Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 114AZ Reflector Telescope
Celestron has reinvented the manual telescope with StarSense Explorer-the first telescope that uses your smartphone to analyze the night sky and calculate its position in real time. StarSense Explorer 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 StarSense Explorer, 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. StarSense Explorer works with most modern smartphones; it is compatible with Android 12 and later, as well as iOS 18 and newer, including iPhone XR and newer models. Users with older phones can still use this app, but will not be able to reinstall the app if they uninstall it.
Celestron has reinvented the manual telescope with StarSense Explorer-the first telescope that uses your smartphone to analyze the night sky and calculate its position in real time. StarSense Explorer 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 StarSense Explorer, 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. StarSense Explorer works with most modern smartphones; it is compatible with Android 12 and later, as well as iOS 18 and newer, including iPhone XR and newer models. Users with older phones can still use this app, but will not be able to reinstall the app if they uninstall it.
Celestron has reinvented the manual telescope with StarSense Explorer-the first telescope that uses your smartphone to analyze the night sky and calculate its position in real time. StarSense Explorer 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 StarSense Explorer, 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. StarSense Explorer works with most modern smartphones; it is compatible with Android 12 and later, as well as iOS 18 and newer, including iPhone XR and newer models. Users with older phones can still use this app, but will not be able to reinstall the app if they uninstall it.
Celestron has reinvented the manual telescope with StarSense Explorer-the first telescope that uses your smartphone to analyze the night sky and calculate its position in real time. StarSense Explorer 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 StarSense Explorer, 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. StarSense Explorer works with most modern smartphones; it is compatible with Android 12 and later, as well as iOS 18 and newer, including iPhone XR and newer models. Users with older phones can still use this app, but will not be able to reinstall the app if they uninstall it.
in 45 offers
The lowest price for Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 114AZ Reflector Telescope right now is $263.59 at AliExpress.com - AliExpress-226247430, compared across 29 retailers.
The all-time low was $37.85 on 11 May 2026 — today's price is 596% above the lowest ever. It has been notably cheaper before — worth setting a price alert.
Prices last updated 1 Aug 2026.
Last updated at 01/08/2026 13:25:21
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originally posted on bestbuy.com
This is my first real telescope and my first time reviewing one so take my review with a grain of salt. As someone who recently took a strong interest in astronomy and look all over for a high quality but still affordable telescope you options do become rather limited in the affordable range. This was the highest end Telescope Best Buy sold on their website (going strictly by the 130mm number and price compared to the other Celestron telescopes on here) and the price was just at the limit of the money I wanted to spend for my first telescope. And I will say I am loving this telescope a few months later. Comes with everything needed to get started observing the stars and planets. I would recommend using the moon on a clear night to really get a full grasp on what you ... MoreThis is my first real telescope and my first time reviewing one so take my review with a grain of salt. As someone who recently took a strong interest in astronomy and look all over for a high quality but still affordable telescope you options do become rather limited in the affordable range. This was the highest end Telescope Best Buy sold on their website (going strictly by the 130mm number and price compared to the other Celestron telescopes on here) and the price was just at the limit of the money I wanted to spend for my first telescope. And I will say I am loving this telescope a few months later. Comes with everything needed to get started observing the stars and planets. I would recommend using the moon on a clear night to really get a full grasp on what you can see with it. Now keep your expectations in place, don’t buy this telescope and think you will see Saturn and Jupiter like they appear in pictures from Hubble or Voyager. But you will still be able to see them and with the two eye pieces with plenty of clarity in a way you just can’t with the naked eye. It comes with two eye pieces with different magnification and it’s a good place to start. You can buy more eye pieces which I will be doing shortly for more viewable and filters. So I can’t speak on them yet but with what is included for the price and ease of use and for beginners just starting out. And the app which once you get it aligned and learn how to use it with the telescope helps finding objects in the sky with extreme ease. Overall highly recommend this for people just starting out.
