Cosmic Geoff

17 minutes ago, LDW1 said:

Seems to take a bit of the fun, the easy interest out of the SS world but I think the vast majority won't go there, their bank accounts are safe, lol !  But as you pointed out to each their own, I was just curious.

Have there been any security concerns about ZWO's ASAIR, which AFAIK connects in a similar way?

If you use a small pixel camera (2.9um) you can probably dispense with the Barlow lens at f12.  The choice of cameras is wide, and my favoured model (ASI462MC) is already discontinued. 

fps (frames per second) depends on various things including the target brightness and the camera gain setting. Increasing gain increases fps but also the noise.

One thing I found is that while the deep sky images stored on the Seestar S50 are identified by directory and filename, those sent to the smartphone aren't.  (as of V1.71 and v1.21) Having taken over a dozen deepsky images for my 'first light'  I had to laboriously compare them all with the small jpeg thumbnails downloaded from the S50 in order to positively identify all the Iphone images.

Obviously with the Sun, Moon, and a few other things there is no problem identifying the image.🙂

Is there a better way of identifying them, or do I have to keep a note of the order in which the images are taken?

25 minutes ago, Andy ES said:

Interesting that you would not fit it to a CPC, coming to that conclusion myself with the quick alignment (will try 2 star auto).

I presume the Starsense controller still accepts the CPC GPS info?

No idea, but commonsense says that it ought to work with the CPC GPS

26 minutes ago, Andy ES said:

Also if you remove it and put it back on another night does it retain its physical alignment well enough to not need calibration? 

I have taken the Starsense camera off the C8 a couple of times for transportation and refitted it without problems. The bracket is very sturdy.

8 minutes ago, powerlord said:

Oh also annoying - is that you can't set the wifi to join your home wifi. Hence, I can't sit upstairs cosily in my bed and control it like I can with my asiairs, etc but have to be in range of the seestar wifi.

One of the early testers claimed that he could connect to his home wifi, and (I think the same one) said it had manual focus.  Some say the Seestar saves FITS files separately (i.e. not stacked) in astro mode.  It is difficult to know what to make of such reports when none of these people report what app revision and Seestar firmware revision they were testing.

I have not tried testing the range of the S50 wifi yet.

Mine is currently at v1.7.1 Ios and v1.5.1 S50.

You'll find plenty opinion if you search for it. Opinions differ...

I have one fitted to a C8 SE as part of a quick-setup package - I can carry the whole thing outside in one piece, and after attaching dewshield and power can have it working in a few minutes.  Starsense is less of a fag than crouching behind the scope finding stars and peering through a finder.  It is not always very accurate - I have never figured out why.  I took it to a dark skies site recently and it worked fine.  Surprisingly, it still works with partial cloud, but does not like bright sky -twilight or urban full moon.

I never saw the point of fitting the Starsense to my CPC800. The GPS cuts the time needed for a setup and the Starsense would not make much of an inroad into the time it takes to haul the thing outside and assemble it and align it.  With two finders - red circle and RACI - a 2-star auto align does not take long.  I align it on the first well-known star and let it traverse to the other one.

BTW, why are you using 3-star align?  2-star auto align is quicker, and the sole advantage of the 3-star align is that you don't need to be able to identify stars. 

Yes, attempt one update at a time. The laptop really should not reboot. No excuses, Microsoft.

Also note that you do not have to apply the updates, just because they are available.  The camera rarely needs updating AFAIK.  As for the AVX, it probably does not need an update, so you could leave it alone. The exception is the Starsense, where various updates are highly advisable.  However you should read the small print first, to check what the updates actually do.  Things can go wrong, but not often, and you don't want to 'brick' your equipment applying an update you didn't need.

Also note that you can update a Seestar S50 with a couple of pokes of the finger, rather than the Celestron nonsense with cables, apps, software libraries etc.  Some manufacturers need to get up to date.

No idea, but it looks like an equatorial mount for a small lightweight scope.  

