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I saw Saturn’s rings in seconds with the Celestron StarSense Explorer 150mm Tabletop Dobsonian telescope — full review

Saturn was only a night past its annual opposition when I pointed the Celestron StarSense Explorer 150mm Tabletop Dobsonian straight at it.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 1 source•1 min read•Updated November 13, 2026, 3:00 PM UTC
Key points
  • Celestron’s StarSense Explorer app analyzes the reflections of the stars it sees, works out exactly where the telescope is pointing and tells you which direction to push it to reach the object you want to observe.
  • After selecting Saturn in Celestron’s StarSense Explorer app, I followed the on-screen arrows as I moved the telescope across the sky.
  • (Image credit: Jamie Carter) I’ve used Celestron’s StarSense Explorer system on a variety of telescopes and have always been impressed by how easy this type of smartphone navigation is to use.

(Image credit: Jamie Carter) What StarSense Explorer does well The Celestron StarSense Explorer 150mm Tabletop Dobsonian comes with a red dot finder for manual navigation.

Although this $599 RRP (£379) model is significantly smaller than the Celestron StarSense Explorer 8-inch Dobsonian telescope I’ve previously reviewed, it still weighs 25 lbs (11.33 kg).

Additional details
  • That’s very different from pressing a button and watching a GoTo or smart telescope move itself, and it’s why I think StarSense is worth paying extra for, even on a relatively wide-field telescope like this one.
  • I looked through the supplied 25mm eyepiece, then swapped to the 10mm to see a pale yellow Saturn at 75x magnification, with its rings sharply defined and its giant moon Titan visible in orbit.
  • Once that was done, I used StarSense to find the Pleiades (M45), the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Double Cluster in Perseus and Saturn.
  • (Image credit: Jamie Carter) The StarSense system may be the headline feature, but the reason to buy any Dobsonian is aperture.
  • The planet was at its biggest and brightest of the year, the seeing was good and its famous rings were visibly opening up after appearing edge-on from Earth in recent years.

How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →

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Space.comNovember 13, 2026, 3:00 PM UTC →

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