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Celestron StarSense


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I have a Star Sense that goes to my Nextstar 8 SE. It works exceptionally well as long as you remember to take the lens cap off and also hook it up to the telescope. Can not tell you how many times I have done this. You also want a fairly dark location well after sunset and then it is easy peasy. If the telescope does not have the right time or location then you will have problems. The new hand controller that replaces the exsisting hand controller is far more intuitive then the one that came with the telescope. The problem I see with Celestrons Hand Controllers is that they do not seem to put much thought into making them intuitive and easy to use. When I bought this scope at the NEAF in NY I had no end of problems understanding the hand controller logic and I am a IT guy for a living. I called Celestron to complain and they said they are making a new manual that explains the original hand controllers use. They must have been getting complaints because they did a better job with the Star Sense hand controller. However the documentation is pretty slim. It is like the people who make smart TV's and DVD players, the TV and DVD players do the job but the apps and web surfing seem like an after thought. Celestron needs to hire a programmer who can use simple logic and make an easy to use hand controller with good documentation on its use for everyday people who do not understand Polish logic.

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I have a Star Sense that goes to my Nextstar 8 SE. It works exceptionally well as long as you remember to take the lens cap off and also hook it up to the telescope. Can not tell you how many times I have done this. You also want a fairly dark location well after sunset and then it is easy peasy. If the telescope does not have the right time or location then you will have problems.

I have a StarSense I never used. Sold the setup I bought to use it with and now have one of the new Evolution 8". What do you suppose the StarSense might be worth in USD?

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There have been lots of improvements to the Starsense firmware in the last few months so its definitely worth upgrading to the latest version on Celestrons website. They say they are working on an updated manual as there was some errors with the original supplied with the camera and also to document the new features they have added. Join the teamcelestron website to get the latest news and also test beta releases if you are interested.

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There have been lots of improvements to the Starsense firmware in the last few months so its definitely worth upgrading to the latest version on Celestrons website. They say they are working on an updated manual as there was some errors with the original supplied with the camera and also to document the new features they have added. Join the teamcelestron website to get the latest news and also test beta releases if you are interested.

Not interested in Beta Testing, just selling to someone in the US. Just wondering what price to ask for it, what would be fair?

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Not interested in Beta Testing, just selling to someone in the US. Just wondering what price to ask for it, what would be fair?

I think they retail for around $329 in the US. If its as-new then I would guess around $250 to $280 region.

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Hi all,

I tried to do a bit of daylight viewing of the moon with my nexstar 6se and starsense, where the starsense takes the place of my red dot finder i found it inpossible to find the moon in my telescope, i was manualy scaning the sky while looking through the eyepiece.

I went through the starsense hand contol menus but found nothing regarding viewing the moon, i even went to manual solar system align and the moon was not there.

Please help

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Hi all,

I tried to do a bit of daylight viewing of the moon with my nexstar 6se and starsense, where the starsense takes the place of my red dot finder i found it inpossible to find the moon in my telescope, i was manualy scaning the sky while looking through the eyepiece.

I went through the starsense hand contol menus but found nothing regarding viewing the moon, i even went to manual solar system align and the moon was not there.

Please help

I can't really see how the Starsense can align the scope if it can't see any stars since it relies on plate-solving to work. Your best bet is to put your RDF back on for lunar work during the day. Or maybe align it at night and leave it setup for the next day (a bit extreme, I know).
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I have never use "Solar Alignment", have to try that method next time out.  When I observe the sun or the moon, in daytime, I always use Quick align.   The only alignment points you have in daytime are the sun, (I don't want to break out the solar filter when just observing the moon).  and if you can't find the moon, how are you going to manually align on the moon. 

The scope knows the altitude from starting in the home position and location.   The AZ, I have found uses "HOME" position of pointing North.  My scope has GPS, your results may vary. 

If the moon is not selectable, you  may have a location, time and/or date error.

Bob

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Thanks for the advice Bob, I look at teamcelestron today, the thing I don't understand is if I point my scope north and do a quick align how doses my scope now where the moon is when it doses not appear in the hand control ? I have checked the date, time and location and all are correct.

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The updated beta manual and feedback can be found in TeamCelestron.

Join TeamCelestron, the starSense forum, and look for "New SSA Manual", it is against policy to repost anything from TeamCelestron to open forums.

As said before, the manual is still a work-in-progress and not all reported function are implemented at this time and some functions are not well defined on how they work.  At least the new manual attempts to include a map on how to get to different functions.

The computer in StarSense, uses the Location, Time and date to identify where the stars, sun, moon and planets are located. But needs a starting position, That why you need to set the scope to the "Home" position.  It is not necessary to aim the scope to the North when using autoalign, the camera uses multiple pictures of the stars in the sky to determine where the scope is pointing.  StarSense uses something close to or plate matching to get the improve accuracy. 

The starting position for "Quick Align" is important, because the StarSense camera cannot be used in the daytime.  I think there is even a warning, about aiming the StarSense camera to the Sun, so keep it covered (lens cap on) during daytime.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

There's an update out to resolve the ASPA issue now on Team Celestron. The initial release had some bugs but a newer version was released this morning. Despite the bugs it seemed to be working, hoping to test it out myself soon.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  • 1 month later...

Hey folks. Have been off SGL for a while, but was interested to see that there are still issues with the Starsense even after all this time. I was/am very interested in it to go on my CG5, but if it still hasn't been fixed then I may end up giving it a swerve until if is 100% fixed. Any heads-up regarding the CG5 would be very welcome.

Thanks

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  • 3 weeks later...

hi, iwas wondering if orange streetlamps are affecting the stsrsense , thanks 

Hi

I use a StarSense on my scope in my back garden and have no trouble with it. I fined the Full moon is worse.

If it fails with the auto setup I do the manual setup and just pick darks parts of the sky and it works really well.

I am on the latest software and haven't yet failed to get it working.

Alex 

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I am just joining it. I have had intermitant success with the StarSense and have not been able to get an answer from Celestron to my questions....good kit but poor support. Hope they are reading this thread.

I suggest using the teamcelestron (beta testing) site ( you have to join) for upgrades to the latest version of the firmware.  My first test of starsense, was 20ft from a street light, on a snow covered lawn in a light polluted city( i could still read the manual without additional light).  And it auto aligned great, that was 10 months ago.  Depending on your version of software, a lot of fixes have been made.

Newest software is correcting ASPA and HC feedback errors.  Other versions fixed the error in Planet locations, CG5 mounts, Wedge issues just to name a few.

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