1902 replies to this topic

[tarbat]

It lets you connect your Seestar to your home wifi, instead of it setting up its own wifi network. It means that you can connect to it via your home wifi.

 

For future reference, while waiting for my S50, what is “station mode” and its purpose?

[tarbat]

Thanks. It's always useful to have a second pair of eyes look at an image from a new telescope. I've also had positive feedback from a local astronomy club member as well.

 

I did an iPad only edit on tarbats file, I think it’s pretty good data for 101 minutes, I have no issues with it

[GSBass]

My critique is there are improvements to be made to the live stack algorythm but that will come in time, the important thing is that it’s collecting good data which it seems to be…. And of course the other thing that I continue to bring up is they need an advanced mosaic mode that will allow bigger fov and ideally be able to choose the orientation. They need to be thinking beyond a stitching program. Other than that though it looks like they are checking all the boxes and exceeding expectations

Thanks. It's always useful to have a second pair of eyes look at an image from a new telescope. I've also had positive feedback from a local astronomy club member as well.

[JesusMartinez]

My critique is there are improvements to be made to the live stack algorythm but that will come in time, the important thing is that it’s collecting good data which it seems to be…. And of course the other thing that I continue to bring up is they need an advanced mosaic mode that will allow bigger fov and ideally be able to choose the orientation. They need to be thinking beyond a stitching program. Other than that though it looks like they are checking all the boxes and exceeding expectations

I definitely agree about the mosaic option.

[Jethro7]

For future reference, while waiting for my S50, what is “station mode” and its purpose?

Hello eyesofTexas,

A "Station" is a device that has access to WiFi and has the ability to  transmit  and receive  of DATA. IOW, it allows my device to access my home internet while the Seestar App is in use.

 

HAPPY SKIES AND KEEP LOOKING UP Jethro

Edited by Jethro7, 05 October 2023 - 06:30 PM.

[eyeoftexas]

Thanks, Jethro. Glad you got yours working. 
 

[maccluer]

This amazing SeeStar has the potential to explode the astronomy hobby space. Look what mine did in 2 hours, with the last hour trying to peer thu moon-lit skies. This has been post processed by my astromentor.

[Bob Campbell]

IC 63 from SeeStar compressed.jpgThis amazing SeeStar has the potential to explode the astronomy hobby space. Look what mine did in 2 hours, with the last hour trying to peer thu moon-lit skies. This has been post processed by my astromentor.

Contrast and coloration really make it look like a ghost. Repost closer to Halloween!

 

Bob

[GSBass]

I’ve been saying this for years because of Vespera but the entry level price kept many from the experience, it’s why I am so pleased to see zwo being successful with this. It should change how the masses feel about robotics and guarantees more models will come, Zwo was not the first and they certainly will not be the last. Although we all expect Celestron and skywatcher to develop one, what will be interesting is if the smaller companies jump in, ioptron,stellarvue,qhy, playerone etc…. They all could develop a robot in the next couple of years…. For some of them their survival will depend on it

IC 63 from SeeStar compressed.jpgThis amazing SeeStar has the potential to explode the astronomy hobby space. Look what mine did in 2 hours, with the last hour trying to peer thu moon-lit skies. This has been post processed by my astromentor.

[Moonjet]

I did an iPad only edit on tarbats file, I think it’s pretty good data for 101 minutes, I have no issues with it

What iPad program did you use to edit files to produce this great pic?

[GSBass]

I use pixalmator photo editor, affinity and Leonardo, they each have tools I find useful…. I’ve been learning to edit on my iPad Pro just because I don’t always feel like doing it on a laptop… results are usually a little worse but presentable

What iPad program did you use to edit files to produce this great pic?

[AngryBear]

I just received mine (yesterday 10/5) and luckily had clear skies that night. 
 

