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Celestron StarSense Explorer Dobsonian Owners


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It will be interesting and hopefully helpful to start a new section for owners of the new Celestron StarSense Explorer Dobsonian range - new to the UK market in May 2022, I’m sure many over the coming months and years will be joining the owners club! There have been a few separate threads started already covering aspects of these telescopes, including my own first light review and a few discussions around compatible phones and other general questions and comments about these new instruments. I’ll link here the main threads, but would be good to try and consolidate here all things StarSense Explorer Dobs!

Moderators please advise if this is the best place for this section. 
 

Thanks

Andrew
 

 

 

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Good idea Andrew.  It's a great system and will no doubt become more well used now that its available on the two larger aperture dobsonians.

As Celestron is owned by the owners of Skywatcher, it would be surprising if the  Starsense Explorer system  doesn't appear on some of their scopes.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Does anyone know if it is possible to fine adjust starsense on target while in use at night? even though it does get me to the objects without issue time after time, I find that it is not aligned precisely so that when the target is centered in my EP it is also centered in the starsense target but is on the outer edge of the small center bullseye. I find that such discrepancy occurs no matter how well I try and align during the day, does anyone find the same discrepancy? if not then how do you achieve perfect alignment? it would be great if the AP had a fine adjustment option where the target on the app can be moved up or down to match the EP, I’m sort of surprised it doesn’t as this seems perfectly intuitive.

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so far we don't believe you can tweak when you're using the app so a lot seems to be down to how well you can align it at the start. I tend to align at night onto a bright object, either planet or star if I can so you know it's at a good distance since there's not much I can see from the garden that is any great distance away.

I assume you're doing the pinch-to-zoom bit to expand the view to get that bit more accuracy?

Never tried but if you can't quite get the cross-hair onto the on-screen target I wonder if its also possible to make a little tweak on the XY control wheels to get that last little adjustment?

Edited by DaveL59
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4 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

so far we don't believe you can tweak when you're using the app so a lot seems to be down to how well you can align it at the start. I tend to align at night onto a bright object, either planet or star if I can so you know it's at a good distance since there's not much I can see from the garden that is any great distance away.

I assume you're doing the pinch-to-zoom bit to expand the view to get that bit more accuracy?

Never tried but if you can't quite get the cross-hair onto the on-screen target I wonder if its also possible to make a little tweak on the XY control wheels to get that last little adjustment?

OOHH!! great point, I did alignment during the day with the pinch and zoom so as to get on a pointy land target as best as possible but there always seems to be a discrepancy. Aligning at night in the same fashion 

I haven't tried, maybe Vega would be a good target for that. My "oooh!" is in response to your idea of making a fine adjustment to the XY wheels while target in entered in my EP, this seems brilliant! it must I would

assume, as long as the adjustment remains minute as the app may interpret it as motion of the scope but well worth a try, thank you!

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Sunshine, the accuracy you already have is actually very good, better than some goto scopes I've used.  My own accuracy sounds very similiar, and I'm more than happy with it.  Though, you can align it at night of course, or re- align it.

When you first swith SS on, choose 'needs alignment' and it let's you align it with the crosshairs.  I've done this myself and it works  fine. Just choose a bright star or planet to align on and zoom in to do the final alignment at the maximum mag.

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14 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Sunshine, the accuracy you already have is actually very good, better than some goto scopes I've used.  My own accuracy sounds very similiar, and I'm more than happy with it.  Though, you can align it at night of course, or re- align it.

When you first swith SS on, choose 'needs alignment' and it let's you align it with the crosshairs.  I've done this myself and it works  fine. Just choose a bright star or planet to align on and zoom in to do the final alignment at the maximum mag.

Great thanks! I actually did choose the needs alignment once during the night but was discouraged when I didn't immediately see anything on the screen and figured the app was designed for daytime alignment only. 

Maybe I wasn't aimed at a bright enough object like Vega, I will try again at night but you are correct in saying its good enough, I shouldn't chase perfection. 

thanks!

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57 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Great thanks! I actually did choose the needs alignment once during the night but was discouraged when I didn't immediately see anything on the screen and figured the app was designed for daytime alignment only. 

Maybe I wasn't aimed at a bright enough object like Vega, I will try again at night but you are correct in saying its good enough, I shouldn't chase perfection. 

thanks!

You're welcolme Sunshine.  You are right, it is difficult to see stars on the screen at first during night mode alignment. When I first did it, I couldn't see any stars at first, like yourself, it was only after I zoomed in that I started to see them.  Its made worse if the sky is fairly light or you're looking g down toward the horizon.  Once you're zoomed inthey are much clearer.

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26 minutes ago, paulastro said:

You're welcolme Sunshine.  You are right, it is difficult to see stars on the screen at first during night mode alignment. When I first did it, I couldn't see any stars at first, like yourself, it was only after I zoomed in that I started to see them.  Its made worse if the sky is fairly light or you're looking g down toward the horizon.  Once you're zoomed inthey are much clearer.

