doing the calculation correctly, that will get us 54x - 162x without having to switch eyepieces.

Does such a thing seem reasonable?

Great video. It looks perfect. Manually moving the scope is fine; what my dad really wanted was the helping hand of some software to locate objects. Seems like this unit gives you that with a super simple one step alignment procedure and tolerance for being bumped or moved. I bet my kids will like it too.

Apparently the included eyepieces are not very good, and I would be willing to upgrade immediately if you folks have some recommendations.

One update: we're actually thinking the DX 102AZ might be better as it is a refractor that won't ever require collimation.

Would the 4" refractor version produce worse views than the 5" reflector version?

We have decided on the StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ. I think this will be a good starter scope and we can upgrade later if he really likes it a lot and wants something bigger or more automatic. Thanks for your help, everyone.

Would folks suggest additional/different eyepieces, or are the included ones (a 10mm and a 25mm) serviceable?

4 hours ago, Tiny Clanger said:

I'd argue that the simplest and most friendly user interface is a dobsonian mount and some knowledge of the night sky, but a dob may not be what you want in terms of portability, so how about an alt az mount on a steel tripod, practically , and on it practically any type of 'scope in the 127 to 150mm aperture range ( a newtonian, a maksutov, a refractor )  and a push to system ?

Push to systems differ from go to in that you steer the tube of the 'scope yourself, the screen just shows you what you are pointing at, and gives (I believe ) an arrow or similar suggesting the direction to steer toward a target.

There is a Celestron version where you buy a mount to attach a 'phone to the 'scope and app

  https://www.celestron.com/pages/starsense-explorer-technology

and a free android app which apparently works in a similar way, but you need to work out how to mount the 'phone

https://lavadip.com/skeye/book/virtualdsc

Advantages over a go-to are less tech inbetween  observer and space , much lighter weight , less toting batteries (just a backup power bank for the 'phone) , more flexibility in use : if he decides he doesn't need electronic assistance any more, just don't attach the 'phone , if he loves it and gets another 'scope, it will work with anything. Plus you've smuggled a smartphone into his affections, .... 🙂

I should say, I've not used either of these (I tried, but unfortunately my elderly smartphone does not have all of the sensors to run SkEye ) so am in no way an expert, but as a straightforward way to add some computer magic into observing they do seem very interesting options.

Oh, and the eyepiece question :most telescope packages have one or two eyepieces included, they are never excellent, sometimes adequate, often rubbish. Once you have decided on a 'scope, come back and ask for suggestions on upgrades for what you get in the package.

Heather

 

Thank you so much, Heather. I think this "PushTo" thing is exactly what we need.

I had been hoping to make it a surprise birthday present, but decided that I needed to involve my dad in this purchase, and he really really liked the idea of this. It seems perfect as a sort of "semi-automatic" system where you point the scope, with with a pointing aid on your phone. It was very appealing to him.

Is this a technology that you can plug into any manual telescope, or would it require buying one of these? https://www.celestron.com/products/starsense-explorer-dx-130az

I think the use of a smartphone would be mandatory for my dad with one of these, but given that, something in the 6-8" aperture range would be ideal.

How annoying are reflectors to collimate and maintain?

Thank you so much for the replies, everyone!

I understand that this is kind of an inherently technical hobby and there is no magic bullet that makes it a "point and click" affair. However I think this is kind of what my dad is looking for, to the greatest possible extent. We had a manual telescope when I was a kid and he didn't use it that much, even though he wanted to. The more abstracted the user interface, the better it will be for him. So he's figured out an iPad because it's a very simple and friendly user interface, which is what made me think that the smartphone app control would be the way to go. The marketing literature led me to believe that alignment is something that a GoTo system basically takes care of automatically. Is this not the case? Can it be made the case, somehow? If not, hopefully I can figure it out and show him how to do it (that's the relationship we have with computers lol).

If the 8SE is marginal for its mount and the 6SE would be better, I'm all ears. Lighter and more portable would be a plus. If it was a shoot-out between the 6SE and the 127SLT, what do you folks think the winner should be?

I had not been considering the Evolution line as the models seem quite a bit heavier than the equivalent aperture SE versions.

Thanks again!

Howdy folks!

I'm looking to buy my father a telescope and hoping for a little assistance. He's always been an astronomy buff, but never had a nice telescope before. 20 years ago when I was a kid, he had a crappy little manual refractor that was kinda frustrating to use and he abandoned it after a while. My childhood astronomy highlight is that we did once see the blurry outline of Saturn! But now he's retired, and has been talking about wanting get back into the hobby with a fancy computerized telescope. I want to buy him the nicest one possible for his upcoming birthday, within the limits of what makes sense for his use cases.

He's a very non-technical person and a GoTo system is almost certainly the right choice for him. The easier it is to see something cool through the eyepiece, the better; if it's too fiddly or too hard to use, he just won't use it. He lives in a somewhat non-optimal location with a lot of light pollution (Bortle 6) and tree cover, so it will have to be a travel-friendly unit. He has mostly talked about wanting to look at planets and moons and the ISS, but he might possibly be interested in galaxies and nebulas too--if the result is not too disappointing with a travel-friendly scope. He won't be doing any photography.

I have no real knowledge of the hobby, but have done some research and narrowed down my search to two Celestron units: the 127SLT and 8SE. Both would be purchased with the external LiFePO battery, dew shield, and wifi unit so he can control it with his iPad, which he has become comfortable with. Being smartphone/tablet-compatible is a big plus.

I think the 127SLT will be better for travel, being 6 lbs lighter altogether, and maybe with lower cooldown times due to its smaller aperture? My impression is that as a Maksutov-Cassegrain unit, it will be better for viewing things within the solar system, but will be unsuitable for DSO viewing. The 8SE is a bit heavier and seems like it would be better at the latter while possibly being a little bit worse at the former? I'm fuzzy on that. I'm also fuzzy on whether these units include decent eyepieces or whether they need better ones to get a good amount of enjoyment from them.

Budget is not a practical concern, within reason. If the 8SE is better in every way compared to the 127SLT, I'd get that for him. Does it seem like either of these two units would be suitable? Are there other offerings from alternative companies that you would recommend instead? Are there additional accessories it would be nice to have to enhance the enjoyment of the telescope, or to make it simpler and easier to use?

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge!