Explore the Night Sky with Your Smartphone

The Celestron StarSense Explorer 12-inch Dobsonian combines serious deep-sky light gathering with Celestron’s patented smartphone sky-recognition technology. It is designed for committed beginners and experienced visual observers who want large-aperture performance with the intuitive movement of a manual Dobsonian.

Place a compatible smartphone in the StarSense dock, align the phone with the telescope and choose an object in the StarSense Explorer app. On-screen arrows guide you as you move the telescope by hand. When the target indicator turns green, the object is ready to view through the eyepiece.

• 305mm (12-inch) parabolic primary mirror with Celestron XLT reflective coatings
• Patented StarSense Explorer sky-recognition system powered by SkySafari
• Stable manual Dobsonian base with large altitude bearings and adjustable tension
• Smooth 2-inch Crayford focuser with 2-inch extension tube and 1.25-inch adapter
• Includes a 32mm Plössl eyepiece, StarPointer red-dot finder and collimation equipment
• No motor, external power supply or conventional GoTo alignment is required

Dock, Select and Follow the Arrows

StarSense Explorer uses the phone’s camera to identify star patterns overhead and calculate where the telescope is pointing in real time. This optical sky-recognition method is more precise than relying on a phone’s motion sensors alone.

After a short daytime alignment, the app creates a list of suitable objects currently visible from your location. Select a planet, star cluster, nebula, galaxy or double star, then follow the arrows while moving the telescope manually. The app also provides observing information and audio descriptions for many objects.

This is a manual telescope. The smartphone helps you find targets, but the telescope does not contain motors and does not track objects automatically.

Large 12-Inch XLT-Coated Optics

The 305mm parabolic primary mirror provides approximately 2.25 times the light-gathering area of the 8-inch StarSense Explorer Dobsonian and 1.44 times that of the 10-inch model. This makes the 12-inch particularly rewarding for resolving globular clusters and observing fainter galaxies, nebulae and subtle deep-sky structure.

Under suitable conditions, you can observe Jupiter’s main cloud belts and Galilean moons, Saturn’s rings, lunar craters, bright star clusters and objects such as the Orion Nebula and Andromeda Galaxy. Darker skies bring fainter nebulae and galaxies within reach.

Celestron’s XLT reflective coatings use protective silicon dioxide and tantalum pentoxide overcoatings on the primary and secondary mirrors to improve light throughput and contrast. Both mirrors are made from low-expansion, Pyrex-equivalent optical glass.

Smooth and Stable Dobsonian Base

The reinforced altazimuth base is designed for intuitive movement in altitude and azimuth. Large-diameter altitude bearings, Teflon azimuth bearings and side-panel braces provide a stable platform while allowing the telescope to move smoothly as you follow the app’s directions.

An adjustable altitude-tension system helps compensate for small balance changes when using different eyepieces or smartphones. The panning knob at the front of the tube gives you a comfortable, precise grip without placing your hands in the optical path.

2-Inch Crayford Focuser

The smooth 2-inch Crayford focuser enables accurate focusing without the image shift associated with some geared focusers. It includes a 2-inch extension tube and a 2-inch-to-1.25-inch adapter with an internal brass compression ring, allowing the telescope to accept a wide choice of compatible 1.25-inch and 2-inch eyepieces.

A focus-lock thumbscrew holds the selected position once a sharp view has been achieved.

Cooling a Large Primary Mirror

A 305mm primary mirror performs best after it has approached the outdoor ambient temperature. Celestron’s optional USB Cooling Fan for Dobsonian Telescopes can be attached to the rear mirror cell to shorten the cooling period. The cooling fan and USB power source are sold separately.

Suitable for Gardens, Cities and Dark-Sky Trips

From a light-polluted location, the telescope can show the Moon, bright planets, double stars and prominent objects such as the Pleiades and Orion Nebula. At a darker site, its 12-inch aperture can reveal hundreds of additional deep-sky targets, subject to observing conditions and the observer’s experience.

This is a large, full-length solid-tube telescope. The optical tube is 1422.4mm long and weighs 22.58kg; the separate base weighs 15.33kg. The complete system weighs 37.92kg. Check your storage space, vehicle capacity and planned observing route before ordering.

The optical tube and base separate for transport, and each has a carrying handle. Depending on the observer’s strength and the route involved, assistance may be sensible when lifting or positioning either component.

Smartphone Compatibility

The StarSense Explorer app is currently specified for most modern smartphones running Android 12 or later or iOS 18 or later, including iPhone XR and newer models. Compatibility can depend on the individual phone and camera arrangement.

Before ordering, we recommend checking your exact phone using Celestron’s official StarSense Explorer compatibility checker.

What Is Included?

• 305mm f/4.9 Newtonian reflector optical tube with dust cover
• Manual altazimuth Dobsonian base
• StarSense Explorer smartphone dock
• StarSense Explorer app unlock code
• 32mm Plössl eyepiece providing 47× magnification
• 2-inch Crayford focuser
• 2-inch extension tube
• 2-inch-to-1.25-inch eyepiece adapter
• StarPointer red-dot finderscope
• Eyepiece rack
• Collimation cap and supplied assembly/collimation tools
• Celestron Starry Night Basic Edition software

Please note: A smartphone, additional eyepieces, power bank, optional filters and USB cooling fan are not stated as included.

Specifications

Optical Tube

Performance

Mount, Dimensions and Weight

Product Videos

Solar Safety

Instruction Manuals

The official Celestron documents cover the StarSense Explorer 12-inch Dobsonian, item 22472. The principal documents are supplied in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.