originally posted on wexphotographic.com
Have only managed a couple of nights stargazing due to recent bad weather but am impressed with the ease of set up. I didn't expect to see much as I'm in a Bortle 6 but was pleasantly surprised with the range of objects visible from my back garden. I have an older skywatcher scope with equatorial mount which was great, but just too bulky to set up & take down every time, I don't have the luxury of a room to store a fully set up scope, so the StarSense Explorer is ideal as it is portable and can be packed up when not in use. I invested in a decent scope & a tripod bag to keep them safe when not in use.I tested the lens' that came with it, they do the job but I have quite a few better ones from my other scope which fit and work very well with it.What I can see from ... MoreHave only managed a couple of nights stargazing due to recent bad weather but am impressed with the ease of set up. I didn't expect to see much as I'm in a Bortle 6 but was pleasantly surprised with the range of objects visible from my back garden. I have an older skywatcher scope with equatorial mount which was great, but just too bulky to set up & take down every time, I don't have the luxury of a room to store a fully set up scope, so the StarSense Explorer is ideal as it is portable and can be packed up when not in use. I invested in a decent scope & a tripod bag to keep them safe when not in use.I tested the lens' that came with it, they do the job but I have quite a few better ones from my other scope which fit and work very well with it.What I can see from the back garden is a bit limited but I never tire of looking at Orions nebula and I was able to let my "new to astronomy" husband see the wonders of the Moon (with filter), the delights of the Pleiades, Castor & Pollux, Beetlejuice, Aldebaran, Sirius and of course the mighty Orion nebula, he was & still is in awe of what he saw and is planning a dark sky holiday as soon as the weather allows us to travel to Northumberland.Yes, I would recommend this scope, both for a complete novice & intermediate astronomer. It is compact, lightweight, easy to put up/take down, the phone app is excellent and can be fitted in the holder attachment for ease of use, IF your phone is in a case it will have to be removed to fit in the cradle, mine is so it just stays in my pocket until I need it, but it is a very convenient hands free piece of kit too.The tripod is well made and sturdy with very little vibration/shake when in use, the centre tray just drops in to the 3 pin holes so is handy for keeping lens', torch etc when not in use and easily removed when packing up.Overall this is an excellent piece of kit and I am very happy with it and will enjoy many pleasant, albeit cold, nights looking at our awsome Universe.
originally posted on bestbuy.ca
This is a quality telescope, and a good value.I'm not experienced, so it took me about four hours to get familiar with the parts and assemble it all, and then about four more hours to align the finderscope, install apps on my smart phone, match up the smart phone, and learn to use the telescope.My only suggestion for Celestron is they could make the instructions easier by adding a glossary with pictures of the parts for beginners like me who don't know the difference between a finderscope and an eyepiece.I ended up returning this. I have to figure out whether to get more serious about astronomy. Maybe I want something programmable with motors and gears, so once I have a clear image of Jupiter to show someone, it doesn't travel away from the eyepiece due to the ... MoreThis is a quality telescope, and a good value.I'm not experienced, so it took me about four hours to get familiar with the parts and assemble it all, and then about four more hours to align the finderscope, install apps on my smart phone, match up the smart phone, and learn to use the telescope.My only suggestion for Celestron is they could make the instructions easier by adding a glossary with pictures of the parts for beginners like me who don't know the difference between a finderscope and an eyepiece.I ended up returning this. I have to figure out whether to get more serious about astronomy. Maybe I want something programmable with motors and gears, so once I have a clear image of Jupiter to show someone, it doesn't travel away from the eyepiece due to the Earth's rotation before my friend can take a look.And maybe I want my smartphone to be able to take pictures of the magnified image of Jupiter once I can see from the eyepiece. According to YouTube, I guess that's possible by buying accessories and having two smart phones? (The phone you put in the dock doesn't take photos of magnified images.)