 

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula straight from SeeStar

 

 

NGC 7380 Wizard Nebula edit in PixInsight

 

Our Star with some freckles 

 

It doesn’t seem to deal with satellites very well, at least I don’t see a way to reject frames with satellite trails? Maybe AI in the software could help someday? 
 

it’s no replacement for serious setups but I can just plop it down and start looking around.

Edited by AngryBear, 06 October 2023 - 11:44 PM.

[GSBass]

It’s only natural to judge it on what it’s doing today, but I look at it a little different, this was zwo’ first attempt using the cheapest components they could get, the results speak volumes about 2nd and 3rd generation systems where they actually try to match more serious set ups. I think we will get our first peek at whats possible in May when vespera pro is released and hopefully zwo will announce their follow on to the s50 next summer. I think most of us following this are hoping for a larger aperture system to be released by both companies in the near future

I just received mine (yesterday 10/5) and luckily had clear skies that night. 
 

IMG_1513.jpeg

 

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula straight from SeeStar

 

NGC7380WizardNebula.png

 

NGC 7380 Wizard Nebula edit in PixInsight

 

IMG_1523.jpeg

Our Star with some freckles 

 

It doesn’t seem to deal with satellites very well, at least I don’t see a way to reject frames with satellite trails? Maybe AI in the software could help someday? 
 

it’s no replacement for serious setups but I can just plop it down and start looking around.

Edited by GSBass, 07 October 2023 - 07:51 AM.

[GSBass]

I think zwo will develop satellite rejection software over this year, I’m not really positive on how Vaonis does this but it works well, if satellites pass in the first few minutes of imaging you will see them, however as more stacking occurs they begin to fade, however if you can make it through the first few minutes of imaging with out interference then you never see them at all…. I suspect it’s an evaluation phase of the image coming in where the software maps the photons being collected and simply knows when super bright pixels are introduced later in the exposure they are not suppose to be there and get rejected…. Not sure you would call that a.i. or not, but if I’m right it is doing some comparative work to what was collected so far when deciding what frames to reject

I just received mine (yesterday 10/5) and luckily had clear skies that night. 
 

IMG_1513.jpeg

 

NGC 7635 Bubble Nebula straight from SeeStar

 

NGC7380WizardNebula.png

 

NGC 7380 Wizard Nebula edit in PixInsight

 

IMG_1523.jpeg

Our Star with some freckles 

 

It doesn’t seem to deal with satellites very well, at least I don’t see a way to reject frames with satellite trails? Maybe AI in the software could help someday? 
 

it’s no replacement for serious setups but I can just plop it down and start looking around.

[tarbat]

It doesn’t seem to deal with satellites very well, at least I don’t see a way to reject frames with satellite trails?

I haven't seen any satellite trails on the final stacked image. And there have definitely been multiple satellite trails in the sub-exposures.

 

Edited by tarbat, 07 October 2023 - 09:52 AM.

[eyeoftexas]

I haven't seen any satellite trails on the final stacked image. And there have definitely been multiple satellite trails in the sub-exposures.

 

1.jpg

Can you tell from the listing whether that subframe was completely rejected, or did stacking with all of the frames that lacked the trail cancel that noise out?

[GSBass]

My guess at this juncture would be they faded due to more stacking, I don’t think they have advanced rejection software in place yet

Can you tell from the listing whether that subframe was completely rejected, or did stacking with all of the frames that lacked the trail cancel that noise out?

[tarbat]

This frame, and others with satellite trails, were not rejected for live stacking in the Seestar app.  Probably the 590+ subs without satellite trails cancelled out any sign of satellite trails.  Although I’ve not seen any sign of satellite trails in any stacked images from Seestar.

 

Can you tell from the listing whether that subframe was completely rejected, or did stacking with all of the frames that lacked the trail cancel that noise out?

 

Edited by tarbat, 07 October 2023 - 10:16 AM.

