Based on the information it captures, the StarSense AutoAlign can create an accurate model of the night sky. Once this alignment process is complete, you can select any celestial object in the hand controller’s database, and StarSense will automatically center the object in your eyepiece or astrophotography camera. the telescope in any particular direction if it’s on an altazimuth mount. An equatorial mount, however, Connection to wifi works fine - I am in the countryside with little obstructions or other wifi connections around me so once connected stays connected. EdgeHD optics produce a focal plane more than three times flatter than a standard Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and dramatically flatter than competing coma-free designs. This guarantees you visibly sharp stars across full frame sensors. Yet, there is something I can appreciate about an ingenious device that automates this pivotal process and saves me hours of time in the long run.

I really want to get this to work with the app because this is what sold it for me to buy this particular scope. So hoping that someone can help me. Just a few things to note: If you don’t have enough AUX ports on your mount, you can add an extra port using a Celestron AUX portWe also measure the Power with our systems which is essentially the error from the reference sphere to the test optic. The reference sphere we use on our system is a very high quality sphere so the closer to zero the Power, the less error between the 2 elements thus ensuring a higher quality optical surface. I have had the SCT for 3 weeks. The first night I aligned (set date, time, location - latitude and longitude, correct time zone and enabled DST), calibrated (on Dubhe) and re-align as described in the manual and according to the Celestron online youtube video using the Hand Controller (HC). It worked great and GoTo feature worked well. Loved my first views of stars, Venus and the moon. However, I cannot get the alignment to work at all using the SkyPortal app (latest version on Android v3.3.0.1). So, that said, would polar alignment or a guide camera or Sharpcap be anything I would ever need for visual amateur astronomy?Really, I don't understand what any of these things are for, exactly, except that they sound like they're for imaging, not visual. I never even heard of Sharpcap. Align your telescope directly from your PC via WiFi (using built-in WiFi for Celestron Evolution and Astro Fi telescopes or the SkyPortal WiFi Module for non-WiFi telescopes), or cable connect through the Celestron hand control.

The StarSense module does not include a GPS function. For each observing location, you need only enter the Other measurements such as the PV and RMS are important too. With these measurements, the lower the number the better as it shows less curvature on the lens. The flatter an optical lens, the better it will perform. The PV rating (Peak To Valley) is a measurement from the highest point (Peak) to the lowest point (Valley). From this we get the RMS (Root, Mean, Square). This is a similar figure to the PV and measured exactly the same way. The RMS is basically an average height difference from the PV so again, the lower the better. As you can see form the example below, we measured an RMS of just 0.027 wave which is a very good value. Computerized GoTo equatorial telescope mounts already include a star-alignment routine feature to understand the telescope’s position, but this process is manual and can be time-consuming. The StarSense was designed to save time under precious dark skies, and improve the pointing accuracy of your telescope mount. The module is ideal for new astronomers who may find manual alignment of a computerized go-to mount difficult You can also guide on a comet via CPWI. Simply select the comet from the software’s regularly updated database of more than 100,000 celestial objects. Guiding directly on the comet will produce better results than guiding on nearby stars.

What's in the Box: Celestron StarSense AutoAlign

Are you directing your post to me, the Topic Starter? As I said in the opening post, "I am visual only, no imaging." Any talk about imaging flies over my head - or under my radar - and means nothing to me.At best, I ignore it. At worst, it irritates me. Will be using with Celestron CGEM (Ver 1.0) for less than 3 min imaging before soon to install Hypertune.

I'm just trying to determine if the StarSense AutoGuider would be any improvement on the StarSense AutoAlign for visual astronomy.Based on what Uncle Rod told me in post #3 and #10, I'm pretty sure the StarSense AutoGuider won't bring anything new to the plate(solving) for visual. Of course, the EdgeHD optical system offers bright, sharp views with StarBright XLT™optical coatings—a great choice for visual observers and budding astro-imagers alike.When using refractor telescopes in the focal length range of 400-1000mm, a standard star alignment routine is very effective at creating an accurate pointing model for your telescope mount. However, when you increase the reach of the telescope to the realm of the Celestron Edge HD 11 (2800mm), the manual star alignment routine is no longer an option. With any one of three connection methods from your PC to the mount, CPWI’s telescope control and Sky Viewer display makes selecting your target easy. You can find all your favorite deep sky objects in CPWI’s extensive object database. For even more choices, we’ve linked CPWI to the online SIMBAD astronomical database, which contains more than 10 million celestial objects! finding solar system objects and for establishing the location of the horizon for equatorial mounts. I gave up with SkyPortal and SkySafari. Far too many problems with WiFi. Instead I now use Celestron's CPWI for PC/Windows. However, I will try to help....

The StarSense module does not include WiFi. The camera connects by wire to an AUX port on the mount, and the StarSense works with many modern and nearly-modern Celestron mounts including AVX, CGX, CGX-L, CPC, NexStar WiFi, if you are using a Celestron Evolution or Astro Fi, or connecting via the SkyPortal WiFi Module. Note that CPWI will not work with any other WiFi module. I guess it is fairly expensive - but it does do a lot of things well. The combination of new, low noise cmos cameras with a medium focal length guidescope - and plate solves - opens up a lot of possibilities for automation.WARNING: DO NOT PLUG THE STARSENSE AUTOGUIDER INTO YOUR MOUNT’S AUTOGUIDER PORT! The StarSense Autoguider connects to one of your mount’s AUX ports, connecting it to the Autoguider port can damage the StarSense Autoguider. The device itself is very solid and rigid - and attaches easily to a special attachment plate with two thumb screws and small indents. It just plugs into an aux port and doesn't require separate power. For those who don’t wish to use a cell phone and SkyPortal module to provide GPS to the hand controller, Generally, the consensus is yes, this device is well worth the money. The only potential headaches you may experience are in the setup stages, particularly with the location settings and camera calibration process. The star sense also has a computer, but it is tasked with imaging and plate solving to make the alignment process automatic. After the alignment is done, it is essentially turned off. Some people ask "Why can't we guide with starsense?". The reason is that the field of view of the starsense camera is too wide and it would not provide sufficient accuracy. GOTO alignment only needs to be within an arc minute, but guiding needs to be within an arc second.