| Optical Design | Newtonian Reflector |
| Aperture | 114mm (4.5") |
| Focal Length | 1000mm (39.3") |
| Focal Ratio | f/9 |
| Focal Length of Eyepiece 1 | 25mm (0.98") |
Celestron SSE LT114AZ Astronomical Telescope, 114/1000 StarSense Explorer Smartphone App-Enabled
Free delivery
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Delivery $153.32
Celestron Professional StarSense Explora Scope SSE LT114AZ 114mm Manual Newtonian Reflector High
Delivery $180.64
Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 114AZ Powerful 114mm Reflector Astronomical Teleskop Use Smartphone
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Celestron SSE LT114AZ Astronomical Telescope, StarSense Explorer Smartphone App-Enabled Aluminum
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This is my first real telescope and my first time reviewing one so take my review with a grain of salt. As someone who recently took a strong interest in astronomy and look all over for a high quality but still affordable telescope you options do become rather limited in the affordable range. This was the highest end Telescope Best Buy sold on their website (going strictly by the 130mm number and price compared to the other Celestron telescopes on here) and the price was just at the limit of the money I wanted to spend for my first telescope. And I will say I am loving this telescope a few months later. Comes with everything needed to get started observing the stars and planets. I would recommend using the moon on a clear night to really get a full grasp on what you ... MoreThis is my first real telescope and my first time reviewing one so take my review with a grain of salt. As someone who recently took a strong interest in astronomy and look all over for a high quality but still affordable telescope you options do become rather limited in the affordable range. This was the highest end Telescope Best Buy sold on their website (going strictly by the 130mm number and price compared to the other Celestron telescopes on here) and the price was just at the limit of the money I wanted to spend for my first telescope. And I will say I am loving this telescope a few months later. Comes with everything needed to get started observing the stars and planets. I would recommend using the moon on a clear night to really get a full grasp on what you can see with it. Now keep your expectations in place, don’t buy this telescope and think you will see Saturn and Jupiter like they appear in pictures from Hubble or Voyager. But you will still be able to see them and with the two eye pieces with plenty of clarity in a way you just can’t with the naked eye. It comes with two eye pieces with different magnification and it’s a good place to start. You can buy more eye pieces which I will be doing shortly for more viewable and filters. So I can’t speak on them yet but with what is included for the price and ease of use and for beginners just starting out. And the app which once you get it aligned and learn how to use it with the telescope helps finding objects in the sky with extreme ease. Overall highly recommend this for people just starting out.
Have only managed a couple of nights stargazing due to recent bad weather but am impressed with the ease of set up. I didn't expect to see much as I'm in a Bortle 6 but was pleasantly surprised with the range of objects visible from my back garden. I have an older skywatcher scope with equatorial mount which was great, but just too bulky to set up & take down every time, I don't have the luxury of a room to store a fully set up scope, so the StarSense Explorer is ideal as it is portable and can be packed up when not in use. I invested in a decent scope & a tripod bag to keep them safe when not in use.I tested the lens' that came with it, they do the job but I have quite a few better ones from my other scope which fit and work very well with it.What I can see from ... MoreHave only managed a couple of nights stargazing due to recent bad weather but am impressed with the ease of set up. I didn't expect to see much as I'm in a Bortle 6 but was pleasantly surprised with the range of objects visible from my back garden. I have an older skywatcher scope with equatorial mount which was great, but just too bulky to set up & take down every time, I don't have the luxury of a room to store a fully set up scope, so the StarSense Explorer is ideal as it is portable and can be packed up when not in use. I invested in a decent scope & a tripod bag to keep them safe when not in use.I tested the lens' that came with it, they do the job but I have quite a few better ones from my other scope which fit and work very well with it.What I can see from the back garden is a bit limited but I never tire of looking at Orions nebula and I was able to let my "new to astronomy" husband see the wonders of the Moon (with filter), the delights of the Pleiades, Castor & Pollux, Beetlejuice, Aldebaran, Sirius and of course the mighty Orion nebula, he was & still is in awe of what he saw and is planning a dark sky holiday as soon as the weather allows us to travel to Northumberland.Yes, I would recommend this scope, both for a complete novice & intermediate astronomer. It is compact, lightweight, easy to put up/take down, the phone app is excellent and can be fitted in the holder attachment for ease of use, IF your phone is in a case it will have to be removed to fit in the cradle, mine is so it just stays in my pocket until I need it, but it is a very convenient hands free piece of kit too.The tripod is well made and sturdy with very little vibration/shake when in use, the centre tray just drops in to the 3 pin holes so is handy for keeping lens', torch etc when not in use and easily removed when packing up.Overall this is an excellent piece of kit and I am very happy with it and will enjoy many pleasant, albeit cold, nights looking at our awsome Universe.
