ZWO Seestar 50

[Stonecutter]

Certainly...

 

Here is the auto stacked image saved directly onto device.

 

[LDW1]

28 minutes ago, Stonecutter said:

Certainly...

 

Here is the auto stacked image saved directly onto device.

 

Couldn't you have put them in the same post even if you had to repeat one or added it to your previous post, as it is we have to jump between pages the comparison is a lot more difficult and not visually easy.

[DaveL59]

2 hours ago, Stonecutter said:

Certainly...

 

Here is the auto stacked image saved directly onto device.

 

Very nice, I'd have been happy with that esp as I don't image so won't be looking much at "improving", at least initially. For sure my daughter and kids would be wowed to see something like this materialising on the screen. I can see mine being on long term loan or buying one for them to use in my future 😄 

[M40]

I think Stonecutters auto stacked image is great and an excellent example of what the ss50 can achieve using a purely eeva method.

Time to make a specific thread in the eeva report section of the site and I will be copying my poor M31 over, @Stonecutter if you could copy your ngc7000 over complete with date and number of shots that would be great.

Question for all... do you think a single shot solar picture equates to eeva? and should these be posted in the new topic? Personally, think yes as they will not be processed and are as live view as can be. All the best

 

[Paul M]

8 hours ago, Stonecutter said:

Watching the result come in as stack built was very exciting,

I think that is much of the pleasure of imaging for me.

I don't have a smart scope... yet... but with my own big old imaging rig I usually sit and watch a live stack building up from my reclining armchair, even though I'll usually do a full process later, in the cold light of day!

Anyway, it all looks very promising from you early adopter guys! Certainly a new chapter in sharing and outreach. 

[Louis D]

On 10/09/2023 at 04:08, Elp said:

It has been stated in Cuivs latest video that it doesn't operate in EQ mode and never will be updated to. Their reference was to using a bigger tripod.

Would it be possible to EQ mount it and then tell it you're at the north pole (for northern hemisphere users) to fool it into EQ mode?

[Elp]

I believe to use it like any other goto mount your location settings need to be correct so it's internal star map will be in sync so doubt it will work. Exposures are limited to 10s per image I believe atm so you won't gain anything as it is.

[M40]

7 hours ago, Louis D said:

Would it be possible to EQ mount it and then tell it you're at the north pole (for northern hemisphere users) to fool it into EQ mode?

It won't work as the device needs to be level. The app switches to the level adjustment screen if it determines it's required.

[Ags]

1 hour ago, M40 said:

It won't work as the device needs to be level. The app switches to the level adjustment screen if it determines it's required.

Ah... so it cannot be used as a space telescope either 🙃

[M40]

57 minutes ago, Ags said:

Ah... so it cannot be used as a space telescope either 🙃

Well its a very good grab and go device so might be worth a try, what size is the overhead locker on a Soyuz?😉

[DaveL59]

Just curiosity here, but the opening where the solar filter goes, anyone able to measure the diameter and is it threaded?

I know it ain't for planetary etc, but I wonder if that old Jessops fisheye/tele/macro lens I have (screws onto an existing camera lens) might give the S50 a little extra reach with it configured as 2x tele. I'll likely give it a go if I can find a way to get it to stay in place, just to see what happens - well if I remember in a couple months time that is 😉 

[Cosmic Geoff]

Just received my Seestar 50 and have been checking it out.  If you have been looking at the online ZWO spec and the Youtube videos, you may know it comes in a nice carry case, with a tripod (which feels reassuringly solid), a USB lead for charging, etc (mine was 50% charged on arrival) a solar filter, and quickstart instruction leaflet.  Apparently the device includes a dual-band light pollution filter (!).

I downloaded the iphone app and got the device started without any bother, except that the app is about as intuitive to use as iphone apps usually are (i.e. it's not).  I aimed it out of the window and got it to auto-focus on some bricks in middle distance. Took photo. The slider to shut the S50 down is at the bottom of the screen (yes, it's hidden).

I tried loading the Android app to my 10 year old Nexus 7 tablet, but did not get anywhere.  Terribly sluggish, nothing much happens when I tapped download. (And it's not in the Google Play store, tried that.) Maybe I just shouldn't bother, but the Nexus 6 has a bigger screen. The Android APK (about 680mb) is downloading to my PC just fine, so it's clearly a tablet issue.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Cosmic Geoff
Android Tablet issues

[Elp]

The nexus 6 was a fantastic phone, but yes it'll be too slow to run the app if it's even compatible with the android version on it.

 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Elp

[Cosmic Geoff]

16 minutes ago, Elp said:

The nexus 6 was a fantastic phone.

This tired tablet is a Nexus 7. I had to dig to the bottom of the settings to confirm that.

[LDW1]

37 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

Just curiosity here, but the opening where the solar filter goes, anyone able to measure the diameter and is it threaded?

I know it ain't for planetary etc, but I wonder if that old Jessops fisheye/tele/macro lens I have (screws onto an existing camera lens) might give the S50 a little extra reach with it configured as 2x tele. I'll likely give it a go if I can find a way to get it to stay in place, just to see what happens - well if I remember in a couple months time that is 😉 

Do you really think the designers of the SS50 thought of someone trying what you are asking to ensure they would build that capability into this revolutionary $600 C piece of optical gear, as a matter of course ?  As with anything new like this some should realize that the sky is not the limit. Sometimes I wonder what some fellow astronomers think they are getting all for a great but very low price, its just the start of something big, lol !

[LDW1]

21 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Just received my Seestar 50 and have been checking it out.  If you have been looking at the online ZWO spec and the Youtube videos, you may know it comes in a nice carry case, with a tripod (which feels reassuringly solid), a USB lead for charging, etc (mine was 50% charged on arrival) a solar filter, and quickstart instruction leaflet.  Apparently the device includes a dual-band light pollution filter (!).

