Seestar S50 images

[M40]

New topic for a new device. Hopefully we will see lots of images as time goes by of what the Seestar is capable of and give others ideas of targets.

[M40]

From 9th September,  24 x 10 second  images, poor seeing. M31 galaxy with M110 above. Aprox 2.5million light years from Earth. M110 is a dwarf galaxy and a satelite of M31

[PeterC65]

It will be interesting to compare the Seestar with conventional assemblies of EAA kit.

[Jules Tohpipi]

I’ve been loosely following the SeeStar story and it seems like they’ve nailed it. Early reports saying it’s a total doddle to use and the gear you get for the money is incredible. I mean, it’s not that much more expensive than just a camera. 
 

It’s not for me because I prefer some extra flexibility. But it’s a massive achievement being such an easy and user-friendly package. Or a quick grab and go for the more experienced. 
 

 

 

[M40]

From 13th September, M27, Dumbell nebula. 24 x 10 seconds, with integral LP filter. 1240 light years away, M27 was the first planetary nebula discovered. From hubblesite, oxygen is blue, hydrogen is green and combination of sulphur and nitrogen is red.

[PeterC65]

M27 looks very impressive, M31 less so, but I think M31 can sometimes be a difficult target even with EAA.

 

[M40]

31 minutes ago, PeterC65 said:

M27 looks very impressive, M31 less so, but I think M31 can sometimes be a difficult target even with EAA.

 

Nice clear night last night but it was very cloudy when I took that M31. Going to have another go at M31 soon 👍

[saac]

That is not shabby at all, very good. The SeeStar is going to deliver a lot of fun I think. 

Jim 

[seven_legs]

8 hours ago, M40 said:

From 13th September, M27, Dumbell nebula. 24 x 10 seconds, with integral LP filter. 1240 light years away, M27 was the first planetary nebula discovered. From hubblesite, oxygen is blue, hydrogen is green and combination of sulphur and nitrogen is red.

nice shots.

i've never really been bothered about theses new electronic thingys. but watched a youtube vid with the zwo seestar s50 and must say  i really like it for solar imaging, i would buy it just for that considering how fairly cheap it is, for astronomy gear that is. maybe in the future when i can afford it

[Stonecutter]

Here are a couple more images the Pelican nebula and Elephants Trunk.

Pelican is 7 mins exposure time and Elephants Trunk 90 mins.  

My latest thoughts -

1.  field rotation seems to kicks in ( ZWO uses an algorithm to combat this ) after an hour of capture time.

2.  High zenith targets cause it to loose more stacked images ( this is why there is an exposure clock on display as opposed to images counter )

3.  The voice announcing what it is doing is too loud (option to mute ) neighbours must wonder what is happening in my garden.

4.  Still very exciting and so simple to use, I have it on a very high tripod with a heavy battery pack in a stone bag, which raises the unit above my head ( I have lots trees to combat ) and works fine, and makes it easier to see.

[LaurenceT]

M27 is superb!

[JeremyS]

These images are looking very promising 👍🏻

[DaveL59]

On 16/09/2023 at 09:07, Stonecutter said:

 

3.  The voice announcing what it is doing is too loud (option to mute ) neighbours must wonder what is happening in my garden.

 

Is the voice from the tablet/phone app or the S50 itself?

Perhaps a headset would be worth considering if out late and disturbing the neighbours is a consideration?

tbh I found similar with the starsense explorer app when it bings etc but at least managed to turn off or quiet it enough, hopefully similar can be achieved.

[Stonecutter]

The Seestar S50.  On first setup you get a Chinese voice saying something, then once it has connected to the app it changes to region i.e English in my case.

From then on it talks to you for every instance i.e "connected", searching for target, target acquired, shooting, shutdown etc....in a very loud English voice the "target acquired" sounding out loudly from my garden gave me some concern

You can mute the voice as I have done......

 

Here are a couple more images the Pelican nebula and Elephants Trunk.

Pelican is 7 mins exposure time and Elephants Trunk 90 mins.  

My latest thoughts -

1.  field rotation seems to kicks in ( ZWO uses an algorithm to combat this ) after an hour of capture time.