This is a quality telescope, and a good value.I'm not experienced, so it took me about four hours to get familiar with the parts and assemble it all, and then about four more hours to align the finderscope, install apps on my smart phone, match up the smart phone, and learn to use the telescope.My only suggestion for Celestron is they could make the instructions easier by adding a glossary with pictures of the parts for beginners like me who don't know the difference between a finderscope and an eyepiece.I ended up returning this. I have to figure out whether to get more serious about astronomy. Maybe I want something programmable with motors and gears, so once I have a clear image of Jupiter to show someone, it doesn't travel away from the eyepiece due to the ... MoreThis is a quality telescope, and a good value.I'm not experienced, so it took me about four hours to get familiar with the parts and assemble it all, and then about four more hours to align the finderscope, install apps on my smart phone, match up the smart phone, and learn to use the telescope.My only suggestion for Celestron is they could make the instructions easier by adding a glossary with pictures of the parts for beginners like me who don't know the difference between a finderscope and an eyepiece.I ended up returning this. I have to figure out whether to get more serious about astronomy. Maybe I want something programmable with motors and gears, so once I have a clear image of Jupiter to show someone, it doesn't travel away from the eyepiece due to the Earth's rotation before my friend can take a look.And maybe I want my smartphone to be able to take pictures of the magnified image of Jupiter once I can see from the eyepiece. According to YouTube, I guess that's possible by buying accessories and having two smart phones? (The phone you put in the dock doesn't take photos of magnified images.)
I got this as an upgrade to some rock bottom (30-50$) level refractor models I have (mostly used for skyline views) to show some friends a nice look at a recent blood moon/selenelion event in my area. There are some positives, but I'm returning it without hesitation.The good.Significant upgrade in terms of lense quality/magnification. Build quality of the telescope itself is nice. It is large, but not at all heavy, and I did a 40 min hike with it no problem. Laser adjuster actually worked pretty well, I was definitely skeptical it could be adjusted to be useful.The bad.The legs. OMG the legs. Floppy stand that wibbles and wobbles. It's also non standard, so I couldn't use a nice camera tripod I got second hand. It's described as having micro adjustment but ... MoreI got this as an upgrade to some rock bottom (30-50$) level refractor models I have (mostly used for skyline views) to show some friends a nice look at a recent blood moon/selenelion event in my area. There are some positives, but I'm returning it without hesitation.The good.Significant upgrade in terms of lense quality/magnification. Build quality of the telescope itself is nice. It is large, but not at all heavy, and I did a 40 min hike with it no problem. Laser adjuster actually worked pretty well, I was definitely skeptical it could be adjusted to be useful.The bad.The legs. OMG the legs. Floppy stand that wibbles and wobbles. It's also non standard, so I couldn't use a nice camera tripod I got second hand. It's described as having micro adjustment but all axes have a gum like effect where even at lowest level of magnification, you have to over steer and let it settle back into desired position. Simply impossible to do for the greater level of magnification. Not even a handle to help easy rotation. Trying to lock any view in a position moves angle significantly. I was really excited about the up/down mico adjuster rod, but even that was worse than loosening everything and freehanding.The phone holder thing/app is complete junk. Any other free gyro sky exploration app works better. Did not find position in sky even once (I assure you I followed the steps). There is no phone attachment for photos, just for the guided tour (it's just a mirror).There isn't even a lense that filters down a bright moon, which is standard for literally the cheapest scopes out there.Overall.I have no complaints at all about the optics. But the stand betrays all that is good about this model. The 'patent pending' phone holder is nonsense. I chose to keep a bottom level refractor paired with a very nice tripod instead of this without consideration of price (and it's 5x more).
