Seestar S50 some first results

[Satchmo]

Some S50 images mainly before the Moon passed through the evening sky . Mainly just level adjustments on the phone .

Some of the star clusters and the Eta Carinae are two adjacent frames stitched easily with Microsoft Image Composite editor . Bortle 4 skies . You can access the individual Fits files and stack if you want to .

For an all in one `black box' its great. For many people it will satisfy their curiosity .

It showed the supernova in NGC 4216 very clearly in a single 20 second sub.

[gaseous (Patrick)]

Fantastic shots. Ordered my S50 on the weekend so I can't wait to see what it can do.

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

That's funny, I saw this last night and thought of you!

[multiweb (Marc)]

Very cool pics Mark. You've been busy

[floyd_2 (Dean)]

Great shots Mark. Keep em coming mate!

[Satchmo]

Originally Posted by gaseous

Fantastic shots. Ordered my S50 on the weekend so I can't wait to see what it can do.

Great ! Hope you enjoy it as much as I am . I love the immediacy of it .
If you the setup wifi connection in Station mode you can monitor and control the Seestar from anywhere in the house and still browse the internet at the same time .

You can get satisfying `views' from the first subs , by adjusting the brightness , contrast and saturation sliders and simply stop stacking when the noise is acceptable and move on as soon as you have a nice image . Star clusters only take a matter of minutes .


The image as displayed saves to your tablet/ phone and the individiual files and the stack ( minus the adjustments you did on the live stacked image display also saves to the Seestar RAM along with the individual frames both in Fits and JPG .

[gaseous (Patrick)]

Originally Posted by Satchmo

Great ! Hope you enjoy it as much as I am . I love the immediacy of it .
If you the setup wifi connection in Station mode you can monitor and control the Seestar from anywhere in the house and still browse the internet at the same time .

You can get satisfying `views' from the first subs , by adjusting the brightness , contrast and saturation sliders and simply stop stacking when the noise is acceptable and move on as soon as you have a nice image . Star clusters only take a matter of minutes .


The image as displayed saves to your tablet/ phone and the individiual files and the stack ( minus the adjustments you did on the live stacked image display also saves to the Seestar RAM along with the individual frames both in Fits and JPG .

Thanks for that info. I can see that even for such a simple device, I'm gonna need to put on my thinking cap for a bit to get anywhere near the quality of your shots. I've literally never stacked an image in my life. It's been 4 months since I had my 20" dob out in dark skies, and this weekend looks like being a write-off too, so getting something simple for a quick astronomy fix in the back yard is very appealing. Thanks again.

[Satchmo]

Some more images from S50. M83 was 45 minutes ( taken while still fairly low )



Some of the star clusters are two frames mosaic ed with Microsft Image Composite Editor but typically only 2 minutes each .


In order of appearance

M83
Eta Carinae field

NGC 4755
IC2602
NGC 3114
NGC 2516
NGC 3532
NGC 2362

[Satchmo]

Originally Posted by gaseous

I've literally never stacked an image in my life. It's been 4 months since I had my 20" dob out in dark skies, and this weekend looks like being a write-off too, so getting something simple for a quick astronomy fix in the back yard is very appealing. Thanks again.

Yes same here . I haven't had a decent viewing session with my 16"for months , but I've had fun with the S50 just from the back balcony -often just getting 30 minutes through sucker holes ion the cloud.


Have a look at some vids on its use on Youtube .


At the very minimum level of use , you can just start accumulating the image in live mode , adjust contrast , brightness , and saturation on the fly , and when you stop the image you see is saved to your phone or tablet .


You don't have to worry about what is saved on the Seestar , you can delete all the sub frames when the memory is full .


The Seestar basically contains an ZWO ASI AIR imaging computer so anyone whos used one would feel right at home ! And for the imaging geeks , it has a good O111 / Ha 20nm bandpass Duo band filter that enables you to image nebula in the city or with the Moon out available at the touch of a button .

[va1erian]

Originally Posted by Satchmo

And for the imaging geeks , it has a good O111 / Ha 20nm bandpass Duo band filter that enables you to image nebula in the city or with the Moon out available at the touch of a button .

The chromatic aberration must be low, then. What optics does it use ?

[floyd_2 (Dean)]

Some excellent results there Mark. The Seestar is such a fun little telescope that's easy to set up and calibrate and get moving with, and equally as easy to put away at the end of the night. I could be wrong, but it looks like you might be stacking / processing in the Seestar app. However, the only reason I suspect that is the size of the stars in some shots. Have you considered post processing in SiriL for example, and handling your stars separately? Great results regardless mate, and M83 is a standout. I did 60 minutes on that one under B6 skies and struggled to get a decent result.

[glend (Glen)]

Not bad for such a small objective and focal length. I would like to see a 100mm version. Great for a fun night with the grandkids.

[gaseous (Patrick)]

Probably not anticipating being shortlisted for the Malin Awards any time soon, but this Seestar is giving a photography luddite like me some inordinate pleasure. This little unit is really enjoyable.

[gaseous (Patrick)]

And a few more....