ZWO Seestar 50

[DaveL59]

55 minutes ago, squipper said:

that's the problem move my finger around but the circle stays put

OK, so the filled circle shows where your digit has moved to from centre and the arrow indicator the direction the scope should be moving. Is that not happening?

The outer circle itself doesn't move it's merely a "joy-pad" type icon on the display GUI.

If you're saying that is how it comes up when not touching the display then perhaps there's an issue with the device you are using, screen damage, digitiser or touch-screen fault etc. What device is it and do you have another you can try?

Edited December 13, 2023 by DaveL59

[squipper]

Honor pad X9 tablet can hit the astro icons  and it will move to them

[squipper]

It's done the same  on my phone just now showing the circle at 9o'clock just like the photo

[DaveL59]

very odd, what versions of android and the Seestar app?

Might be worth checking on ZWO's site to see if others have reported the same.

[squipper]

android 13    ,seestar is  1.91

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by squipper

[Cosmic Geoff]

4 hours ago, squipper said:

that's the problem move my finger around but the circle stays put

I've never had any trouble with that. You just have to move your fingertip outside the circle (further = faster) and mind you're not driving it into park position.

[squipper]

that is how the app opens up with out touching it 

[DaveL59]

4 hours ago, squipper said:

that is how the app opens up with out touching it 

Is that correct, as in that's the first screen that opens when you start the app?

It should open with the page showing the seestar showing the modes available (stargazing, moon, planets, scenery) and ask to connect. If it doesn't do that then I assume the seestar sits dormant doing nothing or does it start to move in the direction shown in the joypad?

[cimh]

Lovely clear skies in SW england last evening. Really pleased with my Seestar image of NGC7331. The main galaxy is 40 million light years away. And the tiny ones above it and bottom left are thought to be 350 million light years away. Those poor photons must be exhausted. Amazed to pick them up in my light polluted urban garden.  Top marks to ZWO. The Seestar + dew heater was on for over 2 hours and with a power bank attached was still showing 80% charge at the end of the session.

Out of interest this image was taken over 102 minutes. What's the longest people have managed before rotation starts to screw things up? I have a feeling the the duration may depend on how high in the sky the object is?  

[trailer]

First light on my Seestar last night - just under an hour on M31. To the left is the stacked image from the Seestar untouched and on the right for comparison is the 300+ individual images stacked and tweaked. 

[squipper]

don't know why but today turn it on and the pointing circle is working in the solar mode took a photo of the sun when a plane flew past. on the tablet  looks ok but if i put it on a whats app group there are small squares on the photo . see if it is the same on this site 

[Mandy D]

12 minutes ago, squipper said:

don't know why but today turn it on and the pointing circle is working in the solar mode took a photo of the sun when a plane flew past. on the tablet  looks ok but if i put it on a whats app group there are small squares on the photo . see if it is the same on this site 

 

The image is only 1080 pixels wide. When I click on it and zoom in, it is displayed at more than 1080 pixels, so, you can see pixellation. Your image is slightly out of focus, or you have camera shake, but it's a nice capture. I've taken your image and run it through GIMP. The first thing I did was apply a Gaussian blur of 1.5 x 1.5 which removed the pixellation. I've also cropped it to square and darkened the sky background. Have a look and see what you think.

[LDW1]

-13° C last nite, SQM-L only 19.20, no wind at all. 4 min. on the Rossette Neb and 9-12 min. on the other 2.  This SeeStar is incredibly huge save for the price !

Edited December 14, 2023 by LDW1
reduce photo size

[squipper]

Mandy D thank you for what you  did it came out grey and i managed to colour  it but them things you did went straight over my head 

[Cosmic Geoff]

Who has mastered the planetary mode on the Seestar?  I have updated to the latest app and firmware, and have a Planetary Mode icon on the screen, but it just brings up a mostly black screen with 'No Object' at the top.

I found this Youtube video which claims to demonstrate it.  It shows a list of all the planets, visible or otherwise, which I was unable to bring up.  I did get a list of 'Tonight's best' with Uranus and Jupiter at the top, and deep sky objects below.   The Seestar  actually 'found' Jupiter even though it was indoors, but when I tried to repeat the exercise I couldn't get that 'Tonight's Best' list up again.   Most frustrating.

 

[LDW1]

Tejat a red giant !  Tried it last nite for fun, its a multi star but no luck, lol !

 

[MonsterMagnet]

Had the first real chance to play with the Seestar last night as the clouds finally broke for a few hours.  I'm in central London so pretty much Bortle 9 skies and it wasn't amazingly clear but the results are pretty good.

Had a go at IC434 for about 45 minutes.

One image stacked and stretched by the Seestar (screenshot) and the other a stacking of the Seestar FITS in PI and a quick process.

MM

[Neil27]

Finally first night last night after waiting nearly 2 weeks! It was literally 2 minutes from switching on, connecting to the app, quick level and calibration and then it was imaging and acquiring data, absolutely unbelievable!

Again apologies for another M42 and horse Head but they were tantalising me just above the rooftop of my house. Bortle 5 skies, LP filter used, both JPEG images had a light process In lightroom on my iPad. Disclaimer I’m still learning but it’s fun ….

[MonsterMagnet]

A couple more from Friday night, central London (Bortle 9).

Once again, the image from the Seestar and then another image stacked and quickly processed from the FITS in PI.

Only had this one day to play so far but initial thoughts are good.  Seems an ideal scope for taking away when you aren't sure about the weather and don't want to take your larger setup for no reason.  Also seems great for selecting targets for the main rig and also for getting the kids involved.

MM.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by MonsterMagnet

[LDW1]

A few more from the 14th, Bortle 5, SQM-L 19.45.  Next time I do M37 I will only run it for about 3 min.

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by LDW1
reduce photo size

[Cosmic Geoff]

Some nice images above.

Last night I imaged Jupiter through a gap in the clouds.  I mainly wanted to see how the device performed.  I found Jupiter in the night's best objects list and it slewed straight to the approximate position and started doing its thing to centre the object.  One can adjust the image brightness but I couldn't bring up the moons.   I then selected Uranus but could not see anything.

I wonder if it is capable of finding Venus in daylight? I suspect it would just over-expose. And there is a danger of encountering the Sun.

I still don't see what the Planetary icon is for as it just brings up a mostly black page with 'No Object' on it.

[paulastro]

For folks thinking of buying the Seestar S50, FLO have around 40 in stock, it was 55 when I first looked about an hour or so ago 😊

[tonyglossop]

FLO have as of this minute 36 ZWO SeeStar S50  in stock, had 75 3 hrs ago !!!

[Ags]

Wish my books would sell like that 🤣

[tonyglossop]

I have treated myself to another  ZWO SeeStar S50, will try doing the same DSO with both at the same time and stack both sets of fits and see if I get a much better finished image.

And I will be able to make the most use of the few clear nights we get oop north in the UK.

So, with my  2  SeeStar S50's, and my Sky-Watcher Evostar 72 ED DS should give me a lot of data to play with. ( I'm a lucky boy 🙂 )