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Is the Seestar the best option for an EEVA beginner?


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Over the years I have been happy to help many beginners get started through a series of EEVA blogs on my web site and multiple video tutorials that I have produced, along with posts on the various astronomy forums, as well as, one on one guidance.   I have found that many beginners have a plethora of questions, limited resources, and/or are not very technical.  Often they really have no idea how to get started and don't want to risk much money in case they make a mistake.  With all of the hype of Smart scopes over the last few years I decided to buy one to try it out and see if it is something that I would feel comfortable advising a beginner to start with.   After only a few sessions with the Seestar I have come to the belief that for many beginners it might be their best choice to get up and running quickly without a lot of frustration.  So I put together a video in which I go through all of the features of the Seestar in detail, explaining each I think in enough detail but not overwhelmingly so that a beginner can appreciate what the Seestar has and can do.  Just to be different and to emphasize the contrast between buying an "all-in-one" solution compared to putting one together oneself, I contrasted the Seestar with a roughly equivalent capability setup build piece by piece with off the self components.  The difference in price is substantial and the challenges of integrating everything should be apparent.  I am not saying that every beginner should start with a Seestar, just that they should seriously consider as they also examine putting together their own setup.  The amazing images folks are posting from their Seestars should alay any fears that this 50mm Apo refractor is not very capable.  If you are curious you can find the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkPuRvfA6Wo   Hopefully this can help some beginners make an informed decision.

 

 

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Certainly a beginner in EEVA could do a lot worse than buying a Seestar.  My regular EEVA rig, with an EQ5 Synscan, ASI224MC and 102mm Startravel + laptop would cost twice the price of a Seestar to replicate.

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Seastar is definitely a very capable setup. As an 8 months veteran of this straightforward and inexpensive hobby, I'm glad I opted for individual components as it allows me to compete and hopefully exceed what  the s50 is capable of but also allows me to get hands on with auto guiding, polar alignment and probably more, so I'd have a reasonable expectation of what's required if I ever get more expensive gear.

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I have a Seestar. It complements my glassware collection built up over 20 years.
As a 'place outside and view' box it takes a lot of beating for the price.
Setup is easy and quick. You can even remain indoors while it works.
A very good starter package for a beginner.
Should they either abandon the hobby, or move to something else, it is easily sold on.

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A lot of good comments.  The whole point of the video is to encourage anyone just starting in EEVA to take a serious look at the Seestar, not that it is the best beginner setup for everyone.   I see 3 main challenges for the beginner:  1) Cost; 2) Choosing the right hardware; 3) Integrating everything.  Smart telescopes like the Seestar and the Dwarf III pretty much address all 3 of these. I think a lot of folks either don't want to put a system together themselves or don't think they have enough knowledge to do it themselves in which case something like the Seestar may be the ideal solution for them.  Then there are others, as mentioned here, who like to put things together themselves and/or want much more room to grow with the hobby.  For them the Seestar may not be the right beginner option.

If you watch the video you know that I point out that the Dwarf Smart scope is another low cost option to consider at the same price point as the Seestar.  With its lighter and more compact design it might be the ideal option for back packers or for taking a plane.  But, for me, with its smaller aperture I prefer the Seestar.

 

So if you are a beginner, I encourage you to watch the video and then consider which approach is best for you.

 

Regards,

Curtis

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On 22/08/2024 at 16:09, TiffsAndAstro said:

<snip>...As an 8 months veteran of this straightforward and inexpensive hobby,...<snip>

🤣 Ha! I've already spent about double my 'budget' for this year, haven't even bought a 'scope yet and I'm still trying to resist the urge to buy an s50. For the money it's a remarkable piece of equipment and clearly, based on images posted on SGL, capable of very high quality results.

Chris

 

 

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As a novice (I only started anything Astro related during covid lockdown) I saw EEVA as a very quick and easy way to view DSO's. 

My initial setup was using Stellarmate with an Evoguide 50ED and an asi224mc  on an Az GTi, when it worked it was excellent but most of the time it didn't, the software was flaky to say the least, Cuiv made it look foolproof but this fool gave up eventually.

Enter the Seestar a few months ago. It just works for me, every time. The only drawback is the lack of flexibility, you have to choose your target carefully but that's the drawback of any all in one system. 

There is a learning curve but that's no reason for a novice to reject it, I would recommend it.

 

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5 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

As a novice (I only started anything Astro related during covid lockdown) I saw EEVA as a very quick and easy way to view DSO's. 

My initial setup was using Stellarmate with an Evoguide 50ED and an asi224mc  on an Az GTi, when it worked it was excellent but most of the time it didn't, the software was flaky to say the least, Cuiv made it look foolproof but this fool gave up eventually.

Enter the Seestar a few months ago. It just works for me, every time. The only drawback is the lack of flexibility, you have to choose your target carefully but that's the drawback of any all in one system. 

There is a learning curve but that's no reason for a novice to reject it, I would recommend it.

