Celestron – StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ Smartphone App-Enabled Telescope – Works with StarSense App to Help You Find Stars, Planets & More – 130mm Newtonian Reflector – iPhone/Android Compatible…
Best Telescope For Viewing Galaxies is unique product. I ordered my telescope from Amazon on February 5, 2020. It arrived about a week later, than promised by Amazon. The box was in perfect condition. So was everything in the box. We live in Atlanta and since the scope arrived through yesterday we have had 7 days with semi clear sky. Not a great time to have purchased a telescope. But I digress. The assembly of the tripod and the telescope was pretty simple.
The directions are good and easy to follow. Once the setup was complete, I moved on to aligning the Finder Scope. The directions say to take the scope outside and find a fixed object at least a quarter of a mile away. In Atlanta, with the hills and trees, that is a challenge. I was able to zero in on an object about 200 yards away (1/8 of a mile) and set up the Scope Finder.
Next, you are asked to download the app to your phone. The process was very easy – be sure to keep the orange card with the access code to access the telescope control. Next, you place your phone in the Star Sense dock and adjust the dock to get your phone centered on the Star Sense mirror. All you need now is a clear night sky. Again, more waiting here in Atlanta. Finally, a partly clear sky, so outside we went. We started our easy with the moon. We opened the app, picked the moon, and the screen on the phone told us which way we needed to move to find the moon. Obviously we knew where the moon was being, we wanted to see how the software worked.
This is the coolest part of the Star Sense Explorer. The arrows on the screen guide to where you need to be. Once you get close, you can start to use the slow-motion adjustments until the phone says that you are where you need to be. It’s amazing. Looking in the eyepiece of the telescope, the moon wasn’t centered, so I went through the alignment process very quickly on the ScopeFinder again using the moon. Although the moon is not stationary, it worked great. Now it is perfect.
We moved to Venus and then the Beehive Cluster before the clouds took over. The software worked perfectly to get us to both views. There is no need to have the tripod perfectly level. All you have to do is follow the instructions on your phone. For a novice this is a great, easy to set up, easy to operate, telescope. Don’t hesitate to get one.