2.  High zenith targets cause it to loose more stacked images ( this is why there is an exposure clock on display as opposed to images counter )

3.  The voice announcing what it is doing is too loud (option to mute ) neighbours must wonder what is happening in my garden.

4.  Still very exciting and so simple to use, I have it on a very high tripod with a heavy battery pack in a stone bag, which raises the unit above my head ( I have lots trees to combat ) and works fine, and makes it easier to see.

[M40]

A gap in the clouds so I went for it, the speed at which the ss50 can be setup and working is phenomenal. 

Another go at M31 as a much clearer albeit cloudy night. 30 x 10 seconds, no LP filter

Then M33, tringulum galaxy, again 30 x 10 seconds, no LP filter

And then lastly complete with clouds big time,  M57, ring nebula. 20 x 10 seconds, with LP filter

All the above are simple screen grabs of the final picture. 

 

 

[Stonecutter]

firmware update available now....

the main features are Station Mode to connect to home network if desired, and the big one in advanced settings there is now the option to save individual fits frames that it auto stacks for stacking externally from SeeStar S50.

Can't wait to try them out, seeing above I think M33 will be next target.

 

Cheers

Chris

[Stonecutter]

Here is my M27 with SeeStar note the new watermarking ( it can be turned off in settings ).

I have enhanced ( doubled size ), and added contrast/dehaze in Lightroom.  Very pleased with result.  Details on watermarking

[M40]

22 hours ago, Stonecutter said:

firmware update available now....

the main features are Station Mode to connect to home network if desired, and the big one in advanced settings there is now the option to save individual fits frames that it auto stacks for stacking externally from SeeStar S50.

Can't wait to try them out, seeing above I think M33 will be next target.

 

Cheers

Chris

What version of software are you on as my app is showing that it is up to date, but I cannot find the watermarking selection.

[Stonecutter]

iOS 17, SeeStar V1.58

Into app, select Me at the bottom tool bar, then to the cog ( settings )...

 

[M40]

Looks like the android update is falling behind. From what I have found that update is in android version 1.8.1 whereas I have version 1.7.1. The Google app store and the Seestar website are still also showing the 1.7.1 version. Guess I will have to wait 🤦‍♂️ 

I think you have a dodgy version and should delete it........😉

[Stonecutter]

Took 20 mins of Pelican IC5070.

Took individual fits files ( after the new firmware upgrade ), that seems to be for iOS only at the moment 🥲, sorry Android owners.....onto Mac computer fired up Siril

1.  Stacked.

2. Photometric colour calibration

3. Background Extraction

4. Deconvolution

5. StarNet into starless and stars only files

6. Generalised stretch on each

7. Recombined

8. Exported into LR for final contrast/dehaze and voila

 

 

[badhex]

Hello all, 

Has anyone managed the Veil yet? Is the FOV wide enough for such and object? 

[DaveL59]

On 28/09/2023 at 16:11, badhex said:

Hello all, 

Has anyone managed the Veil yet? Is the FOV wide enough for such and object? 

Not seen anyone post that one, but there is rumour on some utube reviews that a mosaic mode may be in the works.

[Cosmic Geoff]

Here's a couple of Seestar images (phone .jpg) that I took on 15th Sept during its first outing.  IC5146 and NGC7023.  I have not managed another session with it since.  (clouds) These have not been processed at all except to up the contrast and rotate 90 deg to better fit projection screens.  The stack times were short as I was just trying to see what it would do on various objects.   It's impressive what it can do in a few minutes. A brilliant EEVA tool.

I have noticed that because of the way Seestar works, everybody's images of the popular objects have much the same framing.  🙂

I tried processing the FITS files from the Seestar, but could not improve on the instant jpg's.    Maybe post-processing works better with a longer series of stacked exposures.  Some testers have run over 1 hour on a single object. 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Cosmic Geoff

[Giles_B]

Just getting familiar with Siril and the SeeStar, one after another. This is M82 - 27 10-second exposures over 7 mins. The image was pretty much as is from the first exposure, really showing the SeeStar's potential for object enhancement in real time.

I had some problems getting the processed jpg because the app wasn't signed in - hence the scrappy original jpg here. Later tidied up in Siril for a prettier version.

Original:

Processed:

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Giles_B