StarSense Explorer

The StarSense Explorer app, in combination with a Celestron StarSense Explorer telescope, allows users to take a guided tour of the night sky with pinpoint accuracy. The app uses patent-pending technology to analyze star patterns overhead and calculate the telescope’s position in real-time. This technology eliminates confusion for beginners and enhances the user experience for seasoned telescope users. The user-friendly planetarium interface allows users to scan the skies for objects they wish to view, and the app generates a list of the best stars, planets, galaxies, nebulae, and more currently visible from the user’s location. To get started, users must assemble their StarSense Explorer telescope and download the app. After a simple 2-step procedure to align the smartphone’s camera with the telescope, the app displays a view of the night sky and shows a bullseye on the screen to represent the telescope’s current pointing position. From here, users can select an object to view by tapping it in the planetarium view or selecting it from the Tonight’s Best observing list. Once an object is selected, the app displays pointing arrows onscreen, indicating where to move the telescope to find it. StarSense Explorer uses image data captured by the smartphone’s camera to determine its pointing position. The app captures an image of the night sky and matches the star patterns within the image to its internal database in a process called “plate solving.” This process is the same method used by professional observatories and orbiting satellites. The StarSense Explorer app is the first app ever developed that uses plate solving to determine the smartphone’s current pointing position. Other astronomy apps rely on the smartphone’s gyroscopes, accelerometers, and compass to estimate its pointing position, which are not accurate enough to place objects within the telescope’s field of view. StarSense Explorer technology is patent-pending and is compatible with most smartphones manufactured after 2016 running Android 7.1.2 and higher. The app also has localization support for French, Italian, German, and Spanish. The app is a great way for the entire family to learn scientific facts, history, mythology, and more, deepening their understanding of the night sky.