Will this $2 Mirror REVOLUTIONIZE Amateur Astronomy? Celestron's Starsense Explorer Telescopes
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- This $2 Mirror might very well transform visual observing for amateur astronomers. Why? Because it's SIMPLE powerful and comparatively cheap. But mainly because it's SIMPLE.
Index:
0:20 Revolution #1: Go To Mounts (well, some would argue the Celestron C8 SCT was revolutionay; the invention of the dobsonian by Jon Dobson (what a coincidence) was another. Valid.
0:55 Some negatives of Go To's.
1:05 Like having to work with a Hand Control (buttons and a character interface)
1:25 Push-To mounts: easy and cheaper
1:45 Encoders allow you to know where you're pointing, but they're not inexpensive.
2:30 Revolution #2: Sky Apps for your phone - everyone get one! SkySafari is the best.
4:07 Revolution #3: the Celestron Starsense Explorer $2 mirror (and app) makes it all simple.
5:14 Starsense AutoAlign was the complicated expensive introduction to "Plate Solving"
6:35 What is "Plate Solving"? (It's basically capturing a bunch of stars in a small area and finding where that is in the sky)
7:55 Why the Starsense Explorer is Revolutionary - it's just your phone and a mirror (and a phone app that uses your phone's camera). It's SIMPLE!
8:25 How to get it (Celestron bundles it with telescopes - you have to buy a select Celestron telescope).
10:11 Summary: it's awesome!
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In Detail Starsense Explorer Reviews:
LearnToStargaze's Ultimate Review of the 114LT (inexpensive): • Celestron StarSense Ex...
Astrobackyard's really high production value 8" review: • Celestron StarSense Ex...
Ed Ting's Review of Celestron's 10" Dobsonian (high end): • The 10" Celestron Star...
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Some folks are selling 3D printed adapters for mounting the Starsense bracket from the 80 onto a Synta-standard finder dovetail shoe so it can be easily and securely swapped between multiple scopes. It's something I intend to do really soon. I'm just going to pop a 45° diagonal in the leftover refractor and use it as a dedicated terrestrial spotter.
I've been exclusively an old-school star-hopper since I started in 93, and I'm really fast and accurate at it. Whenever I try to use a computerized scope, the alignment procedures, slow slewing, and gradual encoder drift through the evening drive me INSANE. And I hate those keypads.
This effectively eliminates every complaint I've ever had about computerized telescopes. I think the days of encoder-based digital setting circles are over.
I totally agree. In fact I have some uninstalled encoders I need to sell while they’re still worth something.
Give me a good star map, a red flashlight, a telescope, clear skies and let me find objects the old fashion way. No phones, no batteries, no go to mounts. What a joy to find that DSO, star cluster or double star after hunting it down.
Yep. I remember the my first star map exploration. Mammoth Lakes dark sky, with a C102 f/5 achro. Amazing. I gasped when I found M81 (so big after sweeping through nothing but stars). But it took me a while to get to that point. Computerized GoTo got me there. I still carry my Pocket Star Atlas, but SkySafari is my go-to now. New observers are generally phone-based and the Starsense Explorer is just ridiculously easy. More Wows! early on.
Excellent video, like!
I've watched a few of your video's and its good stuff, and practical. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
We had several nice scopes at our family house 60 years ago. Our Dad actually ground and coated his own mirrors, with his own grinding and vacuum deposition set-ups.
Long ago, he gave me a kit, mostly from Jaegers, with a bit of Tasco, for a 5" Rich Field. He told me all I had to do was put it together, but that was not completely true. I recently got it put together, and have just started looking through a telescope again after 60 years.
As you pointed out, its very different today. Like light and air pollution. We used to easily see the Milky Way in our front yard. Now not at all, even though I live in a relatively dark area. I guess now we all have to travel to use a scope. And my eyes are not so sharp anymore, either.
As you also mentioned, part of the hobby was learning the sky, and the challenge of finding objects. To me, that is mostly what the hobby is about. We used charts and booklets Dad got from Mt Palomar before I was born, and I still have them. Personally, I understand the appeal, but consumerism now dictates we spend a ton of money to input data points, push a button, look at an object, and move on, or photograph it. You do not need your own scope to do that, today there are fantastic HD images online. On the other hand, we searched for the Ring Nebula many times, got lots of Mosquito bites, and we never found it. But we kept trying.
By the way, I came to the same conclusion about my EQ mount. We used them correctly back in the day, especially if we had others wanting to see, and it was neat how it worked. But now, especially with the Rich Field, it is easier to use, practical, and effective as you described. A little something is lost, though.
Thanks for sharing all that.
BTW, I've know some grinders, but never any folks who do their own coatings (except for Terry Ostahowski). Very cool. I'm sure whenever you see a beautiful night sky you think of your dad. My son isn't into astronomy, but I know he'll be reminded of me 50 years from now.
@@golookup Thank you. Yes, these are fantastic memories. I guess that also gets to the point about old school skywatching and just looking up, and getting young people interested in Astronomy today. My Dad was the best at constellations of anyone I ever knew. I was just average.
About a dark sky, our physics professor took a group of us on his boat overnight to the area of Little Rabbit Key (FL Keys,) on a moonless night in 1972. There was not a trace of an artificial light anywhere to be seen, and the Milky Way was like a highway in the sky. A few of us and his optics grad students also drove to Tignish, Prince Edward Island, to see and study the total solar eclipse. The prof needed a replacement gear part and he made one with a file. Nothing but dark skies, fresh fish and lobsters for a week, and no complaints.
@@golookup I agree 100% - these resources are incredible. I stumbled across the Stellarium Web site and I have been using that.
Off topic, but another story I have recently recalled. In the mid sixties, my old man found a junk dealer/ dump property where literally tons of Tasco parts, surplus, damaged items, etc. were being dumped for scrap. We would go there on weekends and rummage through the stuff, and he would pay scrap price for all kinds of telescope parts, optics, and accessories. We had so much at home it was just everywhere sticking out of boxes and shelves. My Mom had fits at first but she finally gave up.
I don't publish comments on my personal life, but you remind me a bit of him. I think you two would really have hit it off.
My favorite "Milky Way memory" was one night I was out at San Diego Astronomy Association's dark site. It was so dark, the brightest thing was the full stretch of the Milky Way from Northeast horizon to Southwest horizon. Because it was inclined, I had a really hard time keeping my balance as I was packing up. Sadly, the sky is brighter now and I haven't experienced that Milky Way vertigo since.
@@AndriasTravels
I love your advice. Please keep doing your thing. Catch phrase at end of videos is coming..I can feel it🇺🇸🇦🇺
yeah, if I ever take this seriously, I need a catch phrase and for every video a thumbnail with me making a "I can't believe this, wow!" face.
The "sky map" is fixed. Old software had a short list of bright stars ("Guide Stars"). You had to point to two (preferably three) of them and tell the telescope their names; from that the computer could figure out where the scope was pointed relative to the sky. And then it kept track of where the scope moved. Plate solvers get a whole bunch of (much dimmer) stars and then searches its very detailed database to find where the scope is pointing. The phone keeps track of the scope movement. This is very inaccurate, but as soon as you stop the scope, it plates solves again to find out where it is now pointing. Big on software (cheap!), cheap on hardware.
One of these days I'll have the time to plan out a series of short takes instead of 10-minute single-take riff. You know, edit good stuff together. You know, coherence. :)