Unistellar eVscope

[Buzzard75]

11 hours ago, John said:

What I was interest in was the appearance of the galaxies visually when viewed with the Evscope. Were they as bright and detailed visually or were they different from the images.

Thanks.

With Enhanced Vision stacking, the image in the viewer and on the mobile screen looks exactly like the image I posted. All the processing is done by the scope. Without EV and only a one second exposure, I was at least able to detect the galaxy core and rough shape, but not with anywhere near as much detail.

[Buzzard75]

10 hours ago, Ibbo! said:

I am an imager (mainly) and I image in a lot worse than that from back yard and in open fields Ok  my main mount is pretty good but the smaller mount copes well.

I have also done a lot of outreach and that kit has to stand up to quite a bit of abuse and in my opinion that tripod and mount is not up to the job unless it is fenced off.

In fact I did an outreach last night and the "stars" were a couple of 10" Skywatcher dobs and a couple of well mounted large binos.

The tall spindldy fracs did not fare well.

 

I mainly do imaging as well. I certainly won't claim that the eVscope and tripod are the most stable either. They are stable enough to handle 5-10mph winds and capture exposures at a few seconds a piece. Anything stronger and it will drop frames here and there, but will still capture the occasional frame to add to the stack. I know that if I had my 12" dob out last night it would have been bouncing all over the place. There's a lot of flex in that system and it acts like a big sail. My EQ mount and wide field imaging rig are pretty solid and it probably would have been fine, but I know from experience I would still have had to throw away a good bit of the data. With as limited as my time is, even with a little bit of wind it's not worth it for me to waste imaging in those conditions.

[Ibbo!]

8 minutes ago, Buzzard75 said:

I mainly do imaging as well. I certainly won't claim that the eVscope and tripod are the most stable either. They are stable enough to handle 5-10mph winds and capture exposures at a few seconds a piece. Anything stronger and it will drop frames here and there, but will still capture the occasional frame to add to the stack. I know that if I had my 12" dob out last night it would have been bouncing all over the place. There's a lot of flex in that system and it acts like a big sail. My EQ mount and wide field imaging rig are pretty solid and it probably would have been fine, but I know from experience I would still have had to throw away a good bit of the data. With as limited as my time is, even with a little bit of wind it's not worth it for me to waste imaging in those conditions.

I am glad you are happy with it.

I certainly would not be esp at £2600.

[Buzzard75]

29 minutes ago, Ibbo! said:

I am glad you are happy with it.

I certainly would not be esp at £2600.

I probably wouldn't be at full price either. For the amount I contributed to the Kickstarter, which wasn't anywhere close to that, I am. As I've said previously, had that been the asking price, I would have passed. You can put together a much more capable system for that price. I don't deny that and have said as much myself. Any integrated system is going to be more expensive than the individual components if you were putting it together yourself. If it's a new type of integrated system, as this is, it's going to be expensive. If you don't put it out there though, someone else will. Others have already started in this case. I honestly think it's just a matter of time before the big name manufacturers begin putting out similar products. In fact, Meade has already started with their LightSwitch ACF models. What that means for this type of integrated system is that there will be much stronger competition, specs will get better, and prices will come down.

[tommyr]

I have noticed that if it gets too windy 'enhanced" mode gets briefly interrupted but resumes pretty quick for the most part. My old eyes find viewing on the app better than the eyepiece but the views are the same.

[sharksfan9727]

Been a long wait, I was one of the initial indiegogo backers, and Ive been notified that my scope arrives in the next couple weeks, just had to pay the tax/shipping fee.  I think that my demographic is one of the targets.  I am a tech in the wireless industry, I have some years under my belt, just dont have patience or the experience/time for what all the nay-sayers on here are talking.  Obviously its not for you if you have negative things to say about it, but I still enjoy reading your input and your experience/understanding/take on the unit.  I on the other hand, feel that the backing/startup introduction price was something that was right up my alley and the equipment is what I wanted-ease of use, all in one package and quick.  Of course not something that I want to lose out on if it failed, but something that I could and would be happy to help support, and HOPE I actually get a unit.  My hopes are coming true and I cant wait to oooh and ahhh all over it.  From what I've read, the positive and negative posts, are exactly what I am looking for.  EXACTLY.  Those of you that are well advanced in this arena, I applaud you, you obviously have put in the time in this hobby and are the leaders to whom we NOOBs look to for advice and help, so thank you for the constructive criticism.  I am the same when it comes to a desktop computer, it needs to fit MY billing so all is good news to me.

