26 replies to this topic

[Tidu]

In the last couple of years I used STELLINA (Vaonis) to take pictures of classical deep sky objects with some nice results:Now I have decided that it’s time to start using this fantastic small robot telescope for some scientific purpose. In particular my challenge is to explore the capability to detect faint luminosity variations using photometry. Having as a final goal to observe exoplanet transits, I present this first project consisting in the successful detection of the light curve for the binary stars system V548 Cygni during one eclipse.

Click here to view the article

[gstrumol]

Nicely done!

[mahagen1]

Thanks Stefano,

 

The Stellina seems rather remarkable.   For roughly the same price as my mount the Stellina offers the mount, the optics, the software, a portable observatory, all in a 25lb suitcase package.  It makes me want to sell all my gear and get a Stellina. 

 

I started astrophotography a few years back and ultimately left it due the complexities of trying to learn good guiding and photography in a heavily populated and light polluted world.  My goal was and still is to be able to see what others can see in a rural area by taking a few time lapse pics and stack them quickly to make an image that isn't as easily seen looking through an eyepiece.   

 

It seems like Stellina is able to master that one aspect of astrophotgraphy that I was seeking out.  The fact that appears to be reliable enough to do some scientific inquiry says a lot.

 

I am glad you shared otherwise I wouldn't, and perhaps many others might not realize this type of astrophotography/stargazing even exists.   Vaonis makes others too. 

 

https://vaonis.com/stellina

[Tidu]

Nicely done!

Thank you!

[Tidu]

Thanks Stefano,

 

The Stellina seems rather remarkable.   For roughly the same price as my mount the Stellina offers the mount, the optics, the software, a portable observatory, all in a 25lb suitcase package.  It makes me want to sell all my gear and get a Stellina. 

 

I started astrophotography a few years back and ultimately left it due the complexities of trying to learn good guiding and photography in a heavily populated and light polluted world.  My goal was and still is to be able to see what others can see in a rural area by taking a few time lapse pics and stack them quickly to make an image that isn't as easily seen looking through an eyepiece.   

 

It seems like Stellina is able to master that one aspect of astrophotgraphy that I was seeking out.  The fact that appears to be reliable enough to do some scientific inquiry says a lot.

 

I am glad you shared otherwise I wouldn't, and perhaps many others might not realize this type of astrophotography/stargazing even exists.   Vaonis makes others too. 

 

https://vaonis.com/stellina

Thank you for your comment.

100% agree.

I have also a Celestron C8, but don't use it anymore except for planets.

The first times it was "romantic" to stay out cold in the night to set up the three stars alignment and then checking the mount tracking during the observations...

With Stellina it is all easier and cheap.

[Tidu]

After this experiment I have observed the light curve of an asteroid due to its rotation.

If anybody is interested I can submit the article I have written about that.

[gw_dra]

This is great! I'd be interested to see if it's also possible to construct decent light curves with Vespera, Seestar, Dwarf, etc. With these kinds of smart telescopes starting to become more common, I wonder what else will be in store for scientific observing by amateurs. We might not be too far from having a device that could allow even beginners to capture things like exoplanet transits.

[cephlopod]

Outstanding work!  I love seeing scopes used for actual science and not just pretty pictures.

[Tidu]

Outstanding work!  I love seeing scopes used for actual science and not just pretty pictures.

Thank you! I appreciate.

[t-ara-fan]

Nice work.  Unfortunately I can't read the axes on the graphs of magnitude vs time.

[Tidu]

Nice work.  Unfortunately I can't read the axes on the graphs of magnitude vs time.

You are right! I have sent you a private msg with attached the original pdf.

[psychwolf]

This is great! I'd be interested to see if it's also possible to construct decent light curves with Vespera, Seestar, Dwarf, etc. With these kinds of smart telescopes starting to become more common, I wonder what else will be in store for scientific observing by amateurs. We might not be too far from having a device that could allow even beginners to capture things like exoplanet transits.

