Robrj

They have over $1.6 Million pledged.

It will be expensive compared to what you could set up yourself. I could get similar results with a Celestron 130SLT, a ZWO ASI224MC and a Windows 10 tablet for about the same price as the kickstarter early bird price. But a lot of people would prefer a turn key solution. There's no figuring out different software, picking cameras, setting everything up, etc. You just set it up and it works. But the target market is probably not people like us. The only benefit I could see for myself is it would serve as a nice, compact, travel video astronomy setup. Everything fits in a large backpack and sets up quickly. It would also be good at star parties where other observers don't want the glare of a screen spoiling their night, though that could be mitigated with a standard video astronomy setup. As for upgrading, I'm not sure how much difference a new sensor could add to the IMX224. It's already a pretty low noise and is a very sensitive sensor. The newer sensors like the IMX385 offer a wider view but similar sensitivity. The field of view of any sensor is going to be limited to what resolution they can display in that little eyepiece screen. For example, the highest density screens are about 300 pixels per inch (Some state that's about the limit of the human eye for seeing detail). If the screen were equal to a 2" eyepiece, you're only seeing a screen that's about 600x600 pixels. So even if there was a wider sensor with equal sensitivity (e.g. the IMX385), it may not make much difference in what you could see in the eyepiece screen. So, even with a 224, you're still going to have to pan around to see everything. Any digital zooming will be limited to the pixel size of the camera. One thing to note, the current product isn't slated to be shipped for another year (November of 2018). So it's still a product in development and things could change for the final version.

Nicely done manual, Don. It's very clear and concise. I'm new to the Ultrastar and Starlight Live. Even with the newer version 3.0, it's still pretty relevant. I have a good idea now how things are supposed to work. Thanks!