 

If you have Sky Safari Plus or Pro (or Stellarium plus) you can connect to the SeeStar App and than use the SS or Stellarium to search for targets and Goto them.

Going back to SeeStar app means you can then start imaging. I generally start a session by choosing a 'SeeStar'  target and letting it do its own calibration etc. 

Once you've done that it can be easier to use the other App to tell it where to go.

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3 hours ago, Gfamily said:

If you have Sky Safari Plus or Pro (or Stellarium plus) you can connect to the SeeStar App and than use the SS or Stellarium to search for targets and Goto them.

Going back to SeeStar app means you can then start imaging. I generally start a session by choosing a 'SeeStar'  target and letting it do its own calibration etc. 

Once you've done that it can be easier to use the other App to tell it where to go.

What's the advantage of doing it that way instead of using the sky atlas in the Seestar app?

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10 minutes ago, LaurenceT said:

What's the advantage of doing it that way instead of using the sky atlas in the Seestar app?

Much better range of targets, for example if you wanted to image T Corona Borealis, it is not in the Seestar search results, but Sky Safari lets you go straight to it.

You can also create a custom 'scope display' that's 0.7° by 1.3° to correspond to the SeeStar FoV.

Edited by Gfamily
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 26/08/2024 at 17:29, Gfamily said:

Much better range of targets, for example if you wanted to image T Corona Borealis, it is not in the Seestar search results, but Sky Safari lets you go straight to it.

You can also create a custom 'scope display' that's 0.7° by 1.3° to correspond to the SeeStar FoV.

Could you tell me if it works with SkySafari 6 plus or Pro, or only 7?  I have Pro 6 and couldn't find the option or figure out how to do it.  If it does, how do you access it?

I must admit, up to now I've avoided 'upgrading' to 7 after reading negative reports on its usability for some things. 

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I've been imaging for 3 or 4 years. Ten inch Newt, 127 Mak and more recently a 10" RC with a ASI 017 camera.

It's been a bad year for me, personally, observationaly and, obviously, meteorologicaly. But the results I'm seeing from the Seestar makes me wonder why I bothered!

The seestar is a " no brainer" for both entry level imagers and serious EEVA observers. I really don't know why I don't have one. 

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5 hours ago, paulastro said:

Could you tell me if it works with SkySafari 6 plus or Pro, or only 7?  I have Pro 6 and couldn't find the option or figure out how to do it.  If it does, how do you access it?

I must admit, up to now I've avoided 'upgrading' to 7 after reading negative reports on its usability for some things. 

I'm on 6 Plus (on Android) Here, SS6 will refer to Sky Safari and SS50 is Seestar App  

In SS6 ; Settings - Telescope - Setup

  • Scope Type - Meade LX200 Classic
  • Mount Type - Alt Az GoTo
  • Connect via WiFi
    • IP Address 10.0.0.1
    • Port No 4030
  • I have readout rate at 2 per second. 

In Settings - Appearance and Behaviour - Configure Toolbar - include Telescope 

Open SS50 and connect to Seestar with Wifi - give it a known Target to GoTo and let it configure itself.   

Open SS6 and select Telescope on the Toolbar, click the Connect button and you should see SS6 screen move to the same Target - You can now choose your own target in SS6 and if you hit GoTo the Seestar should start moving.    

It used to be a problem with iOS apps that when you switched to a new App  (i.e. when you started SS6 ) then the previous App (SS50 in this case) would lose power and effectively hibernate - in this case you needed to have two iOS. I don't know if this is still a thing.

 

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A crop from this evening's image of Lagoon Nebula.  Only 13 minutes as I was trying to get a number of targets to show some visiting friends what it can do. 

Processed FITS in SIRIL with just the SIRIL Histogram Autostretch applied. 

image.png.d06b566e590605d2f2ac247d6ead358c.png

It is ridiculously easy to get very satisfying images within its own limitations. 

Edited by Gfamily
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23 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

I'm on 6 Plus (on Android) Here, SS6 will refer to Sky Safari and SS50 is Seestar App  

In SS6 ; Settings - Telescope - Setup

  • Scope Type - Meade LX200 Classic
  • Mount Type - Alt Az GoTo
  • Connect via WiFi
    • IP Address 10.0.0.1
    • Port No 4030
  • I have readout rate at 2 per second. 

In Settings - Appearance and Behaviour - Configure Toolbar - include Telescope 

Open SS50 and connect to Seestar with Wifi - give it a known Target to GoTo and let it configure itself.   

Open SS6 and select Telescope on the Toolbar, click the Connect button and you should see SS6 screen move to the same Target - You can now choose your own target in SS6 and if you hit GoTo the Seestar should start moving.    

It used to be a problem with iOS apps that when you switched to a new App  (i.e. when you started SS6 ) then the previous App (SS50 in this case) would lose power and effectively hibernate - in this case you needed to have two iOS. I don't know if this is still a thing.

 

Many thanks, thats very kind of you. I'll give it a go tomorrow, I'm hoping it's easier than it looks 😊.

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