StarSense Explorer 8" Smartphone App-Enabled Dobsonian Telescope
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$879.00at CelestronChecked Nov 10
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The StarSense Explorer 8" is a manual Dobsonian reflector that uses your phone as a finder. You dock the phone, the StarSense Explorer app plate-solves the sky, and on-screen arrows guide you to objects until a bullseye turns green. The 8-inch aperture pulls in faint galaxies, globular clusters and planetary detail that smaller scopes miss, and the rocker box is stable enough to hold collimation. It suits beginners who want real aperture without motorized goto, and it competes with 8-inch Dobs from Sky-Watcher and Apertura that rely on star charts or add-on setting circles.
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Owners rate it highly, calling the phone-guided pointing accurate and easy for newcomers. They praise the 8-inch views and stable base, while noting the size and weight and the need to collimate.
The Celestron StarSense Explorer 8" Dobsonian is a Newtonian reflector telescope that uses a smartphone to find objects in the night sky. The phone sits in a dock on the telescope. After a quick alignment of the phone to the telescope's optics, the app lists the celestial objects currently visible.
When you pick an object, on-screen arrows guide you as you move the telescope. The bullseye turns green when the object is ready to view in the eyepiece. The app includes hundreds of audio descriptions and detailed information on thousands of objects. It determines where the telescope is pointed by matching star patterns to its internal database with a Lost in Space Algorithm (LISA), rather than relying only on the phone's gyros and accelerometers.
The optical tube is an 8" Newtonian reflector. Its mirrors are made of low-expansion optical glass and have XLT optical coatings to increase contrast and light throughput. The Dobsonian base has large diameter altitude bearings with variable tensioning, Teflon azimuth bearings, and braces on the side panels. An altitude brake system lets you adjust the tension for smooth motion, and a panning knob on the tube lets you point the telescope without adding heat from your hands to the optics. Carry handles sit at the balance point of the tube and base.
