Starsense for skywatcher - for or against? 😬

[Flame Nebula]

Hi

I've seen this on flo site, and looks perfect for the lazy astronomer. 

So, for £400+, is it worth it, or would you say "put the money toward something else, like a used SW 120ed", 🤔

I think I know what the ratio of worth it : not worth it, will be.

But let's see.... 

Thanks 

Mark 

[PeterC65]

The StarSense for Sky-Watcher has crossed my radar too. I see it as a way to do plate solving mount alignment for visual observing. One of the great advantages of EAA is plate solving, but I think £400 is a lot of money to make visual alignment that bit easier. If I align the mount well I can generally get the selected object into the field of view of a longer FL eyepiece with GOTO, but sometimes when there are no obvious pointers near a hard to see object (M33 comes to mind) it would be nice to have the assurance that the scope was at least pointing at the object. If I did a lot more visual and could afford Tele Vue and Takahashi then maybe ...

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

It depends what mount you are going to use it on, and whether said mount is permanently mounted on a pier, and whether the mount has built-in GPS.

In the case of a permanently mounted EQ-5 Synscan, and a CPC800 with GPS, I have not seen much point in attaching the Starsense.

But attached to a C8 SE it is quite useful as it allows the outfit to be carried outside and got going within minutes.  

[bosun21]

There are actually two types of Starsense units now. The one costing approx £400 is the basic one which automatically does the star alignment for you and a newer release which actually does the alignment as well as guiding or plate solving I believe. The cost of the newer version was in the region of £700-800. Personally they are not for me but I can wholly understand why people use and like them. I would put the money towards your scope.

Edited April 10 by bosun21

[Flame Nebula]

3 hours ago, PeterC65 said:

The StarSense for Sky-Watcher has crossed my radar too. I see it as a way to do plate solving mount alignment for visual observing. One of the great advantages of EAA is plate solving, but I think £400 is a lot of money to make visual alignment that bit easier. If I align the mount well I can generally get the selected object into the field of view of a longer FL eyepiece with GOTO, but sometimes when there are no obvious pointers near a hard to see object (M33 comes to mind) it would be nice to have the assurance that the scope was at least pointing at the object. If I did a lot more visual and could afford Tele Vue and Takahashi then maybe ...

 

Thanks Peter, 

I have yet to dip my toe into EEA and/or AP, but the point you make about making sure you're absolutely on target is an important one. When I wrote the post, I was thinking primarily about making life easier for visual observation, but actually, for many targets I'm sure the normal goto facilities with synscan will be OK. 

The other point, and please forgive my ignorance, is that I'm planning to get the asiair plus, which I believe does plate solving, so maybe having star sense would not be needed for that, in this case? 

I still need to download a lot more knowledge about EEA and AP terminology and work flow. I know 10 times more now, than a month ago, but need to learn a lot more. 

Thanks 

Mark 

[Flame Nebula]

3 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

It depends what mount you are going to use it on, and whether said mount is permanently mounted on a pier, and whether the mount has built-in GPS.

In the case of a permanently mounted EQ-5 Synscan, and a CPC800 with GPS, I have not seen much point in attaching the Starsense.

But attached to a C8 SE it is quite useful as it allows the outfit to be carried outside and got going within minutes.  

Hi Geoff, 

It will be the az-eq6, if everything goes as planned. 

Thanks 

Y

[PeterC65]

1 minute ago, Flame Nebula said:

The other point, and please forgive my ignorance, is that I'm planning to get the asiair plus, which I believe does plate solving, so maybe having star sense would not be needed for that, in this case?

I've not used the ASIair but I believe that it does plate solve and can control the mount. When I was looking at the StarSense for visual it crossed my mind that an alternative might be a finderscope, ASI120MM camera, and ASIair.

 

[Flame Nebula]

2 hours ago, bosun21 said:

There are actually two types of Starsense units now. The one costing approx £400 is the basic one which automatically does the star alignment for you and a newer release which actually does the alignment as well as guiding or plate solving I believe. The cost of the newer version was in the region of £700-800. Personally they are not for me but I can wholly understand why people use and like them. I would put the money towards your scope.

Hi Bosun, 

That's interesting, as I didn't realise that. Does flo sell it? 

You're right though, for that price I could get a used SW120ed

[Flame Nebula]

1 minute ago, PeterC65 said:

I've not used the ASIair but I believe that it does plate solve and can control the mount. When I was looking at the StarSense for visual it crossed my mind that an alternative might be a finderscope, ASI120MM camera, and ASIair.

 

Yes, that is my plan. Apparently, it enables one to be even lazier and control the rig from inside the house 😀

[wookie1965]

Try an app called Astrohopper  just need to attach your phone to the OTA

[Cosmic Geoff]

18 hours ago, bosun21 said:

There are actually two types of Starsense units now. The one costing approx £400 is the basic one which automatically does the star alignment for you and a newer release which actually does the alignment as well as guiding or plate solving I believe. The cost of the newer version was in the region of £700-800.

The newer one is a different and  more complex product, with guiding, which does not seem to have attracted a lot of attention so far.

I think the way to go is to buy the gear, set it up, use it, and THEN see if there is any function worth paying £400 for that isn't covered by an ASAIR, park or whatnot.

[TiffsAndAstro]

Would in be possible to buy the Flo zwo guide scope bundle, plug it into Nina on a laptop to slew and plate solve and leave the main scope free to look through?

It's £200 seems to work very well for ap, but why not visual, too?

 

Can try it out before getting an asi air, plus you have a zwo guide cam that will work with aso air if you go for it

Edited April 11 by TiffsAndAstro

[Elp]

17 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

Would in be possible to buy the Flo zwo guide scope bundle, plug it into Nina on a laptop to slew and plate solve and leave the main scope free to look through?

I do this all the time, or I use a flip mirror diagonal to switch between camera and eyepiece. Plate solving and goto is far quicker than trying to star hop yourself and it works in LP skies so you know your target will be centred every time, if you use the GS target might not be centred due to flexure which is why I use the flip.

Fyi, you don't need the ZWO GS, buy the SVbony one, it's literally the same but much cheaper.

[TiffsAndAstro]

48 minutes ago, Elp said:

I do this all the time, or I use a flip mirror diagonal to switch between camera and eyepiece. Plate solving and goto is far quicker than trying to star hop yourself and it works in LP skies so you know your target will be centred every time, if you use the GS target might not be centred due to flexure which is why I use the flip.

Fyi, you don't need the ZWO GS, buy the SVbony one, it's literally the same but much cheaper.

All I meant was the zwo camera leaves the option of it working with the asi air in future.

 

I'm a massive Nina fan, but the asi air is still very appealing 

Edited April 11 by TiffsAndAstro