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New Celestron Starsense Accessory

M4lcs67

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M4lcs67

M4lcs67

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Just found out about this new piece of kit from Celestron which can be retrofitted to any Celestron computerised scope. Might be worth further investigation? Don't know what the cost is going to be though. I suppose the puritans may slate it, but for others it could be a handy thing to have.

http://www.celestron.com/portal/articles/cat/press-releases/post/automatically-align-your-telescope-with-celestron-starsense-accessory/

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E621Keith

E621Keith

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Thanks for the heads up, this looks great, especially if it can be retrofitted to existing Nexstar system. While I always thought the Skyprodigy was a gimmick because of its SLT based mount, this can be a handy accessories if it works with the more serious mounts. I like the idea of buying these features as an optional upgrade.

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M4lcs67

M4lcs67

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Me too, Keith. As you mentioned, I was sceptical before and thought it might be just a bit of a gimmick, but maybe it could be a very handy tool to have. And if it is compatable with my two scopes then that would be excellent. Perhaps it is just me, but for some strange reason I struggle getting an accurate alignment, so having something else there to help out would be a bonus for me and it would mean more time observing and less time messing around trying to get a "lock on". Just have to wait for prices and a review of it now.

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M4lcs67

M4lcs67

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Hey Dunk,

I read the blurb and it says that it attaches to the ota, although I don't know if you have to use it with a Celestron mount or not. It may be compatable with your mount. As Celestron and Skywatcher are two distinct companies in their own right (even though they are both owned by Synta) I am not sure if the electronics are compatable. I guess if Skywatcher did their own version then that would prove that they are cross-compatable.

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Dunkster

Dunkster

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My guess is that it'll be a Celestron-only feature, so I'll have to master the Beast by my own (lack of) ingenuity, but you never know... All-star was a unique Celestron feature too, which has now been ported to SW synscan.

My though process was - given reasonable pricing - that it'd make a great addition to the SE to leave at my folks down in the darkness so they could get some use out of it without my dark arts (they're both keen for me to take it there when I get spare time). With the grandchildren biting at their heels, they'd otherwise never get through the alignment procedure :eek:

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billhinge

billhinge

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Just noticed this also, US price is about $330 so guess that will translate into £330 :huh:

Having said that, if it is accurate enough and it betters my own alignment then I would be interested in spending some of my annual bonus on it,

Hope its clever enough to notice trees and houses in the way of its line of site

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M4lcs67

M4lcs67

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Was just pointed to this by Skir.

http://www.astronomi...tem_p20044.aspx

It is being released in March at around $330 as mentioned. Don't know what the current exchange rate is, but the US dollar is/was usually a third less than the pound so it probably will be in the region of £230. Obviously we will have to wait to find out. I messaged FLO the other day about it, but they didn't have any details yet.

Looks like it is compatible with both my scopes as well, so that is good news. For some inexplicable reason I have always struggled getting an accurate alignment, so if this is as good as they say then I will be very pleased.

Anything that helps is a good thing in my eyes and I would gladly pay the price in order for me to get the maximum out of my scopes. As I said before there will be some puritans who may scoff as such a device, but I don't care and I am sure there will be a great many who feel the same way.

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M4lcs67

M4lcs67

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Word is that Celestron are starting to accept pre-orders for the StarSense accessory for it's release in March, so in order to be at the front of the queue you have to put you order in with Celestron or an authorised dealer to secure your place on the pre-order list. We still don't know what the price is going to be. Hopefully we should have the news, soon as!!!!

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skir

skir

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Was just pointed to this by Skir.

http://www.astronomi...tem_p20044.aspx

It is being released in March at around $330 as mentioned. Don't know what the current exchange rate is, but the US dollar is/was usually a third less than the pound so it probably will be in the region of £230. Obviously we will have to wait to find out. I messaged FLO the other day about it, but they didn't have any details yet.

Looks like it is compatible with both my scopes as well, so that is good news. For some inexplicable reason I have always struggled getting an accurate alignment, so if this is as good as they say then I will be very pleased.

Anything that helps is a good thing in my eyes and I would gladly pay the price in order for me to get the maximum out of my scopes. As I said before there will be some puritans who may scoff as such a device, but I don't care and I am sure there will be a great many who feel the same way.

I'm all for using technology to its full advantage personally. However I do intend to fully learn the sky too. I think before I look into the star sense I may look into control of the mount through a computer. Though I think the cg-5 is not controllable by stellarium owing to eq mod not supporting the comms protocol it uses. But I'll be happy to be corrected on that if I'm wrong.

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M4lcs67

M4lcs67

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Hey skir,

The CG5 is an ASCOM enabled mount I think which can be controlled by a laptop. If you get The Sky At Night Magazine and look in the Deep Sky Tour section, it tells you what to do. You can get the correct file off the supplied disc. I have not done it personally, but i'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

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skir

skir

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.....or do I just need the ascom driver, hardware to connect from the hand controller to the pc and stellarium or CDC or the like?

Anyway I'm getting ahead of myself here. I haven't even been out with the scope for the first time yet! :grin::rolleyes:

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M4lcs67

M4lcs67

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Sound like you could be. I don't know for sure though. Someone else on the forum will probably know. I would be interested in the link if it proves to be the correct one. I have never done it before myself, but the deep sky tour that the S@N magazine has, looks very interesting. Perhaps I am a little lazy, but personally I would like to go straight to an object rather than faffing around and struggling trying to find it. That is why I am so interested in the StarSense accessory. Obviously if I was outside observing with other more experienced people then I could get advice and tips from them in the field, but when you are in your back garden all on your own it is more difficult.

Yes, peeps on SGL are more than willing to offer the pearls of their wisdom and for that I am eternally grateful, but sometimes there is no substitute for having someone who is more experienced stood next to you showing you what to do.

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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£300 seems a lot of cash to me to have something do a job I can do myself in 5 minutes anyway. Thres no great rush to align a scope as the scope has to cool down anyway.

Once you are familiar with an EQ mount and have learnt how to use it you can set up very fast. I can set up an HEQ5 solo with an accurate polar alignment and spot on star alignment in about 10 minutes flat if I rush or 15 minutes if I take my time. It usually takes about 20 because I dont rush and the scope needs 30 minutes anyway to get to ambient.

I am a defender of GoTo normally and will usually buy tech to take the strain out of stuff....i just cant see what strain this bit of kit is going to remove. For £300 I'd rather invest in an eyepiece.

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M4lcs67

M4lcs67

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Fair comment, Astro Baby.

I don't have the opportunity to get out with my scope as often as I would like, so I haven't been able to get really slick with the setting up of it. If I was doing it more often then I would get more adept at it I suppose.

The guys at FLO say then the Advanced Series Goto's are one of the easiest to set up and get aligned. I have plenty of time to get to grips with it I suppose.

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CSM

CSM

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£300 sounds a lot unless it can really guarantee near 100% accuracy. Nowadays I tend to use a one star alignment and that seems to work just as well as 3 star. BUT, a big but here, I rely on a 9 x 50 finderscope. With that, even if the object isn't in the main scope eyepiece, it is usually in the finderscope and so I know which way to slew to center it.

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