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Telescope for a newbie: Smart app enabled? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/astronomy@mander.xyz
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I'm starting my journey into astronomy and looking for a beginner telescope to start. I've found a few on telescopescanada.ca that fit my budget between $350 and $400 CAD but noticed a lot have "smartphone app-enabled" as a feature.

Over the last few years I've found that smart connected tech just complicates things and have been reverting my tech back, often to the point of wired over wireless. What's the consensus when it comes to telescopes?

Is app-connection a feature you use? I'm looking at the Celestron StarSense Explorer LT 114AZ but wondering if I'll be paying for smart features that aren't necessary.

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[–] [S] 1 point 2 months ago (3 children)

Yeah I'm already looking for similarly priced telescopes without smart connection features. I didn't even think of second hand, I'll check out my area!

Will most new telescopes will be able to connect to a laptop though? Looks like Stellarium has an option to display directly from a scope and I see most scopes make mention of software so I'm guessing they all pretty much have a connection option?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    imminent_nebula@lemmy.ca Most go-to telescopes should connect to a computer. Older ones might use a serial cable instead of USB, but anything made within the last 10 year likely uses USB cables.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 2 months ago

    Awesome that's what I thought, thanks. I'm gonna start with something basic to learn the ropes but your mention of celestial coordinate systems has already piqued my interest so I expect that'll be something in my near future lol.

    There's not much in my area for used but I did find a once-used Celestron NexStar 90SLT which retails around $830 CAD. Not sure I want to drop $600-700 on my first telescope tho lol. Might just check to see what he wants for it first just in case tho.

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