LaurenceT

Clear images but just a bit too bright IMHO.

I'm not quite clear why you are transferring images from the micro sd card to the 64gb usb. Why don't you just send the images directly to the usb dongle in the first place? Apologies if I've got the wrong end of the stick. 

I hear it's on back order already!

Must be flying off the shelf....

3 minutes ago, Neil H said:

Hi I want to ask a question but don't know we're to ask it so I hope you don't mind me asking here , when I use my seestar most of the time I get messages like "stack failed star trails so binned" or not enough stars , any ideas why I get these ?

Kind regards Neil

I think there can be various causes, but the one that comes to mind is that if the target is very close to the zenith then alt az mounts have more difficulty tracking.

I decided to have a go at the Iris Nebula when the stars appeared briefly last night. I only managed to get 20 minutes of total integration of 10 second subs.

It was over the northern part of my garden which is heavily light polluted due to street lamps and Heathrow in the distance so I have previously avoided it. There were also many intermittent cloud bands.

I tried several apps for stacking and stretching but the best one for bringing out the blue nebulosity turned out to be Astro Pixel Processor, unfortunately there is no structural detail visible which doesn't really surprise me!

I realise this is precisely why I have the Seestar, the forecasts last night showed continual cloud cover, I wouldn't have contemplated setting up my astrophotography kit. If I had set up my longest scope the iris nebula would still have been a tiny blob.

Setting up the Seestar took just over 5 minutes.

It's been cloudy all evening over Camberley and as I've got a rotten cough (thanks Granddaughter) I thought I'd turn in just before 10. I made the big mistake of popping outside and lo and behold...stars!

Set the Seestar up in 5 minutes and been happily on the Iris Nebula since, funny how a bit of astro stimulation makes you feel better!

9 minutes ago, cimh said:

Last night I used my Seestar in EQ mode for the first time in my urban garden with a bright moon. Over 84 minutes Seestar saved 69 minutes worth of  20s shots. I removed 9 shots due to satellite tracks before stacking and I am pleased with the result. There was much less rotation as you can see from the uncropped image of M100 and NGC4312.  Setting it up was very easy.  I wonder if using it in eq mode would enable me to stack images from more than one session? The other advantage of using 20s rather than 10 is that stacking in Siril was much quicker presumably because there are 1/2 as many images to stack and each one must be brighter due to the longer exposure. 

WRT the discussion about seeing or imaging. For me there is room for both, While seestar is imaging objects which I have no hope of seeing thru my 200mm dob in my garden I can enjoy looking at planets the moon, clusters and the brighter DSOs or just enjoy stargazing. I have tried a more complicated imaging setup but I gave up as I do not have the patience to get them up and running.  The UK weather with its short windows of clear ski,es does not help either. So something that can be taking shots within 10 minutes is perfect for me.   

 

Is it possible to show your Seestar in EQ mode or if not possible then a description of how you do it?

I've only just started taking flats and dark flats (novice mistake) and I'm using a panel bought from the same place I buy my dew heaters. It's made quite a difference, no weird blobs on images caused by little bits of stuff in the imaging train!

I've cobbled it together with a spare mobile phone charger using 3M Command picture hanging strips and a short usb cable, makes it very easy to use.

5 Inch LED Light Panel (dewcontrol.com)

Excellent image, well done.

2 hours ago, Beardy30 said:

Fabulous images I love the Seestar so much I do t seriously think I’ll ever use a conventional telescope again 

There's already one for sale on Facebook, used only once apparently🙄

What I'm looking forward to are at least 500+ time lapse videos on Facebook Seestar pages of the eclipse. I asked my Seestar last night if it was disappointed at missing out on the eclipse, it didn't answer so I've contacted ZWO for a "chat" facility firmware upgrade.........

Apologies if this has been posted already but there is a new Siril script for Seestar:

Siril - New ZWO Seestar script and tutorial

Amongst of my many astro weak points processing is one but I ran this M42 a second time through the new script with some post processing and I was quite surprised at some of the detail.

#1 is the first attempt , processed in the Seestar and tweaked in DXo and Topaz, #2 is the one run through the Siril script and followed by some processing in Siril, DXo Photolab3 and Topaz

I'm aware that both are poor by non-Seestar standards.

On 24/03/2024 at 15:47, TiffsAndAstro said:

Lovely image btw. Flats and/or a clean should do.

Thanks, I've just started taking flats and dark flats now, it's made a difference.

48 minutes ago, 900SL said:

I couldn't agree more with Ed Tings review of the Seestar. I have yet to see a half decent image, it's a one trick pony and you can't 'grow' with it. 

Granted, it does most everything for you at a rock bottom price, but I find it too restrictive, too noisy and it will gather dust and represent 500 quid lost if you decide to go further with astro imaging. Ed was spot on the nail in my opinion. It's the Polaroid camera of astro

I don't agree with your analysis, it's not a one trick pony as it can make images of many (but not all) different objects, it also doubles as a simple approach to EAA and outreach. Half decent images? Most of the images I have seen are exactly that, only half decent by the standards of general astrophotography but they are images nonetheless.