It's a nice telescope. The app integration is great for holding my interest - I can point the telescope at whatever, and the app will identify it for me. Of course it's also nice when I want to look at a specific thing and can use the app to guide me to it, but I'm such a novice that I'm more likely go Cool, what's that?! than I must see m38 at this point. The telescope itself seems quite nice, though it's my first so I can't compare it to much. The included eyepieces work well, and are better than some SVBONY eyepieces that I added on. I'm having difficulty using this telescope for astrophotography, but I am 100% sure that's a me-problem and not a telescope problem.With this telescope, I can see Saturn's ring and some coloration on Jupiter.I only have two ... MoreIt's a nice telescope. The app integration is great for holding my interest - I can point the telescope at whatever, and the app will identify it for me. Of course it's also nice when I want to look at a specific thing and can use the app to guide me to it, but I'm such a novice that I'm more likely go Cool, what's that?! than I must see m38 at this point. The telescope itself seems quite nice, though it's my first so I can't compare it to much. The included eyepieces work well, and are better than some SVBONY eyepieces that I added on. I'm having difficulty using this telescope for astrophotography, but I am 100% sure that's a me-problem and not a telescope problem.With this telescope, I can see Saturn's ring and some coloration on Jupiter.I only have two negatives, both related to the red-dot starfinder. The included red-dot finder was so out of alignment that it couldn't be aligned with the telescope. I contacted Celestron support and they sent me a new one free of charge, which works just fine. The other negative is that the screw that holds the finder base to the telescope body were pre-stripped from the factory. I found this out trying to shim the finder to align it, but when I saw they were stripped I said Nope! and had Celestron just send me a properly calibrated finder. In any case, they aren't stuck and I don't expect getting the screws out will be a problem if I want to do so in the future, but shipping the telescope with pre-stripped mounting screws is a pretty bad look on something that retails for almost $500. Neither of the negatives would prevent me from buying this again, but they are still annoying.
This telescope is a bird-jones optics which has a corrector in side the focuser is used to correct the spherical aberration (mirror type is spherical), apparently in this scope it failed …Deep sky objects are impossible to view from city due to its high focal ratio. Even in bortle 3 or under, they appears dim and lack contrast(for all small “Newtonians”).For viewing planets it won’t produce a stunning image excluding the moon. (I tried Jupiter’s cloud bands are completely invisible and Saturn I could only see a ring but nothing beyond…)The app is great, it tells you where to point in the sky and the database is quite well. You could learn a lot from it, great for beginners. I literally just used this app as an alternative for sky safari.If you get more budget ... MoreThis telescope is a bird-jones optics which has a corrector in side the focuser is used to correct the spherical aberration (mirror type is spherical), apparently in this scope it failed …Deep sky objects are impossible to view from city due to its high focal ratio. Even in bortle 3 or under, they appears dim and lack contrast(for all small “Newtonians”).For viewing planets it won’t produce a stunning image excluding the moon. (I tried Jupiter’s cloud bands are completely invisible and Saturn I could only see a ring but nothing beyond…)The app is great, it tells you where to point in the sky and the database is quite well. You could learn a lot from it, great for beginners. I literally just used this app as an alternative for sky safari.If you get more budget (say in the price range of 600-1200dollars) it might be better to starting off with a starsense dobsonian it came out after I purchased this lol. Even though it looks a lot of money but it comes with a much better optics and it’s worth it. If you still don’t feel satisfied, astrophotography might be the way to go, but that’s way more expensive than a several hundred dollar that you spend on a dob and it takes more time to learn.
