I have one on order as well, looking forward to having a play with it. It will never replace my imaging rig nor take its place.
I thought it would be good for those nights after work for a bit of EAA and just messing about and then when we have family or friends over, no fuss. When having a BBQ at our place I’m always asked to set-up my gear as they want a quick view through the eyepiece. Not that easy when you are around the fire and having a few drinks etc and then have to pack up afterwards, this will make it easy and anyone can control the scope and having a wander around the sky, kinda like outreach, LoL.
Never serious but it looks pretty awesome for the price, I just as impressed with Cuiv’s review!
For the price of an eyepiece it might be fun to play with…I was thinking about using it as a supplement in outreach.
Cheers!
Thanks for the heads up re Seestar Scott - I’ve seen these kind of things online and always regarded them as an expensive toy, but your post piqued my interest and I thought I’d dig a little deeper.
They actually look like they might be the go for what I’ve been after - my wife wants to travel/caravan more and I’ve been toying with the Star adventurer type of rig but not really committing as I knew we’d probably be set up in brightly lit campsites- but the Seestar might be nice for the times that’s not the case…compact, portable and semi serious fun by the looks of it. Enough to keep my Astro-imaging whistle wet when away from the big guns!?
Doug
Like many, I am patiently waiting for my order to be fulfilled…sounds like it may be November. I am hoping to have it for the 2024 eclipse….so no stress just yet.
I ordered mine in April and as at the end of August I never got an update as to when I would receive it, so I cancelled the order, no more than a useful toy in my opinion handy for those that want a portable no fuss unit for quickie wide field snaps, not for the serious astro photographer
I have had a Seestar 50 for about 10 days and I am seriously impressed by this bit of gear.
As I am no longer capable of routinely hauling heavy gear from my shed I am appreciating the ease and comfort of arm chair astronomy with this very portable device.
The images of nebulae and globular clusters generated are incredible, even in a Bortle 7 environment (and even at full moon) with even relatively short exposures (less than 10 minutes). It does struggle with galaxies at these short exposures but I expect taking it to rural skies with longer exposures may do the trick.
Having the ability to acquire images on your phone or tablet inside , away from the elements and mossies does spoil you.
I will still take out the heavier gear for visual planetary observations as the short focal length of the Seestar is not appropriate. However it does perform adequately for the moon and more than adequately for solar imaging.
What really amazes me is the price! I paid an intriductory price of $750 for a f/5, 50 mm aperture apochromatic scope with robotic altaz mount and also includes a dual band LP/H-alpha/OIII filter and solar filter. The Apple and Android software works very well. My only complaint is that it works too well with its goto, autofocus and autostacking. It does take some of the standard challenges away but I guess one should always have to have something to complain about.
Even though the Seestar is only in its infancy and many are still impatiently waiting for their scopes there is a rapidly expanding group of enthusiasts on Facebook and other social media. I think images shown there are impressive.
I am seeing some really fine images posted on Facebook, especially where people have processed the stack in PI and or Photoshop.
Still waiting for mine- really bought for my wife, so I can’t see her processing anything but I just think it will be terrific for outreach especially once ZWO enables sharing the images on more than one device. ( you can already do that by sharing your password but that allows anyone with the password to have control which is not a great ideA
Expect my order to be delivered late October early November. Bought directly from ZWO
I have had a Seestar 50 for about 10 days and I am seriously impressed by this bit of gear.
As I am no longer capable of routinely hauling heavy gear from my shed I am appreciating the ease and comfort of arm chair astronomy with this very portable device.
The images of nebulae and globular clusters generated are incredible, even in a Bortle 7 environment (and even at full moon) with even relatively short exposures (less than 10 minutes). It does struggle with galaxies at these short exposures but I expect taking it to rural skies with longer exposures may do the trick.
Having the ability to acquire images on your phone or tablet inside , away from the elements and mossies does spoil you.
I will still take out the heavier gear for visual planetary observations as the short focal length of the Seestar is not appropriate. However it does perform adequately for the moon and more than adequately for solar imaging.
What really amazes me is the price! I paid an intriductory price of $750 for a f/5, 50 mm aperture apochromatic scope with robotic altaz mount and also includes a dual band LP/H-alpha/OIII filter and solar filter. The Apple and Android software works very well. My only complaint is that it works too well with its goto, autofocus and autostacking. It does take some of the standard challenges away but I guess one should always have to have something to complain about.
Even though the Seestar is only in its infancy and many are still impatiently waiting for their scopes there is a rapidly expanding group of enthusiasts on Facebook and other social media. I think images shown there are impressive.
Appreciate the update and glad to hear you are enjoying….I believe I will be waiting for another month or so as I was a little slow to order and gain the discount.
well without any forewarning, mine arrived a few days ago. Unboxed it yesterday and had a play indoors. Unfortunately cloudy so no ability to test outdoors.
A lot like other ZWO products the build quality and operation appears very good. The documentation not so much (as expected). The app (like the ASIAir) also seems very polished.
I will post some images when (IF!!) the clouds go away...
If it will help this is the first image I took on the first night I had it out. The app makes it easy to find the best target observable at that time.
This is an image of The Helix Nebula (NGC 7293 or Caldwell 63).
Bortle 6 backyard
LP filter engaged
1 hour acquisition
Single stacked FITS file (I didn't know then how to capture unstacked FITS)
Processed in Siril and PixInsight
50% crop.
Tempted to get, so much more affordable now then in the past. But I do like how EVscope from Unistellar offer a Citizen Science community to collaborate and contribute to. https://www.unistellar.com/citizen-science/
Wish there was something similar for Dwarf and Seestar.
Also like the details reviewers on youtube are extracting with post processing in pixinsight.
There was one in use at VicSouth. Watching the unit's output via a tablet, go-to & capture the Cat's Paw nebula, then stack in real-time in just minutes, was very cool. A great outreach tool indeed!
Ordered mine from a local dealer here in the USA (where I am now located) July 30…it arrived yesterday afternoon. Will need to wait a few days for weather to improve here before giving it a go. Current temp here is -2 C…winter is coming…
