Price: $479.95 - $429.95
(as of Nov 15, 2024 16:23:28 UTC - Details)

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. Dock, Launch, Explore 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. Smartphone Compatibility StarSense Explorer works with most modern smartphones, including iPhone 6 and up and most devices running Android 7.1.2 or later manufactured since 2016. Patented StarSense Sky Recognition Technology StarSense Explorer 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.
UNLEASH THE POWER OF YOUR SMARTPHONE: Let your iPhone or Android phone take you on a guided tour of the night sky—no telescope experience required. Just follow the arrows to locate stars, planets & more
PATENTED STARSENSE SKY RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY: This one-of-a-kind telescope uses patented, award-winning StarSense sky recognition technology and your smartphone to analyze star patterns overhead and calculate its position in real time.
STARSENSE EXPLORER APP: The app generates a list of the best objects to view based on your exact time & location. View planets, brighter nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters from the city PLUS fainter, deep sky objects from darker sites.
EASY TO SET UP AND USE: 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.
HIGH-QUALITY 130MM NEWTONIAN REFLECTOR: The 5" primary mirror features highly reflective coatings and enough light gathering ability to view craters on the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and deep sky objects like the Orion Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, and Pleiades Open Star Cluster.
UNBEATABLE WARRANTY & SUPPORT: Buy with confidence from Celestron, a leading telescope brand in California since 1960. Your purchase includes a 2-Year US Warranty and unlimited support from our team of US-based experts.
Reviewer: DogLover
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: So easy to use!
Review: As I approached a milestone birthday (I won’t tell you which milestone though), I found myself wanting to fulfill my childhood dream of owning a nice telescope. After much deliberation, I decided to treat myself to the Celestron StarSense Explorer 5". It felt like a nod to that starry-eyed kid within me, yearning to explore the mysteries of the cosmos. All my research and effort paid off…and hopefully it helps others out there too. (This scope rocks, go for it!!)Given the budget I had in mind, I quickly stumbled into the world of electronic telescopes with motors and little remote controls that steer themselves to things in the sky. I must have watched 30 YouTube videos on these types of scopes. While they seemed cool, I got the impression that I would be spending more time fumbling with the electronics than actually enjoying the stars. I have enough stress in my real life, and I wanted this scope to be simple and hassle free to use, just grab and go. No fumbling looking for batteries or doing a long set up process.The Celestron StarSense Explorer 5" caught my attention because it promised to be a telescope that didn't require a PhD to operate. Instead of a robotic telescope that steers itself to objects, you place your phone into the dock and move the telescope yourself. It made big promises of being equally as accurate as the electronic version, but simpler because you are moving it manually.There are a lot of StarSense models to choose from, but for me, the 5” is the best blend of quality and “grab and go” I was looking for. I live on a few acres of land, and I didn’t want to have to haul a large and bulky Dobsonian out to my astronomy spot. This 5” is the largest one that is still more of a traditional telescope. It also has the sturdier base and fancier controls compared to the budget models.When it arrived, I was pleasantly surprised by the telescope’s sleek and sturdy construction. It looks good enough to keep assembled near my back door so it’s always ready when I am. I actually followed the instruction manual step by step (not normal for me) and found that setting it up was a breeze. After a certain point, I didn’t need the manual because the app guided me through matching up the telescope with my phone. This was the part I was most nervous about, but it honestly took less than 5 minutes. And now that I have done it before, it takes me about 20 seconds.One feature that really got me excited was the smartphone app. I have some familiarity with the big constellations and brighter stars in the sky but I’m no expert by any means. So having the phone was like a cheat code to help me find things I am sure I could not find on my own. With the app, finding things with my scope became as easy as ordering a pizza. There’s even an audio feature to listen to info about what you are looking at. I like to pop in my earbuds and listen as I look in the eyepiece.Speaking of which, let’s talk about the real highlight—the views. From the rings of Saturn to the tiniest little galaxies and star clusters, each observation left me in awe. Although I am not in the middle of the city, there’s still some light pollution from the town and neighboring medium sized city. The scope cut through all that light pollution. I could see things in the eyepiece when it looked to my naked eye that there was nothing there.Of course, no product is without its imperfections. The main limitation I have with this scope is that I can’t do celestial photography. You need one of the electronic ones to track the sky so you can hook up a camera. But that’s a small price to pay for the simplicity of the StarSense Explorer. And I still have gotten some pretty great images of the moon by just holding my phone up to the eyepiece. I honestly have been using this scope regularly for months now, and now with warmer weather coming I am looking forward to a summer of stargazing every chance I get.In conclusion, the Celestron StarSense Explorer 5" is a solid choice for anyone looking to dip their toes into the world of stargazing. It's simple enough for beginners like me to use, yet powerful enough to keep things interesting and keep you coming back night after night. So go ahead, treat yourself to a little slice of the cosmos…you won't regret it.

