Celestron Starsense Explorer DX 130AZ Refractor Telescope

Celestron has reinvented the manual telescope with Celestron Starsense Explorer DX 130AZ Refractor Telescope — the first telescope that uses your smartphone to analyze the night sky and calculate its position in real time. Celestron Starsense Explorer DX 130AZ Refractor Telescope is ideal for beginners thanks to the app’s user-friendly interface and detailed tutorials. It’s like having your own personal tour guide of the night sky.

Leave complicated star charts, imprecise planetarium apps, and computerized mounts behind. With Celestron Starsense Explorer DX 130AZ Refractor Telescope, locating objects has never been easier, faster, or more accurate. Within minutes of setting up the telescope, you’ll be navigating the sky with confidence. Simply place your phone in the unique StarSense dock and launch the StarSense Explorer app. After aligning your phone to the telescope’s optics (a quick, 2-minute procedure), StarSense Explorer generates a list of celestial objects currently visible. Make your selection and arrows appear onscreen, guiding you as you to move the telescope. When the object is ready to view, the bullseye turns green.

Celestron Starsense Explorer DX 130AZ Refractor Telescope works with most modern smartphones, including iPhone 6 and up and most devices running Android 7.1.2 or later manufactured since 2016. For a complete compatibility list, click here.

Celestron Starsense Explorer DX 130AZ Refractor Telescope uses patented technology and your smartphone to determine exactly where the telescope is pointed in the night sky. A Lost in Space Algorithm (LISA), like the ones satellites use in orbit to correctly orient themselves, helps the app match star patterns it detects overhead to its internal database.

While other astronomy apps may claim that they can help you find objects, they rely exclusively on the phone’s gyros and accelerometers, which aren’t as accurate as LISA technology. No other app can accurately tell you when your target is visible in the eyepiece.

An ultra-stable altazimuth mount provides a sturdy foundation for StarSense Explorer DX. Slip clutches and geared slow motion controls in both axes help you move the telescope smoothly and zero in your target. As celestial objects appear to drift across the night sky, you’ll be able to follow them with just a few turns of the knobs. It’s all anchored by an adjustable, full-height tripod.

With a large 130mm (5”) objective lens, this telescope has enough light gathering ability to bring out impressive detail in celestial objects. You can expect sharp, bright views of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, its cloud bands and Great Red Spot, the rings of Saturn, the trapezium in the Orion Nebula, and beautiful Pleiades Open Star Cluster. Highly reflective coatings on both the primary and secondary mirror enhance the views even more.

FEATURES

• Unleash the power of your smartphone to take you on a guided tour of the night sky—no telescope experience required.
• Award-winning and patented StarSense sky recognition technology uses your smartphone to analyze star patterns overhead and calculate its position in real time.
• StarSense Explorer Powered by SkySafari™ app automatically generates a list of objects currently visible. View planets, brighter nebulae and galaxies, star clusters, and double stars from the city. Or take your telescope to darker skies to view faint, deep sky objects.
• Manual altazimuth mount with smooth, dual-axis slow-motion controls makes it easy to follow the on-screen arrows to your desired target. When the bullseye turns green, it’s ready to view in the telescope’s eyepiece.
• 130mm (5”) Newtonian reflector with highly reflective coatings and enough light gathering ability to view all the best celestial objects.
• Includes 25mm and 10mm eyepieces, StarSense smartphone dock, a red dot finderscope (in case you want to use the telescope without your phone), and a sturdy, full-height tripod.

SPECIFICATIONS

• Optical Design: Newtonian Reflector
• Aperture: 130mm (5.11″)
• Focal Length: 650mm (25.59″)
• Focal Ratio: f/5
• Focal Length of Eyepiece 1: 25mm (0.98″)
• Magnification of Eyepiece 1: 26x
• Focal Length of Eyepiece 2: 10mm (0.39″)
• Magnification of Eyepiece 2: 65x
• Barlow Lens: Not Included
• Finderscope: StarPointer red dot finderscope
• Optical Tube: Steel
• Highest Useful Magnification: 307x
• Lowest Useful Magnification: 19x
• Limiting Stellar Magnitude: 13.1
• Resolution (Rayleigh): 1.07 arc seconds
• Resolution (Dawes): .89 arc seconds
• Light Gathering Power (Compared to human eye): 345x
• Secondary Mirror Obstruction: 45mm (1.73″)
• Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Diameter: 34%
• Secondary Mirror Obstruction by Area: 11%
• Optical Coatings: Glass mirrors coated with aluminum and SiO₂
• Optical Tube Length: 635mm (25″)
• Optical Tube Diameter: 165mm (6.49″)
• Optical Tube Weight: 8.8 lbs (3.99 kg)
• Dovetail: CG-5 Dovetail Bar