Looks like your biggest problem will be figuring out how to attach a scope to it. It looks like it is intended to be bolted to the telescope OTA, wheras most modern mounts incorporate a clamp that clamps to a standard dovetail bar which in turn is bolted to tube rings, or the tube itself.

I'd vote for a CPC800 as the best planetary imaging scope.  (Or if you have more money or a good s/h deal, go for a bigger CPC, provided you are aware of the weight.)  It has enough aperture (considering the often poor UK seeing), and the mount is very solid and tracks well.  I often use a 320x240px region of interest, and the planet often fills most of this and stays there during a video run.  I also imaged with a C8SE but its mount made it rather a pain.  

The GPS cuts the setup time, and I normally use 2-star align rather than 'Solar System Align' on the target planet as it seems to track more accurately with the former. 

Unlike a Dob, the SCTs have lots of range of focus, so you can hang on a filter wheel and a ADC with no problems. Or a flip mirror diagonal, though it is possible to manage without one.

I don't use an electric focuser as the mount is stiff enough so that the image doesn't jiggle much even with my hand on the focus knob.

Yes you can do it cheaper with a Newtonian or Dob, but it won't be as usable IMHO.

I'm surprised you can't buy an off the shelf cable for this.  IMHO, making up a cable, with the risk of lower reliability, possibility of shorts, errors, and mount damage, etc, would be very much a last resort.

It also shows up how old-fashioned these systems are. Connecting to a Seestar S50 is 1000% easier.

1 hour ago, Comacchio said:

so ideally at present I'd stick to the £200-£300 mark.

That is a totally inadequate budget for most kinds of astrophotography.  ROFL. What do you want to image? How dark is the sky in your location? With your existing camera and tripod, you could perhaps try capturing constellations, or star trails.  I suggest you start by investing £20 or so in "Making Every Photon Count" by Steve Richards, available from FLO.

This evening I tried my Seestar S50 on the Moon.  This didn't go as smoothly as with the Sun. Admittedly the sky conditions were poor, with thin cloud partly obscuring the gibbous Moon.  First I had to calibrate the compass (Duh! so it has an internal compass!)  This involved picking up the Seestar and rotating it (and myself) through 360+ degrees, to close a green arc on the screen.   Then it went searching for the Moon. After a while I realised it had found a streetlamp instead.  (The Seestar is small and black, so one can't see where it is pointing).

2nd attempt: now instructed to calibrate the compass again. Another twirl.  Made sure it was aiming in the general direction of the Moon. Then "Level your Seestar."  Finally, it found the Moon.  The autofocus worked.  I took a still, and a short video. 

V1.52 firmware.

The more I try the Seestar, it makes me ask "Why can't all GoTo scopes be like this?"  Sure, it would be expensive to kit an 8" SCT with all these features (maybe via a separate intelligent finderscope), but if amateurs with deeper pockets were offered a scope outfit that did all this automation and had a visual port, I suspect the response would be "F**k yes, sign me up now!" 

This morning I tried using my Seestar S50 (with v1.52 firmware) in Solar mode.  It found the sun automatically after I opened it up and fitted the solar filter. Not much problem after that except that the solar image disappears from the smartphone screen until one does some more button pressing.  One can save a still or save a video to process later.   I got an image with visible sunspots, similar to images in reviews elsewhere.

On shutting down it seems a good procedure is to pick up the Seestar and turn it through 90 deg (away from the Sun) before removing the filter and commanding it to shut down.

I posted a Seestar 50 FITS file (a stacked file) in the imaging sub-section of this forum.  I am still trying to determine whether the S50 delivers separate FITS files (lights, etc), if one has a different firmware version.  Still figuring out how to process my FITS files.

The no-brainer .jpg files delivered to the controlling smartphone look good, though.