Bought this as a first telescope and I was stoked to get it 3 days after the order. I don't have knowledge of how these things are normally shipped but this one seemed to be solidly packed. Setup was super simple for a first timer, probably 10-15 minutes. Downloaded the app then headed outside to align it. Everything was going along smoothly until I tried to use the app. For an unknown reason, the StarSense app would not activate the camera feature on my phone, which is critical. I tried numerous times by stopping and restarting but the best it would do was a black screen. I contacted Celestron customer service after normal business hours by email and received a response within a few minutes. They said although my phone showed to be compatible (Samsung Galaxy S21 ... MoreBought this as a first telescope and I was stoked to get it 3 days after the order. I don't have knowledge of how these things are normally shipped but this one seemed to be solidly packed. Setup was super simple for a first timer, probably 10-15 minutes. Downloaded the app then headed outside to align it. Everything was going along smoothly until I tried to use the app. For an unknown reason, the StarSense app would not activate the camera feature on my phone, which is critical. I tried numerous times by stopping and restarting but the best it would do was a black screen. I contacted Celestron customer service after normal business hours by email and received a response within a few minutes. They said although my phone showed to be compatible (Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra), there had been several reports of issues with the app communicating with the phone. Some phones would run it, some wouldn't. Unfortunately, mine was one that wouldn't. I bought this particular scope because of the ease of use but since the app wouldn't work, I am returning it and getting a NexStar 8SE so I don't have to worry about any compatibility issues and I get the ease of use, albeit, at a substantial cost increase. I should say that even though the app wouldn't work, I was able to manually shift around the sky and see different objects. I saw the moon for the first time through a telescope and it was awesome. Slow motion controls really help with fine tuning. All in all, I would say this would be a keeper, as long as the app works.
I bought this scope on a different site but I must say as a beginner enthusiast this scope really worked for me! The first time looking at the moon was awesome, I saw Jupiter's moons, and Saturn's ring (writing this in CA during October 2022 so you have an idea of what is visible around 10pm)! All with very limited ability. I would say the hardest part about this scope is lining it up with distant objects. The red dot finder isn't the most accurate even after several adjustments but it gets the job done. It is quite wobbly and tracking far away objects is very difficult without slow motion controls. The app works okay, I haven't been able to really use it to it's full potential. If you are looking to buy a scope, I think this would make a great first purchase. It ... MoreI bought this scope on a different site but I must say as a beginner enthusiast this scope really worked for me! The first time looking at the moon was awesome, I saw Jupiter's moons, and Saturn's ring (writing this in CA during October 2022 so you have an idea of what is visible around 10pm)! All with very limited ability. I would say the hardest part about this scope is lining it up with distant objects. The red dot finder isn't the most accurate even after several adjustments but it gets the job done. It is quite wobbly and tracking far away objects is very difficult without slow motion controls. The app works okay, I haven't been able to really use it to it's full potential. If you are looking to buy a scope, I think this would make a great first purchase. It was easy to put together and I have had a lot of fun with it! I watched two reviews about it and it really helped with the general idea of how to use this scope. It is mainly for planets and nearby objects, not necessarily for deep space objects. But in the right hands and in the right low light areas, I am sure you could find some cool stuff! Again, my biggest problem with it is tracking far away objects when using the 10mm eye piece. Making small adjustments is kind of hard and then you have to wait for the wiggles (scientific term) to go away. A better stand might be worth the purchase!