A simple analogy would be my decades long hobby of bird photography. I would hope that the images I have taken are the result of good fieldcraft, knowledge of my subject and the ability to use the instruments I have available. I would be proud to present those images for the highest scrutiny. On the other hand if I am out and not specifically doing bird photography I may see something avian that interests me and I take a quick shot either with the camera I have or indeed a phone camera.. I class those as record shots and would present them as such. I would think that all of the Seestar images I have seen are presented as that, they are presented as "an image of X taken on my Seestar" just as I would present a record shot of a bird to other serious bird photographers.

They are also not "Polaroids" because they give people the opportunity to enhance the images, something that is not given to users of Polaroid cameras.

17 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

It's on the list if I exhaust me using the rig I've created

It won't replace the rig you've created which I imagine is quite complex and expensive but it can compliment it.

3 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Playing devil's advocate here, but Ed Ting is known to have high standards and to be particularly cautionary on astro imaging, particularly for people just starting out.

His standard position is that if not to start out in astrophotography, so something that is designed to be an easy start (and one that is soon outgrown) it's unlikely to be a comfortable fit for his opinions on what is useful.

Edit:  I'm wishing I hadn't wandered in here.  I'm looking at the images and thinking about getting one.  Would be ideal for going on holiday, or even for imaging faint stuff to sketch from.  This forum is dangerous!

The " holiday" thing was a major part of my pitch to my Domestic Financial Controller

" the Az GTi is soooo noisy on a campsite".....

Ed's probably still miffed he dropped somebody elses telescope the other day and totalled it, must have cost him dear😆.

I have raised this point earlier today on a Facebook Seestar group about his comments concerning early adoption.

There's always going to be a better model of anything coming along "later", we just have to wait for it.

I'm 77 in a few days, just how long would our Ed like me to wait for that vastly improved model?

As it happens I'm quite enjoying my Seestar, it took me about 5 minutes last night to set it up and show my grandchildren the wonders of the Orion nebula appearing on the TV screen thanks to iPad screen mirroring.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at the Seestar this morning and found it had stacked and processed an image for me.

It wasn't at all perfect, some of the stars looked a bit weird 😀 and there was some detail missing but with a very little basic work it brushed up quite well. I don't think my audience would have appreciated the "better" image produced by my ZS61!

My only "objection" is the fixed FOV but if I really want to capture something different I can use my other fairly basic kit.

After failing miserably to get the moon to show my family last night I decided to do what I'd read and put the Seestar through the hoops of levelling, compass calibration and selecting a known bright star and doing a 3 point alignment. 

It seemed to do the trick and found the moon instantly but they'd all gone to bed by then so I found the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules and gave it about 18 minutes before I jacked it in and went to bed. I could probably miss out the first two steps next time but I'll ceratinly do the 3 point alignment.

1 hour ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Available from FLO for £21.

I know, I bought one immediately before my wife finds out😎

I've just put my thumb through the solar filter 🫢

3 minutes ago, paulastro said:

Five minutes from an hour is a poor return.  Was it a little windy, or perhaps cloud interfering or even an obstruction?  I've noticed  that they are much better at reacting to conditions than I am. Usually when I hadn't noticed  that cloud is increasing or there is some wind.  Mine doesn't usually go below at least a 2/3 success rate.  It did once stop for about  fifteen minutes and I thought it had frozen somehow or had broken down.  Re- booting it didn't work - and then I noticed it had completely clouded over where the object was!  🤔

You could be right about the conditions but it didn't seem to affect my other setup. One thing that has baffled me is that the subs were labelled IRCUT files so I obviously failed to switch to the dual band filter, I had thought it was automatic when selecting a DSO, obviously not so no nebulosity!

I'm still having a struggle with my new Seestar, last night when I suddenly realized there were stars to be seen I had a go at the Flame Nebula.

I imaged for 1 hour but had so many rejections due to star trailing that I've only finished up with 5 minutes of subs.

Just to make an unfair comparison I also quickly set up my lightweight wide field kit and got an hour on the same target losing only 2 frames due to clouds. I'll do some processing later.

I haven't yet watched the video, maybe he mentions it but I've read that the sync button has disappeared because it's now being done automatically.

Edit: yep, it's in the video! 😳

First clear night at about 23.00 so I chanced my luck and tried some lunar. I've only had the Seestar a few days and managed to image the sun within a few hours of opening the box without problems. Last night was a different matter however, it simply couldn't find the moon even after levelling and compass calibration.

So I tried selecting some random nebula which it slewed to immediately and did a 3 star calibration. I backed out of that and tried the moon and it found it perfectly so I took a few videos during which it tracked perfectly. I still have to work out the finer details of AF when the green box is not on the moon. The sky looks clear right now so I might try some more solar.

Image is a 1 minute video processed in Pipp, AutoStakkert and Dxo Photolab 3. It had a green tinge so I converted it to mono in Nik.

Looking at the specs of the Celestron I'm sure it would be a  fantastic instrument.