Celestron StarSense Autoguider

[sojourneyer]

It looks like they have used some of their skyalign, sky prodigy and starsense technology to come up with another gizmo.

What say you about this new development?

https://www.celestron.com/collections/nexstar-se-computerized-telescopes

 

26d45550b8156fe3.avif

[bosun21]

10 hours ago, sojourneyer said:

It looks like they have used some of their skyalign, sky prodigy and starsense technology to come up with another gizmo.

What say you about this new development?

https://www.celestron.com/collections/nexstar-se-computerized-telescopes

 

26d45550b8156fe3.avifUnavailable

These Nexstar telescopes have been out for many many years. Nothing new here.

[StevieDvd]

As @bosun21 says the Nexstar mounts have been around for ages.  The latest adverts are just reminding you that the new products launched since then are compatible, the Starsense AutoAlign camera for example uses the same aux connections.

 

[globular]

The thread title is about the new (released a few months ago) autoguider.
However the link provided doesn't take you to it.  It should have been....

https://www.celestron.com/products/starsense-autoguider

It looks like a combination of a more accurate version of starsense autoalign - to automatically align the telescope and put things dead centre in the FOV - and a guider - so things stay centred accurately enough for astro photography.

Sounds like a nice idea in one easy to use product - but the price seems a bit high for it to take off.

Edited September 14, 2023 by globular

[StevieDvd]

Ahh the link had me confused too. Not much use for the NexStarSE series unless they are on a wedge.  Aimed presumably at the EQ mounts based on their own 'Best suited for' list.

But I agree a bit pricey.

 

 

[sojourneyer]

7 hours ago, globular said:

The thread title is about the new (released a few months ago) autoguider.
However the link provided doesn't take you to it.  It should have been....

https://www.celestron.com/products/starsense-autoguider

It looks like a combination of a more accurate version of starsense autoalign - to automatically align the telescope and put things dead centre in the FOV - and a guider - so things stay centred accurately enough for astro photography.

Sounds like a nice idea in one easy to use product - but the price seems a bit high for it to take off.

oops, my bad and it is way too pricey

Edited September 14, 2023 by sojourneyer

[Shimrod]

On 14/09/2023 at 17:28, sojourneyer said:

oops, my bad and it is way too pricey

I think you need to compare like with like - this is more than just an enhanced Starsense unit. As well as providing the same functions as Starsense, it is also an autoguider for astrophotography.

A cheap guide camera and guidescope is £200, an equivalent with an IMX290 sensor will be around £300, and you might expect to pay around £200 for a Polemaster or Ipolar for accurate polar alignment.

When you add all this together, the price of the autoguider (while not cheap) is roughly the equivalent of buying the same components individually - the autoguider has the added advantage of not needing a laptop - pricewise it is equivalent to the Staraid Revolution which provided similar functions.

The biggest downside I can see is that it only appears to work with Celestron mounts (and only a limited set), so like buying into the ZWO ecosystem, you have to be confident that you won't go to a non-Celestron mount at some point in the future.