Reviewer: asset4364
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is a Fantastic Beginner Telescope!!!
Review: I’ve been observing the night sky with telescopes for 35 years, have owned almost 20 different telescopes and have been asked many times for suggestions by people looking to buy a “starter” telescope. When I heard about the new Celestron StarSense Explorer line of telescopes, I was super intrigued and decided I’d purchase one to try out.Spending $399 on anything is a lot to spend. Spending $399 on a telescope, is relatively inexpensive compared to most telescopes on the market and certainly is within the price range of other beginner telescopes. So, what did I think of the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ? The short answer is, as an entry level telescope, I loved it! If you want to know why, read further.I’ll start by saying the telescope was well packed. It came in an attractive box with the components packed in smaller boxes inside. All of it was packed within a standard shipping box.The instructions made assembly very smooth although I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that I have assembled a lot of telescopes. I went into it though trying to have the perspective of someone who is new to telescopes. Having said that, I did jump to one conclusion that I was happy to be wrong about. The StarSense Explorer DX 102AZ and 130AZ telescopes have slow motion controls for moving the telescope left and right as well as up and down. Every slow-motion control I’ve ever seen attaches to the mount using visible small thumb screws. The slow-motion controls for the DX telescopes use sunken Allen head screws that are not readily visible. This is in no way a negative. I’m simply mentioning it for anyone else like me that would expect to see the typical thumb screws. Unboxing everything and assembling the telescope took less than 30 minutes.The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is a 5.1” diameter reflecting telescope on an alt-azimuth mount with an adjustable height tripod. It comes with two entry level eyepieces; a 25mm that provides 26x and a 10mm that provides 65x. It also comes with a Celestron StarPointer red dot finder. The StarPointer is very similar to the finders I use on my more expensive and more sophisticated telescopes. It makes pointing the telescope at the targets you know the location of without using the StarSense app, very easy. It does need to be aligned with the telescope which can be done quite easily when you follow the included instructions.In my opinion, the real strength of the Celestron StarSense Explorer line of telescopes is the StarSense app. Using this app on your smartphone, coupled with this quality beginner telescope, makes finding objects in the night sky an almost effortless pleasure. The StarSense app walks you through aligning the night sky in the app with where the telescope is pointed. Once the two are aligned, click on the StarSense icon at the bottom of the screen on your smartphone, pick an object you want to look at and the app will guide you to move the scope manually to the chosen object. It does this with great accuracy which I’ll touch on later. It also provides a description, observing tips, and data for each object while standing at the telescope. StarSense is a very intuitive and informative app.I chose the Celestron Explorer DX 130AZ because it has the largest aperture in this new line of telescopes. The aperture of a telescope is the real power of the telescope. The larger the aperture, the more light it will collect, and the brighter objects will be. A 130mm (5.1”) telescope is enough aperture to keep an avid observer busy for years. Don’t get hung up on the advertised magnification of a telescope. After many years of using large 18” and 25” reflecting telescopes that required step ladders and stools to look through, I do all my observing with 4”, 5” and 6” refracting telescopes nowadays.During my first night out with the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX I observed 20 different objects including the planet Venus, the Orion Nebula, the Pleiades Star Cluster, four galaxies (M65, M66, M81, M82), and quite a few various other open star clusters. I used the StarSense app to guide me to each object. When using the supplied 25mm eyepiece, every object was placed in the center of the field of view. I was super impressed by just how accurate it was! I currently have a couple different expensive computerized GoTo telescope mounts that automatically slew whatever telescope I have on them to the selected object. The StarSense app pointed the DX 130AZ telescope with more consistent accuracy than I have experienced with my GoTo telescope mounts. Optically, stars were sharp, and objects appeared as I would expect when observing from my front yard with more than one streetlight keeping my eyes from being adapted to the dark. To truly experience the potential of any telescope, observe from the darkest location you can and let your eyes adapt to the dark. Use a red flashlight if possible. Also, take advantage of the night vision mode in the StarSense app. Doing so will tint your smartphone screen red, which will help your eyes stay adapted to the dark.In summary, the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ is surprisingly enjoyable and easy to use. This is the most fun I’ve had with any telescope in its price range and in my opinion, it has the potential to change astronomy for beginners in a very positive way. What a fun way to be introduced to the universe! I can only imagine how different my early years under the stars would have been if I had this telescope coupled with a smartphone and the StarSense app. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting to start their journey into amateur astronomy!

