Celestron StarSense Explorer 8" Dobsonian Telescope !!!!!

[DaveL59]

Just now, bosun21 said:

LT70 is the smallest I could find to buy in order to cannibalize the starsense unit from.

yeah, think the next/equal cheapest was the reflector that was a bird-jones model. 

[Astro_Dad]

51 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

ahh but it perhaps was applied for but wasn't yet granted on the earlier manufacturing runs so they wouldn't be able to cite the patent number and couldn't claim that it was yet.

Yes exactly - I assume the patent is now granted at least in some regions, hence they can claim that point. When the first StarSense scope was launched (DX 130AZ ) a couple of years ago, and for probably most of the onward production runs of that model and the other ‘scopes in the series it wasn’t, and hence they could only claim pending. I still haven’t seen a reference to an actual patent number though, and as mentioned I’ve only been able to find a few closely related filings in the admittedly limited search I did. 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Astro_Dad