StarSense Explorer

🇺🇸 United States
Celestron  | 
20
ASO score
Text
25/100
Reviews
0/100
Graphic
40/100
Other
0/100
rating
App Rating
2.8
rating
Votes
921
rating
App Age
6y
rating
Last Update
Oct 29, 2025

Compare with Category Top Apps

Metrics
Current App
Category Top Average
Difference
Installs
276.6K
42.3M
-99%
Rating
2.78
4.53
-39%
Number of Ratings (Voted)
910
112.4M
-100%
App Age
5y 12m
7y 10m
-24%
In-app Purchases Price
$0
$123
Update Frequency
58d
45d
+30%
Title Length
18
27
-33%
Short Description Length
81
71
+14%
Description Length
3 961
3 190
+24%
Number of Screenshots
528
1343
-61 %
Has Video?
No
0% has videos
Size
0MB
0MB

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Downloads

Downloads Graph
Downloads icon
Total
271.6K
Last month icon
Last month
3.4K

Text ASO

Title (
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StarSense Explorer
Short Description (
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Use your phone's camera, gyro, and a Celestron telescope to see the universe!
Description (
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Unleash the power of your smartphone to take you on a guided tour of the night sky, even if you’ve never used a telescope before. STARSENSE SKY RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY This one-of-a-kind app uses patent-pending technology in combination with a Celestron StarSense Explorer telescope (sold separately) to analyze star patterns overhead to calculate the telescope’s position in real time with pinpoint accuracy. StarSense Explorer’s sky recognition technology has revolutionized the manual telescope by eliminating the confusion common among beginners and enhancing the user experience for even seasoned telescope users. Many would-be astronomers become frustrated or lose interest in their manual telescope because they don’t know where to point it to see planets, star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies—the good stuff! StarSense Explorer tells you exactly which celestial objects are currently visible in the night sky and where to move your telescope to place those objects in the telescope’s eyepiece. THE NIGHT SKY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS The user-friendly planetarium interface allows you to scan the skies for objects you wish to view. You can also search for objects in the extensive database. Not sure what to observe? StarSense Explorer automatically generates a list of all the best stars, planets, galaxies, nebulae and more currently visible from your location. Simply select one from the list and off you go! While you observe, you can access detailed information, images, and audio descriptions for the most popular objects. It’s a great way for the entire family to learn scientific facts, history, mythology, and more, deepening your understanding of the night sky. EASY AS 1-2-3: DOCK, LAUNCH, OBSERVE To get started, assemble your StarSense Explorer telescope and download the app. Your telescope includes a unique unlock code to access the full features of the app. Connect your phone to the telescope by placing it into the StarSense dock and launch 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, you can select an object to view by tapping it in the planetarium view or selecting it from the Tonight’s Best observing list. Objects will vary from night to night; you may see planets like Jupiter or Saturn, nebulae like Orion, the Andromeda Galaxy, or other object types. Once you select an object, the app displays pointing arrows onscreen. These indicate where to move the telescope to find it. Follow the arrows until the bullseye appears centered on target. When the bullseye turns green, the object is visible in the telescope’s lower powered eyepiece. HOW STARSENSE EXPLORER WORKS 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 then matches the star patterns within the image to its internal database in a process like fingerprint matching or facial recognition. The process of extracting star pattern data in images to determine a telescope’s current pointing position is called “plate solving.” It 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. These methods are not accurate enough to place objects within the telescope’s field of view. StarSense Explorer technology is patent-pending. COMPATIBILITY Most smartphones manufactured after 2016 running Android 7.1.2 and higher. Check celestron.com/SSE for detailed Android compatibility information. StarSense Explorer has localization support for French, Italian, German, and Spanish.}
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Rating & Reviews

Reviews Overview
🧐 Coming Soon…
Rating
2.8
921 voters

Some Latest Reviews

Steve Flanary
06 Nov, 2025
3
Great when it works. Constantly has issues locating position. Works about 10% of the time.
branden burlingame
31 Oct, 2025
1
can't track GPS at all it said the moon was under my feet when I was looking dead at it with the telescope and every aligned and the apps camera instant freezes whenever you try to align
Ricky Moore
23 Oct, 2025
2
though celestron telescopes are great, why do I need a code to use a mirror and a phone?
daniel hoffmann
16 Oct, 2025
5
makes sky hunting amazingly easy. what a technology. with a little practice the near universe is yours.
Bradley Beall
31 Aug, 2025
1
I can't even get it to point in the right direction when the camera is pointing East the app says I'm pointing Northwest and I haven't found a way to change the settings
Bethany Murray
30 Aug, 2025
1
camera does not work with app even with permissions
Brian Medrzykowski
23 Jul, 2025
1
The way this app works is so convoluted. Why do you need the bulky, over-designed mirror-to-camera mount which doesn't even work in light polluted areas? There are already apps like Stellarium that know where everything is in the sky via gyroscope and compass (which this app can use anyway? But not for finding its position. lol) I 3D printed a custom mount for my Dob that holds my phone perpendicular to the tube. I open Stellarium and voila, an accurate aiming tool that works anywhere, anytime.
Anna Malikov
21 Jul, 2025
1
This app is quite finicky even on the clearest of nights. It can't find Mizar, even when the entire sky and Big Dipper is clear of clouds. It is the fate of hobbyists.
Bryan Lewis
11 Jul, 2025
1
not compatible. so therefore, I believe I need a different telescope too. heard celestron was one of the best. obviously, I heard wrong.

Other

Additional Information
Rating:
2.79
Voted: 921
Google Play Link:
Website:
Email:
Privacy Policy:
Categories: Education
Size: -
Installs: 271.63K
App Age: 6 years
Release Date: Jan 03, 2020
Last Update: Oct 29, 2025
Version: 2.0.0.4
Version history
2.0.0.4
Oct 29, 2025
Version 2 provides a new look, new scope models, and many performance enhancements and bug fixes!<br>Android 12 is required.
1.1.13.0
Aug 29, 2024
Performance enhancements

More by Celestron

Version history