celestron star sense

[Petehog72]

Hi all, ive been looking at the celestron star sense as an addition to our nexstar se8, has anyone any info or advice on whether this is a useful addition or a waste of money, thanks in advance and clear skies

[ronin]

Going to be really unhelpful here and say: Both.

Other then plain Error 18 or 16 and firmware upload problems I think Starsense is the next most problematic Synta/Skywatcher/Celestron thing I see.

But when people get it working they seem fairly happy with it, well unless they have thrown Scope+Starsense off a cliff and then then jumped after it in dispair.

I do not use it in any way, no suitable scope, but I get the impression that it is an add-on that is not 100% interfaced to the scope correctly. I am equally not sure that it takes less time to perform the alignment then just doing it manually. So it might be easier but not I suspect quicker. I know a Meade LS6 that does it's own alignment and if the idea is put it down more or less level and then leave it to do it's thing while you go do something else then it is fine. But I can manually align a Meade ETX 105 in less time then the LS takes to complete it's run. And yes sometimes it fails and starts again and sometime I fail and start again.

Partly it seems the scope has data and you would (well I would) expect the scope to be "master", but it seems that Starsense decides it is the main one and so overrules the scope in some way. This is where I get the idea that the interface is not 100%.

People use it and there will be people to give you advice on using it and getting results easier.

 

[Petehog72]

kinda what im thinking aswell, i currently use auto 2 star which seems to do the job, may stick to that, thanks for the reply

[RayD]

I use starsense on my AVX and think it's a brilliant time saver.  No it isn't critical kit, nor are many things, but for me it is great, and you don't have to identify and align with any stars, you just set it off and away you go.

I've not had any problems or issues with it, and upgrading the firmware, so long as you follow the guidelines precisely, is a doddle and worked fine.

[noah4x4]

I love Starsense; I have two; one with my Evolution 8 and another with my SE4.

In Alt-Az mode it respects my SkySync GPS sourced time/location and I just switch on and "hey presto" my scope is auto aligned. I am so confident in its auto-align routine that I just switch on and walk away to fetch my eyepieces etc. Your Alt-Az scope can be aimed at any horizon (n.b. with a GEM you need to be along the meridian).  Its GoTos are at least as good as with a tedious Nexstar + HC alignment. It even works at dusk when it is not dark enough to do an alignment using a hand controller 'two star align' as it will see stars  that the naked eye cannot.  If not using GPS, one has to input date/time as per a Nexstar + HC. Here, it is occasionally susceptable to user error as it doesn't ask again for location (and defaults to 'California').  But once aware of this, it is a piece of cake (just ensure that location is set corerctly via <menu> - where it is remembered). It works fine with SkyPortal and SkySafari via WiFI. Starsense saves me hours of time that would otherwise be wasted on tedious manual alignments. At the next level; try adding (up to) ten 'additional alignment points'. Each works like SYNC. Spread these across the sky and across seasons and your GoTos take on an ever higher level of accuracy.

Is it worth £289 for a Celestron mount? I think yes. Do note that it is £389 for Skywatcher mounts as those need the additional 'interface box'. But that's just the price of incompatibility. Similarly is the SkySync GPS module worth £154. Again, I think yes. But a better investment is better eyepeices. But once you have filled your box with EPs and similar; you will want both Starsense and SkySync, if you can afford them. I used to say "waste of money" until I had run out of other stuff to buy!

The only other thing to note is that there is a 'bug' in Starsense on a wedge (but it works fine on a GEM). So until Celestron fix that you must use a Nexstar + HC to polar align an alt-az on a wedge (but its fine with a GEM). 

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

1 hour ago, Petehog72 said:

Hi all, ive been looking at the celestron star sense as an addition to our nexstar se8, has anyone any info or advice on whether this is a useful addition or a waste of money, thanks in advance and clear skies

Nexstar se8? I assume that's the Celestron C8 SE Nexstar alt-azimuth GoTo? I have one.

The basic GoTo works quite well with 2-star align.  However I swapped over the Starsense from my Nexstar 127 SCT and have been very pleased with the result once I got it aligned.

Apparently some people have had grief with it, (there is at least one long thread on Starsense elsewhere in the forum) but most problems can be cured by reading the manual and asking about the stuff the manual does not tell you.

I find that it takes a few minutes to do its thing, but during this period one does not have to expend any mental or physical effort.

It will work in less than ideal sky conditions, (a cloud or two, twilight, light pollution) but if conditions are too bad it will fail. If it does, you could resort to the 'Solar System Align.'

There is no need to accurately level the mount (which you do need to do for 2-star align), which is a boon as leveling the mount seems to entail separating mount and tripod. Consequently, you can carry the whole assemblage outside, turn it on and start observing (almost).

There is no need to use the red dot finder at all after the Starsense has been set up with the scope. You could take it off.

The accuracy can be very good, provided you accurately align camera and scope (a one-time procedure). It should put objects in the field of a 25mm eyepiece every time, and I have had it do better than that, dropping several globular clusters one after another into the field of a 10mm eyepiece (that's x200).

