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Stellina

Mike Q

By Mike Q
in Discussions - EEVA Equipment

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Mike Q

Mike Q

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Well it appears that the wife wants a Stellina.  We are particularly interested in knowing how it is working for you those of you that use android.  The manufacturer says the new app irons out a pretty good number of issues and it is much stable.  I want to know the good, bad and the ugly.  Thanks very much for your time in answering the first of what I am sure will be many questions.

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cajen2

cajen2

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1 minute ago, Mike Q said:

Well it appears that the wife wants a Stellina.  We are particularly interested in knowing how it is working for you those of you that use android.

  I want to know the food, 

I don't think they need feeding, Mike...😆

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Elp

Elp

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I'm sure they're decent devices especially if you don't want to learn setting up an AP rig, but if you have an AP rig you can achieve the same if not better results via live view (plus the benefits of using it for other applications and customising it to your needs).

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cajen2

cajen2

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At Astrocamp, a chap called Graham has an EV Scope, which works in the same way as a Stellina. The imagers were incredibly sniffy about it at first, then one came over and had a look, "wow!", then another and soon a whole crowd was around it asking questions and viewing images. Graham was nonchalantly asking, "What do you want to see?" "M52, please". He pressed a button, the scope slewed exactly on target and within a minute, the first image appeared. This improved steadily as it autostacked. You could view through an 'eyepiece' or on a phone/tablet screen.

One imager said loudly, "That's just not fair!" 🤣

I have to say if I wanted to take up AP, this would be for me! 😛

Edited by cajen2
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Elp

Elp

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Live view via an Asiair does exactly the same thing if you have a goto mount (no pc needed) and likely cheaper to comparable cost. I would however like to see one in person to see how it compares, especially in light polluted skies which these are advertised as being good for. The ease of setting up a Stellina or Evscope is certainly more appealing however as mine takes around 30 minutes from full disassembled state.

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Mike Q

Mike Q

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I did present the wife an option to build our own, be she has no interest in going that route.  She wants plug and play so that is what she will get.  So let's just forget about building up something shall we.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Mike Q

Mike Q

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Well last week the wife pulled the trigger and the Stellina should arrive tomorrow.  She also bought a brand new 12.5 inch Android tablet to run it.  Of course we all know when you buy anything Astronomy related you automatically get a week of cloudy skies with it.  I will put it together when it comes in and then we wait.

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M40

M40

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I've often wondered whether the two weeks of clouds start when you place the order or when the device arrives 🤔 Be really interesting to get your and your wifes thoughts on it 👌

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Mike Q

Mike Q

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1 hour ago, M40 said:

I've often wondered whether the two weeks of clouds start when you place the order or when the device arrives 🤔 Be really interesting to get your and your wifes thoughts on it 👌

I think the two weeks of clouds start when you open the box.  The wife had it up and running in the house just to play with it for a bit.  It opened up and looked around and said it couldn't find anything, which makes sense as the ceiling has no stars lol.  I really have no idea when we will get a chance to give it a go.  This year has been the worst year for cloud cover I have seen in a long time 

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Elp

Elp

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Tell me about it, if it hasn't been cloudy at least four weeks at a time, it's been unusually windy, then it's been freezing cold most times. Looking forward to see your results.

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Mike Q

Mike Q

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11 hours ago, Elp said:

Tell me about it, if it hasn't been cloudy at least four weeks at a time, it's been unusually windy, then it's been freezing cold most times. Looking forward to see your results.

Well I will definitely post them as we go along.  We clouded over in November and have hardly had a break since.  It usually clears out in April but we are in a cloudy pattern for some reason.  We have had a handful of nights that I have been able to take advantage of, the best night was in the low teens, around 15 if I remember and there was a light breeze.  I made it about 30 minutes before I called it a night.

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Mike Q

Mike Q

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Stellina generates a wifi hot spot that is good for about 20 to 30 feet. So to make it do anything you have to be within that area.  HOWEVER.....I read that there is a update coming to the Android version of the app that is called Plan Your Night.  This will let you set it up and turn it loose for the night.  So if I got a bigger battery I could tell it what to do and go to bed.

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Mike Q

Mike Q

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I don't know how strong the wifi signal is either.  I don't know if it can punch through walls or not yet either.  I have seen posts of guys using WiFi boosters to run it from the house and I may check into that.  Seems like the manual says it shouldn't be run below 0 degrees C, but I have seen people post about taking them out when it is colder then that.  

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cajen2

cajen2

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5 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

Stellina generates a wifi hot spot that is good for about 20 to 30 feet. So to make it do anything you have to be within that area.  HOWEVER.....I read that there is a update coming to the Android version of the app that is called Plan Your Night.  This will let you set it up and turn it loose for the night.  So if I got a bigger battery I could tell it what to do and go to bed.

So a no-hassle Messier Marathon then!

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Mike Q

Mike Q

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2 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

So a no-hassle Messier Marathon then

Sure you could do that, but I suspect you would only get a few done each night, depending on how long it takes to image the object.  

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