I bought this from Best buy a few days ago, and have hand 2 nights to use it for a few hours. First, let me say this, Im very experienced with telescopes, observing, Astrophotography etc.Astronomy is my passion and I own probably a dozen serious telescopes, tripods, mounts, accessories, astro cameras etc. I would not recommend this telescope.Ill start with the good, the Optical tube itself isnt bad at all. the optics arent bad, the focuser, although plasticy, is smooth and accepts larger 2" eyepieces and the 5" f/5 mirror offers some pleasing wide field views, and does decently well on the lunar, planetary, and brighter deep sky objects. The app itself, Star Sense Explorer, is really cool, its the best part of the whole package. it can be a little buggy but in ... MoreI bought this from Best buy a few days ago, and have hand 2 nights to use it for a few hours. First, let me say this, Im very experienced with telescopes, observing, Astrophotography etc.Astronomy is my passion and I own probably a dozen serious telescopes, tripods, mounts, accessories, astro cameras etc. I would not recommend this telescope.Ill start with the good, the Optical tube itself isnt bad at all. the optics arent bad, the focuser, although plasticy, is smooth and accepts larger 2" eyepieces and the 5" f/5 mirror offers some pleasing wide field views, and does decently well on the lunar, planetary, and brighter deep sky objects. The app itself, Star Sense Explorer, is really cool, its the best part of the whole package. it can be a little buggy but in general, its very accurate, and allows you to locate tons of objects with ease.The Bad:the tripod/ mount aren't great.. although it does have slow motion controls which is a plus, its cheap feeling, made of plastic, its shaky, with vibration taking a long time to settle down, and wost of all, probably the deal breaker for me, is that the telescope can not point to Zenith.. or anywhere near it.. the scope maxes out at maybe 70°, hitting the tripod. this blocks the scope from viewing a huge portion of the sky, the darkest and clearest part of it.. which is absolutely unacceptable for an astronomical telescope. The mount simply doesn't work with this optical tube.The accessories are also pretty poor.. a 25mm and 10mm Kellner, made with cheap plastic barrels, while my work acceptably well in a slower refractor, are heavily abberated and very poor performers in an f/5 Newtonian. Coma, and field curvature smear out stars everywhere but the exact center of view.Overall, the decent tube and good app are nullified by poor accessories and a completely incompatible tripod. Im may just use the OTA on another mount and adapt the star sense dock to another telescope. If you want a real telescope, buy from a telescope dealer. The new 8"-10" dobsonian versions of this series would be far far better, certainly worth the extra few hundred.
Optically, this is a fine Newtonian, if a little on the high end of the price spectrum (which I assume is the StarSense software).The software is good, but note that it will crash on the Pixel 6 series of cameras and Celestron still hasn't fixed this problem despite it being well known. They also haven't updated their compatibility page.The main issue with this scope, though, is the tripod is absolute unusable garbage. The mount has play and doesn't securely hold the OTA no matter how tight you set it. What this means is that you will be waiting for extended periods of time for the image to stabilize--especially at higher magnifications. This also means that the slightest breeze will also disrupt your image.The instability overall makes what could have been a ... MoreOptically, this is a fine Newtonian, if a little on the high end of the price spectrum (which I assume is the StarSense software).The software is good, but note that it will crash on the Pixel 6 series of cameras and Celestron still hasn't fixed this problem despite it being well known. They also haven't updated their compatibility page.The main issue with this scope, though, is the tripod is absolute unusable garbage. The mount has play and doesn't securely hold the OTA no matter how tight you set it. What this means is that you will be waiting for extended periods of time for the image to stabilize--especially at higher magnifications. This also means that the slightest breeze will also disrupt your image.The instability overall makes what could have been a great beginner scope massively frustrating to use. This is the reason I returned mine and went a step up to Celestron's Dobsonian versions of the StarSense scopes.
| Optical Design | Newtonian Reflector |
| Aperture | 114mm (4.5") |
| Focal Length | 1000mm (39.3") |
| Focal Ratio | f/9 |
| Focal Length of Eyepiece 1 | 25mm (0.98") |