ZWO have been issuing firmware upgrades for the Seestar 50, but nowhere on their site do they list the versions and what changes they introduce.  The instruction manual is also vague about the features.  Viewing the Youtube reports, one sees that some Seestars produce a composite FITS file while others (presumably with later firmware), appear to produce multiple FITS files.  One report claims that  late firmware delivers manual focus and the ability to connect to your home WiFi network (I'm not sure what this would do for you, other than dispensing with a cable to retrieve the FITS files).

We really need someone to compile an 'unofficial' user manual for the Seestar.

I upgraded the firmware on mine from v1.21 to v1.52, but without a sky to try it on it is not evident what difference, if any, this has made. This upgrade, incidentally, was accomplished in minutes with a few pokes of the finger. Compare that with the fooling around with cables, apps, and software libraries required to update the firmware on a Synta mount.   Celestron and Skywatcher had better watch their backs.

On 19/09/2023 at 16:17, powerlord said:

When did you order if you don't mind me asking ? I ordered the 2nd day it was announced and mine is still 'processing' 😞

I ordered mine on 17 April.

I am still trying to figure out what's what with the FITS files.  Some testers apparently received units which (like mine) produced a composite FITS file which did not need stacking.

19 hours ago, Veloman said:

Auto Two-Star, more often the not, selected stars that weren't visible thus wasting observing time!

You don't have to accept the selections. You can scroll the list till you see something that you know is accessible.

I mostly use Auto 2 Star, and select stars I can see from the observing position. It saves the bother of manually slewing the mount to the 2nd star.  The Solar System Align is also quite useful on occasion, for daylight observing, or observing one planet in twilight, etc. 

I have a SLT mount, and can confirm that the mount/tripod is on the wobbly side for this OTA.  (similar weight to my 127mm Mak OTA).

You can try various stabilising tricks but the only real answer is a sturdier and more expensive mount/ tripod.  The  EQ5 or the AZ4-2 will be like scaffolding by comparison with the SLT.

If you can track down a used  Celestron SE 6/8 mount that somebody doesn't want, your OTA will work with that nicely and the Nexstar software will be the same.

15 hours ago, rpdayton said:

Like I mentioned before, replacing the bearing will likely reveal that the gears need replaced, and then who knows maybe the drive motor as well. I don't know where it will end. 

Your discouragement is noted. Seems that you have been a victim of a syndrome we have seen before here, where, for whatever reason, the seller develops a particular opinion of the situation and fobs off the hapless buyer with cut-and-paste advice. 

Others should note that the best response in this situation may be on the lines of: This is faulty. Replace it under warranty or refund me or you will hear from my lawyer. 

2 hours ago, rpdayton said:

Like I mentioned before, replacing the bearing will likely reveal that the gears need replaced, and then who knows maybe the drive motor as well. I don't know where it will end. 

Sir, you are clearly a pessimist. 🙂  If you bought a faulty mount for a few dollars, you would probably find it had faulty electrics (which seems to be the most common problem - I had to reprogram the firmware in my SLT twice)  and perfect mechanical parts, so you'd just have to swap some circuit boards over to get a good mount.  My SLT has worked OK for over 8 years asides for the firmware becoming corrupted a couple of times.

But it's up to you. Clearly these mounts don't cost much to manufacture - just look at what little is inside - two motor-gearbox assemblies (identical), a circuit board or two and some wires.

As I said, I have not dismantled one of these so I don't know what this is supposed to look like. Did you get the mount from new? If not, one suspects that somebody has been in there and messed with it. 

If others say the nut should be Nyloc, then get one - it does not need to be special so long as it has the right thread.

If you have engineering skills, it might be a good idea to strip the mount down and then figure how it is supposed to work.

Rather than sell the mount for parts ☹️ it might be smarter to buy a SLT mount that somebody else is selling for parts, and swap (or copy) the relevant subassembly.

I made a mistake posting the header text above. That one is for M27, and the M57 one actually indicates that it contains five images.  

Below I have posted the iphone .jpg for M57. This 1.4 MB 1080px1920px file has not been processed by me in any way.

Sorry I can't help as I have never exposed that part of my mount.