86 BBC Sky at Night Magazine August 2021FIRST LIGHT
Our experts review the latest kit
Admirable app and adaptor
The StarSense adaptor/phone dock lies on the other
side of the mounting arm to the telescope, and this
lines up perfectly with the direction the telescope is
pointing. Simply download the StarSense Explorer
app from Google Play or the Apple app store and
insert your smartphone in the holder. When the app
starts up you can align the smartphone with the
telescope, which is best done in the
daytime on a distant target for
accurate alignment. The
adaptor positions your
smartphone over a
mirror, allowing its
camera to ‘see’ the
night sky.
The app is very
effective and is
at the core of
the StarSense
system; it plate-
solves the view ofD
o you fancy having Go-To
functionality without the hassle of
motorised drives and a complex
equatorial or altaz mount that costs a
fortune? Well, this is where Celestron’s
StarSense range comes into its own.
By employing a clever app on your smartphone,
combined with a carefully designed adaptor to hold
it, the StarSense series does just that. As the
StarSense Explorer DX 6-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain is
currently the largest and latest offering in the series,
we were keen to try it out.
The StarSense Explorer DX 6 is a 6-inch (150mm)
Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, which uses a primary
mirror at the rear, and a corrector plate and
secondary mirror at the front to fold the light path
into a short tube. It has a focal length of 1,500mm,
giving a focal ratio of f/10, and the tube is onlyWORDS: PAUL MONEY6-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain
An app-enabled telescope, which allows your smartphone to dock and guide it
406mm long making it quite compact. It is mounted
on a basic yet effective manual ‘Push-To’ altaz
mount; while slow-motion controls allow you to make
ƅQHWXQLQJDGMXVWPHQWVWRWKHSRVLWLRQRIWKH
telescope, it can also be moved by hand for rough
alignment. The mount also houses the smartphone
adaptor/phone dock; when you are using the
downloadable StarSense Explorer app (see box,
below) this enables you to align your smartphone
with where the telescope is pointing.Added benefits
The accompanying black aluminium tripod has ample
leg adjustment to put the telescope at a convenient
height to use with a basic yet effective spreader
accessory tray. The StarSense Explorer DX 6 is
supplied with two eyepieces, 40mm and 10mm, which
JLYHPDJQLƅFDWLRQVRI[DQG[UHVSHFWLYHO\Celestron StarSense Explorer DX
- Price £699
- Optical design
Schmidt-
Cassegrain - Optics 150mm
- Focal length
1,500mm, f/10 - Mount
Manual altaz
mount with
slow-motion
controls - App control
StarSense
Explorer
app with
StarSense Sky
Recognition
Technology
and
planetarium - Extras
StarSense
dock for your
smartphone,
40mm and
10mm
eyepieces,
star diagonal,
StarPointer
red dot
finderscope - Weight 6.35kg
- Supplier
Celestron - Te l 0118 467
1200 - http://www.celestron.
com
VITAL STATS
@T
HE
SH
ED
/PH
OT
OS
TU
DIO
X^
3 ,^ P
AU
L^ M
ON
EY
>the sky the phone camera sees and works out where
it is pointing. This allows the planetarium aspect of
the app to show you the way via onscreen arrows to a
target (below, right). Move the scope manually until
you are almost on target, leave the scope to refine its
position, then you can fine tune the position so the
indicator box turns green when you’re on target.
There is also a red light night mode (below, left).