I downloaded the iphone app and got the device started without any bother, except that the app is about as intuitive to use as iphone apps usually are (i.e. it's not).  I aimed it out of the window and got it to auto-focus on some bricks in middle distance. Took photo. The slider to shut the S50 down is at the bottom of the screen (yes, it's hidden).

I tried loading the Android app to my 10 year old Nexus 6, but did not get anywhere.  Terribly sluggish, nothing much happens when I tapped download. (And it's not in the Google Play store, tried that.) Maybe I just shouldn't bother, but the Nexus 6 has a bigger screen.

10 years old !  What exactly are you expecting, hopeing for 10 years later operating this revolutionary piece of gear ie SS50 ?  Its always been upgrade this and now upgrade that, lol !

[Cosmic Geoff]

2 minutes ago, LDW1 said:

10 years old !  What exactly are you expecting, hopeing for 10 years later operating this revolutionary piece of gear ie SS50 ?  Its always been upgrade this and now upgrade that, lol !

My 22 year old Japanese car still works fine, so a 10 year old tablet ought to work OK IMHO.  The rapid obsolescence of electronic devices, usually because of software updates, is annoying.

[Elp]

To be honest tech companies need to be more responsible. Tech usually becomes obsolete due to software implementation, constantly adding more and more stuff unnecessarily, and that's if the software has even been programmed efficiently, they usually aren't optimised very well, in this day and age with online updates this is also more the case as users become the testers and the developers can patch their software rather than making sure it's right in the first place. The internet would run much faster, on old hardware if they didn't add in all the multimedia features, tracking, generic programming which powers probably 90 percent of all web pages and all other things which "demands" specifications which are usually only useful for very demanding computing tasks. Some of my old computers still run applications fine, the "need" to update the OS has caused the obsolescence, granted they won't process demanding calculations as fast as the latest hardware but performance computing is a separate subject.

I'd still be using older phones if they were designed to be modular and upgradable much like the latest Fairphones.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Elp

[DaveL59]

5 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

My 22 year old Japanese car still works fine, so a 10 year old tablet ought to work OK IMHO.  The rapid obsolescence of electronic devices, usually because of software updates, is annoying.

I wonder if upgrading the OS if one's available in XDA might be worth a shot, of course that'll have some limitations but maybe worth a go. Updated my note 3 to a more recent android a while back which made it a bit more useful as a small tablet tho I didn't try loading the S50 app on it yet as I'd be using the Lenovo P11-plus for that. Don't see much point loading it on my note-10+, why struggle with such a "small" screen 😉 

The old iPad (original) I have is just about junk, apps crash frequently and that was the case back in 2012 so it's only viable use has been to run VNC to give a gigger screen to use when aligning/focusing the CCTV cameras here.

Edited September 12, 2023 by DaveL59

[LDW1]

10 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

My 22 year old Japanese car still works fine, so a 10 year old tablet ought to work OK IMHO.  The rapid obsolescence of electronic devices, usually because of software updates, is annoying.

Are you just kidding ?  LOL  !

[LDW1]

12 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

My 22 year old Japanese car still works fine, so a 10 year old tablet ought to work OK IMHO.  The rapid obsolescence of electronic devices, usually because of software updates, is annoying.

In anybodys right mind how can you even think of comparing those 2, lol ?

[LDW1]

8 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

I wonder if upgrading the OS if one's available in XDA might be worth a shot, of course that'll have some limitations but maybe worth a go. Updated my note 3 to a more recent android a while back which made it a bit more useful as a small tablet tho I didn't try loading the S25 app on it yet as I'd be using the Lenovo P11-plus for that. Don't see much point loading it on my note-10+, why struggle with such a "small" screen 😉 

The old iPad (original) I have is just about junk, apps crash frequently and that was the case back in 2012 so it's only viable use has been to run VNC to give a gigger screen to use when aligning/focusing the CCTV cameras here.

No matter how old they are they will likly turn on but when the company quits  supporting, stops updates what do you think happens in its actual operation, its capabilities.

[Elp]

But that's the thing. The device in question doesn't necessarily need to be rendered obsolete just because the manufacturer doesn't see it as viable to support anymore. Some of my ten year old phones will still work fine if the OS developers didn't feel the need to update and render said devices obsolete. All they need is a battery change and they'd be good to go, but the latest bloat in new OSs as well as lazy app requirements makes them run slow, look how apple have been purposefully slowing older phones down in secret so they can be supported for longer.

My 5 year old phone can still run my asiair software but it's prone to crashing, yet it can run graphic intensive games fine.

[DaveL59]

3 minutes ago, LDW1 said:

No matter how old they are they will likly turn on but when the company quits  supporting, stops updates what do you think happens in its actual operation, its capabilities.

not much positive to add huh? 😞

Just because the maker ain't sending updates, doesn't mean it just ceases to function. Heck my CCTV cameras haven't had an update in 7-10 years and they just work. My old Note-3 phone that I got in 2012 still worked as-was, I just decided to blow a newer droid version onto it since it was no longer my primary phone once I got the note-10. My old Note-1 also still works just fine, the only issue is if an app I may want requires a later droid version for whatever reason.

As for the tele lens add-on, well I wonder how the likes of Minolta and co feel about folks adding these things onto expensive glass they developed? The fact that I can turn my 50mm £200 (original price) lens into a fisheye for little outlay (that cost me around £12 a while back) gives the option of a bit of fun should I feel the desire to. Sure it won't be the ultimate in optical brilliance but seeing what might be possible is worth the adventure IMHO.

[Elp]

And here's me using 50 year old camera lenses that should be obsolete...