Thanks! Now I’m all charged up about trying that!

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 31/07/2022 at 16:13, Sunshine said:

Does anyone know if it is possible to fine adjust starsense on target while in use at night? even though it does get me to the objects without issue time after time, I find that it is not aligned precisely so that when the target is centered in my EP it is also centered in the starsense target but is on the outer edge of the small center bullseye. I find that such discrepancy occurs no matter how well I try and align during the day, does anyone find the same discrepancy? if not then how do you achieve perfect alignment? it would be great if the AP had a fine adjustment option where the target on the app can be moved up or down to match the EP, I’m sort of surprised it doesn’t as this seems perfectly intuitive.

I have the same but the small circle is quite small so it’s pretty decent i think to get that close with the hardware it’s using- it’s a very wideangle camera view it’s trying to platesolve with. It seemed to be pretty consistent though so maybe it could be dialled in in future versions? I was able to consistently get on target using my RACI finder just by matching the star patterns in the ss display to what i could see nearby in the raci- the target was always close enough to the cross hair so not really a problem. Had a nice night last night going through the double stars catalogue in ss- some quite tricky ones in there

Mark

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

I'm guessing this thread gets the attention of many Dobsonian owners who are using a modded starsense explorer unit, as well as straight up users of the celestron dob, so with that in mind I have a more general query.

I had a mildly frustrating night last night because the star sense adaptor (I.e. the phone plus holder and mirror) was slow or sometimes unable to plate solve. This tended to be in brighter areas of the sky, but I emphasise it was a dark night at a Bortle 4 location - it has plate solved in brighter conditions in the past.

Obviously this needs to be replicated to show if there is a genuine issue, but I did have a good look at the mirror on the adaptor this morning - it is pretty filthy, with plenty of stuck dots of pollen and dust. I haven't cleaned it in the 2+ years since I bought it. Has anyone cleaned the mirror?

I ask because the technicalities of cleaning a small, glued mirror on the star sense are clearly a bit different to cleaning a primary mirror. I'm guessing the mirror on the star sense adaptor has no protective coatings that I could damage, plus i don't want to soak the mirror in water and end up rusting the fixings or softening the glue, so I'm wondering if Baader cleaning fluid might be okay?

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It’s a good question @Giles_B . Noting there hasn’t been a response on this since you posted I thought I’d contact Celestron directly to get their “official” advice.

Celestron  have confirmed that the mirror doesn’t have the optical fidelity of a secondary mirror as we assumed, but noted that it should not be scratched! They suggest treating it as you would a good camera lens - blow off any dust with a “canned air” blower, use a lens brush and if smudged apply an alcohol cleaner with soft lint-free cloth.  

 

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On 25/09/2022 at 10:07, Giles_B said:

I'm guessing this thread gets the attention of many Dobsonian owners who are using a modded starsense explorer unit, as well as straight up users of the celestron dob, so with that in mind I have a more general query.

I had a mildly frustrating night last night because the star sense adaptor (I.e. the phone plus holder and mirror) was slow or sometimes unable to plate solve. This tended to be in brighter areas of the sky, but I emphasise it was a dark night at a Bortle 4 location - it has plate solved in brighter conditions in the past.

Obviously this needs to be replicated to show if there is a genuine issue, but I did have a good look at the mirror on the adaptor this morning - it is pretty filthy, with plenty of stuck dots of pollen and dust. I haven't cleaned it in the 2+ years since I bought it. Has anyone cleaned the mirror?

I ask because the technicalities of cleaning a small, glued mirror on the star sense are clearly a bit different to cleaning a primary mirror. I'm guessing the mirror on the star sense adaptor has no protective coatings that I could damage, plus i don't want to soak the mirror in water and end up rusting the fixings or softening the glue, so I'm wondering if Baader cleaning fluid might be okay?

I noticed that the mirror on mine fairly soon looked like yours, covered in specs etc.  However it depended on the way the light was shinning on it.  In the right light they all disappeared.  Of course the worse thing to do is to shine a light on any optical surface, which makes all of them look awful.

Despite the numerous spots however, it has kept working as it should.  I'll let it stay as it is until it affects the performance.  Over the years I've learned optical surfaces takes quite a lot of debris and look terrible and you o can't tell the difference in use.  Though of course if you have pollen, it's best to get shot of it.

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3 hours ago, Astro_Dad said:

It’s a good question @Giles_B . Noting there hasn’t been a response on this since you posted I thought I’d contact Celestron directly to get their “official” advice.

Celestron  have confirmed that the mirror doesn’t have the optical fidelity of a secondary mirror as we assumed, but noted that it should not be scratched! They suggest treating it as you would a good camera lens - blow off any dust with a “canned air” blower, use a lens brush and if smudged apply an alcohol cleaner with soft lint-free cloth.  