The menus are different from Nexstar : the Sky Tour is useless and there seems to be no by-constellation, but the Galaxies, Globular, Messier, and NGC lists are nice.

It is quite expensive, but I don't regret buying the Starsense.

[Petehog72]

hey mate, yer its the celestron c8 se, great scope that does all we want, i just saw the starsense and was very curious and interested, it maybe something we may buy after a lil more research, thanks for the reply it was very useful

[JG777]

Its more of a luxury item than a must have but most of its issues are related to earlier firmware versions. I have found it useful on my Evolution 9.25 and it saves a bit of time during set up. The GOTO accuracy is very good but then again so was my auto 2 star! Not keen on the SS HC display, prefer the one on the original HC. As others allude to there are some advantages like setting up at dusk, patchy skies, and can be used manually if some of your views are blocked. I would say that set up with a GPS brings an added dimension plus you can use it with Sky Safari 5. I suppose if it fell in the river would I buy it again and the answer is probably not. Would rather spend the cash on a 24mm Pano!

[newbie alert]

Other than to let it do your star alignment for you is it worth it's  £270 price tag? What do you expecting it to do...

I don't think it makes it any quicker...my one didn't work 100% of the time..the pamphlet was next to useless..

To my mind if you buy a product,then you expect it to work straight out of the box..not have to download the latest firmware.. and buy an extra cable in order to do it...

Celestron got that product very wrong for me..and has put me off them being the first port of call..but they do make some cracking products..shame

[noah4x4]

Value is relative.  I initially wasted far too much precious observing time on fickle 'two star' alignments that repeatedly failed (my eyesight isn't wonderful); so I bought Starsense and I simply loved the experience; its ease and convenience. I bought a second Starsense to travel with my Nexstar SE4 (I leave my Evolution permanently assembled).

Two years later,   I can now perform an EQNorth/EQautoalign + Polar align  using a Nexstar + hand set with similar ease, having acquired a combination of better knowledge, finer skills and a RACI finderscope that I never enjoyed as a novice. Like with Sat-Nav,  you perhaps don't need Starsense in perpetuity having visited a place a few times. Hence, it is an unecessary luxury, but if you can afford it why have cotton when you can have silk?

Even though I now use my Nexstar + HC to polar align my Evolution on a wedge, I still complete my final autoalign using Starsense as I cannot mimic it's GoTo accuracy with a regular HC as with Starsense you can add (up to) ten additional alignment points that each work like SYNC.  Spread these ten extra guidance calibrations across the sky and the seasons and enjoy those benefits. I would recommend if you have the cash to make the investment.

[tteedd]

Hi

Anyone used it with a Skywatcher (Synscan)?

Are there any other alternatives?

I rather like the idea of the higher accuracy mode as one of the things that stops me from using my video camera frequently is the difficulty in putting the target on the CCD. Anyone used it with a video camera?

[noah4x4]

On Sunday, May 28, 2017 at 22:00, tteedd said:

Hi

Anyone used it with a Skywatcher (Synscan)?

Are there any other alternatives?

I rather like the idea of the higher accuracy mode as one of the things that stops me from using my video camera frequently is the difficulty in putting the target on the CCD. Anyone used it with a video camera?

Yes. If I use my Evolution in Alt Az then Starsense will generally assist getting the target into the FOV of my camera. The same is probably true with Starsense on a GEM. Even so, your calibration etc must be pretty precise and you need to spread your (up to) ten additional alignment points across the sky. 

But if you want to use Starsense on an N Alt-Az with wedge, currently, you need to first polar align using the Nexstar + HC and then conclude with a StarSense auto-align. This is due to the (wedge) 'bug'. 

[Geoff Lister]

I have a Skywatcher Skymax 127 MCT (Alt-Az with Synscan GOTO) and a Celestron Skyprodigy 70 (essentially the same mechanicals but with the Starsense camera [red tube] permanently connected to the Alt axis).

I have modified the plastic cowl on the Skyprodigy to take larger OTAs in the dovetail clamp. Ignore the "Cosmos", the mount/tablet/SkyPortal interface is not user friendly.

A little while ago, I did a direct comparison between the Skymax's 127 MCT "Brightest Star" alignment, and the Skyprodigy's Starsense (with an Astromaster 130 Newtonian OTA fitted). I did this at dusk, with just a handful of the brightest stars visible. 

With the Skymax, I was able to do a manual slew to Jupiter, then automatic slew to Arcturus, then Regulus. Arcturus was just about visible with the naked eye, and Regulus visible through the finder scope. Alignment took about 3 minutes.

I then tried the Skyprodigy's auto align, but it could not find enough stars, and I had to wait about a half hour for the sky to be dark enough for the auto align to work on its default setting.

Although this looks good for the Skymax, the extra 30 minutes gained was not useful for visual astronomy, as I was having the same problems as the Starsense camera, in seeing the dimmer stars; so no effective time gain.

Geoff