Celestron StarSense autoguider

Features

• Automatic alignment:
  Thanks to Celestron’s patented StarSense technology, the telescope aligns itself to the night sky in about three minutes – without user input
• Precise GoTo:
  Improves the positioning accuracy of your Celestron mount and places celestial objects in the center of the field of view of even high magnification eyepieces and small camera sensors.
• Autoguiding:
  Tracks celestial objects precisely, for pinpoint stars even on long-exposure astrophotos. Eliminates the need for a separate autoguiding camera, a guidescope and a guiding computer.
• Assistance with polarization:
  Guides you through a simple, automatic process to best align an equatorial mount.
• High-quality four-lens optics:
  Unique optical design by the famous optical designer Mark Ackermann, with sharper optics than other mini guidescopes.
• Several control options:
  Use your NexStar+ hand control or the CPWI telescope control software via a PC connected by cable or WLAN

 

What is the Celestron StarSense autoguider?

The Celestron StarSense autoguider is an all-in-one solution that makes operating your telescope easier and more successful than ever before. This small, powerful device is connected to your Celestron mount, increases the Goto accuracy and helps to take sharp, long-exposure astrophotographs without much effort. Whether you are just starting out in the hobby or have years of experience in astrophotography, with this accessory you can make even more effective use of clear nights.

 

Automatic alignment: ready for observation in just a few minutes

The StarSense autoguider automatically searches for the reference stars for alignment at the touch of a button – you don’t have to do anything else. Celestron’s patented StarSense technology recognizes star patterns in the sky and compares them with the integrated database so that the telescope knows where it is pointing. You no longer have to approach and center alignment stars manually, but can concentrate on the essentials – observing and photographing.

 

Precise GoTo: Maximize positioning accuracy

Celestron mounts are already known for their high positioning accuracy, but your mount will be even better if you use the StarSense autoguider. Your targets are now no longer just in the field of view, but exactly in the center of the eyepiece or camera – even at high magnification or with a small camera sensor.

 

Autoguiding: create the perfect picture

Astrophotography is one of the most exciting fields of activity for telescope owners. But for perfect images, you need an autoguider – it automatically makes the small corrections to ensure that the telescope tracks a target in the sky perfectly, even over long periods of time. Traditional autoguiding solutions are complicated and expensive. They usually contain a guide tube, another camera and a computer. With the StarSense autoguider, all this becomes superfluous – and even beginners can plunge headlong into the adventure of astrophotography. Your subjects are captured clearly and sharply in the image, and the background stars remain pin sharp and are no longer distorted into lines or hooks by tracking errors.

 

Support for polar alignment: Set up the mount in the best possible position

Many users have come to the conclusion that with the StarSense autoguider they can achieve such a precise Goto that they no longer need to properly polar align their equatorial mount when observing visually or just taking the occasional photograph.

But if you want to achieve the best results, the StarSense autoguider makes your work much easier. Simply follow the instructions on the hand controller or in the CPWI software and you will be able to completely polarize the mount within 5 minutes.

 

High-quality, four-lens look

The StarSense autoguider uses a four-lens optical design calculated by the famous optical designer Mark Ackermann. The unique design provides a sharper image than other mini guide tubes. The tube has a connection thread for 2″ filters. You can use an IR pass filter to set up the telescope at dusk or a gray filter to focus during the day. The device also includes a built-in computer and a high-sensitivity Sony IMX290-DLL monochrome CMOS sensor, all working together to achieve exceptional tracking accuracy. If you wish, you can also view the camera image live on your PC.

 

Options for advanced users

Experienced users will appreciate the option of optimizing the settings of their autoguider setup in CPWI. You can set dithering so that the camera moves a little between shots so that you can get the maximum out of the individual images later in image processing.

With CPWI you can also track a comet. Simply select the comet from the database, which contains over 100,000 celestial objects and is regularly updated via the Internet. If you track directly to the fast-moving comet, the result will be better than if you track to the fixed stars.

And best of all, you can look forward to further exciting functions throughout the entire service life of the StarSense autoguider. Future firmware updates cost no additional money and no subscription fees. Celestron engineers are constantly working to enhance the functionality of our products, and with a simple firmware update, you’ll be up to date again.

 

Compatible with your existing telescope

You decide how you want to control the StarSense autoguider. You have the choice between the NexStar+ hand controller of the current Celestron mounts and the CPWI software, the latter either via a cable connection to your PC or via WLAN (with the SkyPortal WiFi module or a mount with integrated WLAN). The autoguider also works together with the other Celestron accessories so that everything harmonizes perfectly.

The StarSense autoguider works with most current Celestron GoTo mounts, both azimuthal and equatorial mounts. Check the following table to see whether your mount is one of the compatible models.

 

Please note:

For telescope sets with pre-installed StarSense AutoAlign module, you need an additional NexStar+ hand controller to operate the StarSense autoguider. (The StarSense autoguider is only compatible with the NexStar+ hand controller and not with the StarSense hand controller).

 

Compatibility:

The StarSense autoguider can be used on almost all motorized Celestron mounts, especially on the AVX, CGX, CGX-L and CGEM II astrophotographic mounts. However, it can also be used on the CPC, NexStar SE and NexStar Evoultion azimuthal mounts and is very useful.

Excluded are: NexStar SLT, AstroFi, SkyProdigy and LCM. The StarSense autoguider is not compatible with these mountsel.