 

makes me happy I went with a prism in my adapted setup, no issues f it needs to be popped out for a clean down the road. I'd have thought that with care and not immersing the entire cradle you could use water and detergent applied with a cotton swap. If it is a first surface mirror with no coatings then wouldn't alcohol potentially start to strip the surface silvering over time?

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@Astro_Dad thanks, really I should have contacted Celestron myself. I think I'll give it a try with some cotton wool and detergent, I agree that alcohol based cleaners feel a bit dangerous. I guess if I can't get the mirror cleaned with detergent I'll think about something stronger.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks Andrew.  I too found this about a couple of weeks or so ago, I was going  to post it and promptly forgot 🙂.

One thing I thought was rather odd, was that Ed said people might spend more time looking at the phone screen mounted on the scope rather than looking through the scope.

I only use the phone screen to find objects, which it does far quicker than using a finder.  So I spend much less time searching for objects, and far more time actually observing.

If the user wants  to spend time listening to all the descriptions, or playing around with it in some other ways,  it's up to the individual. 

To me the BIGGEST advantage of the SS is the fact that it's possible to spend a much bigger percentage of every session observing than I could before. Its a game changer in this respect.

 

 

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1 hour ago, paulastro said:

Thanks Andrew.  I too found this about a couple of weeks or so ago, I was going  to post it and promptly forgot 🙂.

One thing I thought was rather odd, was that Ed said people might spend more time looking at the phone screen mounted on the scope rather than looking through the scope.

I only use the phone screen to find objects, which it does far quicker than using a finder.  So I spend much less time searching for objects, and far more time actually observing.

If the user wants  to spend time listening to all the descriptions, or playing around with it in some other ways,  it's up to the individual. 

To me the BIGGEST advantage of the SS is the fact that it's possible to spend a much bigger percentage of every session observing than I could before. Its a game changer in this respect.

 

 

I concur only had limited chances with it but found the objects quickly and I could spend time viewing. 

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4 hours ago, paulastro said:

One thing I thought was rather odd, was that Ed said people might spend more time looking at the phone screen mounted on the scope rather than looking through the scope.

I interpreted his point here as being that for some people a piece of electronics (gadget / screen) could be a distraction from the “pure” process of finding and actually observing. This could be true, but it’s also true that it increases the speed of locating objects and hence maximises precious observing time. It was useful to mention though since the ‘scope is essentially designed to be used with a phone as the default - a concept that could be anathema to some traditionalists, and also removes the psychological motivation-reward loop inherent with tracking down a faint fuzzy manually. Nevertheless I’d surmise that for very many beginners and experienced observers alike (who have done their time observing the hard way!) it’s an absolute game changer from Celestron and as Ed noted in his review, has the potential to become the de facto standard. 

Edited by Astro_Dad
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39 minutes ago, Astro_Dad said:

I interpreted his point here as being that for some people a piece of electronics (gadget / screen) could as a distraction from the “pure” process of finding and actually observing. This could be true, but it’s also true that it increases the speed of locating objects and hence maximises previous observing time. It was useful to mention though since the ‘scope is essentially designed to be used with a phone as the default - a concept that could be anathema to some traditionalists, and also removes the psychological motivation-reward loop inherent with tracking down a faint fuzzy manually.  Nevertheless I’d surmise that for very many beginners and experienced observers alike (who have done their time observing the hard way!) it’s an absolute game changer from Celestron and as Ed noted in his review, has the potential to become the de facto standard. 

I'm not sure about 'psychological motovation-reward loop" Andrew.

Many, many years ago when I first started observing using a finder, I do remember being amazed that the object was where it was supposed to be and delighted to be able to observe my Quarry once found.

Having said that, I've truly never enjoyed the actual process of searching using a finder which, for me, has always been a means to an end.  The joy for me came from actually observing the objects - and this is still how I feel. 

I've  used some goto mounts in my time, and  enjoyed that less than using a finder.  Too much to go wrong both electronically and mechanically, and for most of them, too noisy.  

I'm certainly no smartphone guru, but with my StarSense dob  I can find objects quickly, quietly and make best use of the all too brief opportunities our climate in the UK allows. I can use the majority of my time at the telescope doing what I like doing most, - observing.  Bliss 😊.

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I agree Paul - StarSense in many ways makes other finding systems (including other Push to approaches) seem old fashioned, and GOTO is not as convenient (in my review I compared StarSense very favourably against Syn Scan based on my own experience of them). We are luckily spoilt for choice with the range of options available depending on budget, requirements etc. 

Definitely  with you on the finding being (ultimately) a means to an end, but I won’t be the only one who despite being a big fan of StarSense, derives some joy and satisfaction from learning the night sky the “hard way” and having that reward of finding an object manually. (Perhaps minority! who knows?).  I suspect this wears off after many many years of observing though.  BUT, I’d still prefer to have StarSense than not on balance - and I’ve read a good analogy that likens the need to star hop manually to the need to use a road atlas to get anywhere- it’s just not a skill that is required anymore. Still fun though, and as always horses for courses 😀

Edited by Astro_Dad
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