I have been watching the weather and I am so excited for its arrival, looking like clear skys ahead...

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by sharksfan9727

[saac]

Good luck with it Chris I share your enthusiasm for this new tech into the amateur astro market; let's start to see what it can really offer.  It would be great to hear how you get on with it once it arrives.  Good for you giving them the backing needed to get this into manufacture. 

Jim 

[TSRobot]

Have just heard that my scope is on the way too. Looking forward to be able to finally show my 6yr old son and family what astronomy is all about rather than just nipping out into the garden and having nothing to show them other than the moon over and over again. Fingers crossed it does what it says on the tin 😏

[HWStar]

Unistellar just announced that a youtube video/live discussion to explain all about the eVscope will happen on Feb. 27, 2020 at 3p.m. This is hosted by the Deep Astronomy channel.

You can go to this link and set a reminder. 

 

[HWStar]

Hmm, apparently, they changed it to March 5th. My email specifically stated Feb 27, but I see this youtube link as changed.

 

Edit: Just got an email that they postponed until March 5th due to bad weather today, Feb 27th.

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by HWStar
Update date issue.

[HWStar]

Okay, I didn't learn much from their already expressed videos and websites. Just have to wait until it arrives, I guess.  One take away, was that they are continuing to improve the software on a constant basis (so is this going to be a firmware upgrade?). The sensor is 1.3 meg, which is old tech by today's standards, I think (what do you think?), but given the years they have put into this, they are probably locked into it for several years of production--and using software as the improvement. Like lots of tech these days, remember how great we thought the first iPhone was? Get ready for an interesting array of tech like this in the next ten years. More to come....

[Buzzard75]

I haven't watched it yet. It is a small sensor, but I wouldn't say that necessarily makes it old tech. Yes, it has a fairly narrow field of view since it is so small, but it's honestly probably one of the best sensors they could have chosen for this particular application. The sensor they're using is actually very sensitive and has very low read noise at low gain.

This weekend will be my first public outing with the scope and I'm really looking forward to it. It will be especially interesting for me because it will be a nearly full moon and I'm curious how well it will really do.

[HWStar]

Burzzard75: Thumbs up. Let us know what you see!.  I'm mostly a photo camera guy, so sensors like this are laughable, but, we are two different worlds here...I'm not trying to be negative, but you have to understand, that they decided on this tech about 4 years ago as I understand, so we have some catching up to do. 

[Buzzard75]

I had some issues at the beginning of the night. It kept failing the auto align. I felt it was dark enough as I could see plenty of stars by eye and could see some on the screen, but it just wasn't happy. People kept coming around asking what I was looking at and I had to keep turning them away and tell them what the scope was, how it worked and what I was trying to do. After several attempts, it thankfully started working.

Most of the other club members were looking at the moon and Venus for a good while until it got dark enough for other targets. I wanted to focus on stuff they couldn't see in the other scopes, which, I think, is the best use of the eVscope in this setting. To that, guests were able to make out the haze of M42 through other peoples scopes, easy target I know, but I was able to show them color and more detail. I was also able to pull out M81 and M82 pretty easily despite the full moon. Out of curiosity, I tried M105 and that grouping. It was just too close to the moon and everything was washed out, as to be expected. I had wanted to try some other galaxy clusters, but we were finished up by 8PM. It was a very short event and I only got about an hours worth of observation by the time it started to cooperate.

Still, it was successful in showing people something they couldn't otherwise see through a traditional scope under the conditions.

[RobertI]

On 05/03/2020 at 21:22, HWStar said:

The sensor is 1.3 meg, which is old tech by today's standards, I think (what do you think?)