[GSBass]

It really does not take too many frames to fade them, I can’t recall how many but was observing an image coming in the other night and you could visibly see the brightness reduce after just a handful of frames, 100 frames or so later it had completely disappeared…. Rejection is still important though depending when in the exposure it happens…. Until zwo addresses this it’s a good idea to save your exposure’s every now and then assuming that’s possible on seestar without stopping imaging. Does seestar let you do that? I’ll do that every now and then, sometimes I’ll capture sone hydrogen alpha in galaxies, save that and then just walk out and change the filter to broadband , by saving at that time it preserves the hydrogen alpha signature so that it does not get averaged out, I can then reintegrate later with a merge

This frame, and others with satellite trails, were not rejected for live stacking in the Seestar app.  Probably the 590+ subs without satellite trails cancelled out any sign of satellite trails.  Although I’ve not seen any sign of satellite trails in any stacked images from Seestar.

[tarbat]

Yes, if you press stop it saves the current stacked image, and then when you press start it lets you choose to resume the previous stack or start a new stack.  I used this recently to compare stacks after 20m, 40m, and an hour.

 

it’s a good idea to save your exposure’s every now and then assuming that’s possible on seestar without stopping imaging. Does seestar let you do that?

[Gatsu87]

Good morning guys, this is two image of the heart nebula acquired with the LP filter in  Bottle 5 in the same place and same condition, ia have two question: Is it normal for the field rotation in the second photo  to be so evident?
The second image has double the acquisition time compared to the first image and is less defined and noisier, why?  Maybe the autofocus didn't work correctly? Has anyone tried Bahtinov's mask instead of autofocus?

 

 

https://ibb.co/zspprGp
https://ibb.co/gFsW8KG

[DarrylS]

Good morning guys, this is two image of the heart nebula acquired with the LP filter in  Bottle 5 in the same place and same condition, ia have two question: Is it normal for the field rotation in the second photo  to be so evident?
The second image has double the acquisition time compared to the first image and is less defined and noisier, why?  Maybe the autofocus didn't work correctly? Has anyone tried Bahtinov's mask instead of autofocus?

 

 

https://ibb.co/zspprGp
https://ibb.co/gFsW8KG

In Lukomatico's review on youtube he mentioned that the autofocus didn't always work perfectly -- he tested it with a 3D printed bahtinov mask he made. BTW, he is selling them on his Etsy site if you're interested.

[C8er]

Good morning guys, this is two image of the heart nebula acquired with the LP filter in  Bottle 5 in the same place and same condition, ia have two question: Is it normal for the field rotation in the second photo  to be so evident?
The second image has double the acquisition time compared to the first image and is less defined and noisier, why?  Maybe the autofocus didn't work correctly? Has anyone tried Bahtinov's mask instead of autofocus?

 

 

https://ibb.co/zspprGp
https://ibb.co/gFsW8KG

Your focus is definitely not as good on the second image as on the first. It's very visible if you compare some of the same smaller stars between the two images. As well as that focus issue the stars in the second, longer integration are also less round/more oblong than in the first image, so the tracking and/or the stacking algorithm wasn't working as well in the second image. Maybe if it's the stacking not working as well, that could perhaps be because the focus was out.

Edited by C8er, 07 October 2023 - 11:50 PM.

[NeptunicBlue]

Got mine yesterday and really enjoying the experience. The only thing I’m not totally happy with is the autofocus, but I guess everyone’s struggling a little with that? When I press the AF button and it calibrates you can actually see it going to a really crisp setting, only to then decide on a slightly blurrier preset.

Manual focus isn’t implemented yet or have I been unable to find it?

[tarbat]

Maybe the autofocus didn't work correctly? Has anyone tried Bahtinov's mask instead of autofocus?

I’ve checked the autofocus with a Bahtinov mask and it seems pretty close to perfect, regardless of which filter is in place. Autofocus turns the LP filter off, so I then like to check the focus with the LP filter on, zoomed in.

 

 

You can then use the focus buttons on the left of the screen to get perfect focus.

Edited by tarbat, 08 October 2023 - 02:30 AM.