Reviewer: Bashar Gharaibeh
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Easy to put together and start using, but ..
Review: First of all, the seller (Atlanta Hobby) was amazing and very responsive. They helped in getting a replacement for a part that arrived damaged. They deserve a full 5 stars.As for the telescope itself, it gets a lower score for the following reasons:Mount: My biggest complaint is the way the telescope is mounted, which is via a single plastic arm on one side. This seems to cause considerable vibration whenever you adjust the focus, or slightly change direction or even just touching the movement control arms! By the time the image settles down the object would have almost drifted out of view and position correction is needed, which again causes the scope to vibrate. This gives you a few seconds or less of steady viewing between corrections. Beside that the mount itself (legs) are good yet light to carry.StarSense: The concept is very cool and very easy to use. It has helped me in finding Neptune and some deep sky objects. Note that it needs a good view of the sky to find the position quickly, and darker skies are better.However it has few quirks. For example, the app doesn't account that the phone edge may not be reachable due to the phone holder edges, yet there are buttons placed at the bottom of the app. Also the search bar doesn't forgive typos, you need to enter the name correctly to be able to find it, not a big issue unless your fingers are cold.Am also surprised by the price point for this telescope. The StarSense technology can be modularized and attached to any telescope (say replace the viewfinder). Which means a larger customer base without the need for the large price increase over a regular Newtonian with the same optical specs!

Reviewer: Jenn Kitching
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: So glad we bought this! It’s expensive but definitely worth it. This is a pic my husband took of the moon with it. Can’t see that kind of detail with my phones camera and can’t exactly capture it with my eyes lol. It’s a bit bulky but not very heavy (20ish lbs), awkward to carry and probably not very easy to transport in a vehicle- we haven’t yet tried.Would recommend overall! Definitely try to get it on sale though! We saved about $100 by doing so and it arrived on time!

Reviewer: Fersi
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Hicimos la compra del StarSense Explorer DX 130. Es nuestro primer telescopio y es muy fácil su uso.La app de StarSense es un poco complicada, no es tan sencillo que se conecte y ubique su posición, entonces vas a batallar un poco, pero una vez que logras conectarlo, es muy intuitivo.De cualquier manera el telescopio es buenísimo aún sin la aplicación.Las fotos adjuntas son: las de la luna son con los dos lentes que vienen incluidos, sin filtros y sin edición, tal cual se ve directamente. Las fotos son tomadas con un iPhone 12. La otra es del eclipse en Mazatlán, es la foto del sol en su fase total, para este compramos un filtro solar. Como pueden ver, se ve súper súper bien, si estás iniciando, es maravilloso lo que se alcanza a ver.Recomiendo ver muchos videos en YouTube para poder armarlo y calibrarlo/conectarlo. Hay canales muy buenos en donde dan tips excelentes.Recomiendo mucho la compra.

Reviewer: JEROM
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Un telescopio fácil de usar. De buena calidad.La app no funciona si el cielo está nublado o muy contaminado, mejor usar el buscador de punto rojo.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Buen telescopio u montura fácil de utilizar, sin embargo el sistema StarSense únicamente funcionó dos veces. He intentado alinearlo con un objeto brillante como la luna y no se alinea. No vale la pena

Reviewer: partha ghosh
Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I purchased it paying around 40000 rupees, when i get the product, it came with a small toy box. Don't go for this.