Personally I think 1.3 meg resolution is perfectly adequate for this kind of application and will be for years to come. I use a Lodestar for my EAA which is a mere 0.43 meg and it produces some pretty satisfying results (albiet black and white) - not mind blowing, but way more than eyeballing through a scope. Just my two cents.

[HWStar]

Just got an email saying they delivered 1,000 Evscopes so far. That is definitely a manufacturing milestone. Now, if we can just get rid of the virus. Here in Michigan it's starting to warm up to tick season. So we will have our Corona with a squeeze of Lyme now...what too early :O).

[HWStar]

Unistellar announced in email, that the virus is putting them another 6 weeks behind in delivery of scopes due to be sent out in April and beyond. Mine was due in June, so probably get in August, now.

[TSRobot]

Mine was sent on the 20th of Feb. Now it's stuck in Europe. I'm sat home now anyhow. No dramas.

[TSRobot]

Scope just arrived yesterday. We'll packed an all. Battery needed juicing up and it connects to the app OK. Switched off notifications for the app else it spends hours r telling me its searching for the evscope. Too many clouds to test it out in any meaningful way. I'm cautiously excited though. 

 

Edited March 31, 2020 by TSRobot
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[saac]

Looking good, hope it clears quickly for you. Be really interested to hear your thoughts once you get to shake it down , good luck  

Jim 

[RobertI]

Good news, looking forward to first light. 

[HWStar]

Just found a facebook page for LA users, but anyone can join. Not much on it yet, though: https://www.facebook.com/EVscope-Users-Los-Angeles-100441591475771/

Haven't received any updates on mine yet. Would have been good to have one, since we are on lockdown here in Michigan with not a lot to do these days.

[TSRobot]

First try out last night. Aligned it OK. I live in Coventry. Bortle 6. Need to try fiddling with gain/exposure etc. Would much prefer to use my tablet rather than on a little phone screen but unistellar haven't written the app for tablets yet. Very easy to use after 10 minutes learning curve. Looking through the eyepiece is pointless as the picture is clearer on my phone screen. 

Very happy. 

[HWStar]

Got an email from unistellar with latest activity for backers. This is what they said. I'll post only the text. They have clock times for viewing all the Messier objects. They also posted this youtube link for a real time look at how the scope enhances images:  (For more info and actual images go to: https://unistellaroptics.com/ and click on the Messier Marathon) I'm still waiting for my scope--Covid-19 permitting... :o(.

 

Unistellar April 10, 2020 Update

Dear backers,

 
As you know, COVID-19 restrictions have hundreds of millions of people sheltering at their homes and avoiding unnecessary trips. A lot of businesses have been forced to close their doors and resign themselves to an uncertain fate. Thankfully, as we continue operating, our hearts and souls at Unistellar have been overjoyed to be there for you during this difficult time. Your kind support and encouraging words are tremendously appreciated.

We have to confess that we have been completely overwhelmed by your positive perseverance in these times of uncertainty. Hundreds of you joined our “Astronomy from Home” movement during Unistellar Global Messier Marathon Week held from March 19 to 26. eVscope citizen astronomers from Canada, France, Finland, Germany, Italy or the United States have been adventuring all through outer space. For a lot of amateur astronomers, this observing challenge has been on their bucket list and many of you have been impressively successful.

For those new to the hobby, a Messier Marathon is an event where astronomers observe as many Messier Catalog objects as they can during a favorable time of the year where the moon is absent and the sky orientation allows them to observe all of them. There are 110 Messier objects, all galaxies, nebulae and star clusters. The Messier Marathon map we proposed:

  

 

[Theninjagecko]

On 05/04/2020 at 12:08, TSRobot said:

First try out last night. Aligned it OK. I live in Coventry. Bortle 6. Need to try fiddling with gain/exposure etc. Would much prefer to use my tablet rather than on a little phone screen but unistellar haven't written the app for tablets yet. Very easy to use after 10 minutes learning curve. Looking through the eyepiece is pointless as the picture is clearer on my phone screen. 

Very happy. 

When you look through the EP you see all that colored noise? if so then it would REALLY put me off, especially considering the price.