ZWO Seestar 50

[jjohnson3803]

I just noticed the first used See* for sale listing in the CN classifieds.  

 

[Elp]

There's been quite a few on eBay the past few months. Nothing really significant, many people buy cameras and quickly sell them on.

Edited February 23 by Elp

[Bazz]

A break in the clouds last night. Taken straight from the Seestar:

 

[Beardy30]

Set up my Seestar this morning for the first time within 5 to 10 mins I was imagining the sun ☀️ in no time - so easy it is incredible, what a piece of kit ❤️ it’s a keeper and will revolutionise my nights in the garden for sure. It won’t ever replace looking through an EP but it sure compliments it well. 

Edited February 24 by Beardy30

[GasGiant]

Thats it.   A compliment to, not a replacement for 🙂 

I think they're great. A planetary version would be incredible !

Edited February 24 by GasGiant

[GasGiant]

I didnt spend enough time on this but not bad 🙂

Gotta figure out the easiest software to use to tweak out some detail !

Edited February 24 by GasGiant

[Beardy30]

6 minutes ago, GasGiant said:

Thats it.   A compliment to, not a replacement for 🙂 

I think they're great. A planetary version would be incredible !

Perhaps- certainly for me it’s a complimentary scope but for some it maybe all they ever need or want - can’t wait to see what this does at night 

[Cosmic Geoff]

I had my Seestar out last night (23rd Feb) and tried imaging some galaxies (previously I have prioritised nebulae).  Full moon, semi-urban sky.  I got a pleasing and better than expected image of  M81 and M82 in 36 mins. Getting both in frame was a faff.  Got a pleasing image of NGC2403, again better than expected.  

Next I tried for the full Moon, after picking up the Seestar and moving it into the moonlight.  I tried to make it find the Moon but it just wouldn't. It seemed to be trying to find it by plate-solving. Gave up and re-calibrated the compass. It then found the Moon (just) stopping with a sliver of Moon in frame, which I then centred.  I see there are digital x2 and x4 zoom options here - not very useful.  Somebody else complained about the Moon-finding with the latest software, and it certainly worked better with the earlier software.

Also tried for M66 with about 11 minutes. It was a bit rubbish (very small), but it was close to the full Moon.

In conclusion, the Seestar performs well on large galaxies with high surface brightness even under less than ideal conditions.

[Cosmic Geoff]

9 minutes ago, GasGiant said:

I think they're great. A planetary version would be incredible !

The Seestar does image planets, if you can find them in the object list, and some members have published images.  But to get decent planetary images it would need a much bigger aperture.  There are smart scopes with larger apertures, but they are wincingly expensive.

[Cosmic Geoff]

Tried the Seestar today (24 Feb) to capture the giant sunspot.  It seems that the sun-seeking software has not been improved by the latest upgrades.  Previously it impressively 'just worked' at the first attempt.  Now I got 'failed to find sun' after a prolonged search, pointing nowhere near it, and a prompt to calibrate the compass. Did that, and it found  the sun at the second attempt.  

There is, though, a x2 and x4 digital zoom, handy for imaging the giant sunspot.

[Beardy30]

f

Quote

after a firmware update its standard to re-calibrate

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

17 minutes ago, Beardy30 said:

after a firmware update its standard to re-calibrate

Maybe so, but I already re-calibrated it for the Moon the previous night.  When I first made the S50 find the Moon some months ago, it homed in on the nearest streetlamp, which was not particularly helpful but gave a good clue as to how the Moon-seeking actually worked with that edition of software.

[Beardy30]

50 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Maybe so, but I already re-calibrated it for the Moon the previous night.  When I first made the S50 find the Moon some months ago, it homed in on the nearest streetlamp, which was not particularly helpful but gave a good clue as to how the Moon-seeking actually worked with that edition of software.

Interesting 🤔 

[Beardy30]

.

Edited February 24 by Beardy30

[Beardy30]

First moon shots with the SeeStar and it had to be done with the full moon tonight ight 

Edited February 24 by Beardy30

[Beardy30]

Finished this evening with a shot of Capella - 3min-10 secs of  data  - 10second exposures. Wasn’t able to get anything else, moon too bright and light pollution saw to that but not bad tbh quite pleased with the image for my first go 

[irandar]

Hi Seestar folks, Could anyone please send me some avi Seestar video files?  Maybe a few GB. Thanks a lot. Irving

[GasGiant]

Guys,  what Tablets are you using with your seestar?  Specifically, anyone using Samsung tablets ?

Im looking at getting a new tablet as my old samsung wont download the software. Im presuming newer Samsung will no problem

[Beardy30]

I use an iPhone 13 currently but I’m eventually going for a dougee T20 from Amazon they are very compatible and affordable at £140 

[GasGiant]

I refuse to buy any apple product.🫣

 

 dougee T20? Never heard of em. Will take a look 😀

I can't imagine any problems with newer Samsung tablets,  but a confirmation would be great before buying one.

At present I'm using my s23 ultra and although its good, I want a bigger screen.

Edited February 25 by GasGiant

[Beardy30]

I’ve never used Samsung personally so cannot comment sorry 

[happy-kat]

There was a flow of posts on tablet suggestions I think it was several pages back on this thread. The seestar play store listing will advise the minimum Android version supported 

[paulastro]

I think one that a few people said was reliable and worked was the Samsung A8.  I'm not certain though, if you do a search on this site it will probably come up.

Edited February 25 by paulastro

[DaveL59]

2 hours ago, GasGiant said:

I refuse to buy any apple product.🫣

 

 dougee T20? Never heard of em. Will take a look 😀

I can't imagine any problems with newer Samsung tablets,  but a confirmation would be great before buying one.

At present I'm using my s23 ultra and although its good, I want a bigger screen.

Know what you mean re the fruity one. I use a Lenovo P11 Gen2 tablet and it works fine, came with the keyboard cover and stylus for a nice price. Otherwise I use the Note-10 plus. I'd expect most recent samsung tablets would work fine, almost got one but decided on the Lenovo instead.

[Tomatobro]

during daylight/twilight navigation relies solely on the data from the digital compass. If the compass data is off and or the mount is not level it will struggle.

in darkness it can use plate solving to improve accuracy.