The Unistellar eVscopes are especially great for this science data, and allow me to grab light curves on coordinated campaigns with other observers across the globe. The Unistellar SETI affiliated researchers are generating the curves too, or I can request .fits to do it myself if I'd like to, but I'd prefer not so I can just keep focused in data collection and getting the scopes collecting photons at the right time and day when I can. You can get eVs used now at decent prices then join their extremely active Slack citizen science group. Campaigns are built into the Unistellar scope app itself. I've logged a few dozen exoplanet transits with the scope, including dozens of other observations on cataclysmic variables, asteroid occultation, comets magnitude tracking, near earth asteroids data and more. Since they actively plot missions, I'd say it's a scope especially designed for science missions way more than the other smart scopes, given its alignment with SETI and the fact researchers are actively picking global campaigns for citizen scientists. Most recently I'd logged an estimated v magnitude 19.1 on a comet with the eVscope just this month 135P/Shoemaker-Levy 8, and in the comet results channel I can see other users gathering light readings from around the globe, and this participation is inspiring for our youth astronomic society members. Ironic that the ephemeris used was from my own society's website, that's interesting. We have two Unistellar eVscopes at the Milwaukee Astronomical Society these days, and members use them for data collection like what the author is noting, but with far less processing involved for variable stars on the user level since science data collection can be triggered via menu options. It's exciting to see that kind of design thinking by the telescope manufacturer so I wanted to mention it since I doubt too many people know about that focus in the Unistellar smart telescopes since it tends to be just the pretty pics that are being shared in Instagram, etc. 

[DarrylS]

In the last couple of years I used STELLINA (Vaonis) to take pictures of classical deep sky objects with some nice results:Now I have decided that it’s time to start using this fantastic small robot telescope for some scientific purpose. In particular my challenge is to explore the capability to detect faint luminosity variations using photometry. Having as a final goal to observe exoplanet transits, I present this first project consisting in the successful detection of the light curve for the binary stars system V548 Cygni during one eclipse.

Click here to view the article

That's super interesting Stefano -- very well done and thanks so much for sharing

 

I wonder if I could use my Seestar to do the same?

Edited by DarrylS, 05 October 2023 - 06:51 PM.

[DarrylS]

After this experiment I have observed the light curve of an asteroid due to its rotation.

If anybody is interested I can submit the article I have written about that.

I would definitely be interested in seeing it

[Tidu]

I would definitely be interested in seeing it

I have submitted it few days ago...

[porova]

This is great. An addition to this paper would be what actual postprocessing did you  do in Affinity Photo. The original raw image from Stellina and the postprocessing steps and the final result. Would be very useful for other amateur astronomers like myself

[Tidu]

This is great. An addition to this paper would be what actual postprocessing did you  do in Affinity Photo. The original raw image from Stellina and the postprocessing steps and the final result. Would be very useful for other amateur astronomers like myself

Hi there,

I follow this nice tutorial from Vaonis:

https://vaonis.com/a...o-tutorial-tiff
 

I hope it will help you.

[porova]

Hi there,

I follow this nice tutorial from Vaonis:

https://vaonis.com/a...o-tutorial-tiff
 

I hope it will help you.

Great. My Stellina arrives this weekend and I already have Affinity Photo!

[Choncho]

Nice work! For asteroid photometry, I calibrate in AstroImageJ, and use MPO Canopis to get my lightcurve, and subsequent rotation period. I look forward to seeing your asteroid results using the Stellina, very intriguing!

[dml]

Hello Stefano Giardinelli,

I also have a Vaonis Stelina that I purchased in the summer of 2020 for public outreach during Covid. I am an electrical engineer and amateur astronomer and found your article quite intriguing. would it be possible to also get a copy of the PDF so that I could resolve the axis?

I too would be interested in seeing your article on the light curve of an asteroid.

I have a Verspera Pro on order with expected delivery next summer. It has a 12 megapixel camera and 16th magnitude sensitivity. I'm hoping to be able to go much deeper than what my Stellina can achieve (6.3 megapixel and 13th mag sensitivity.)

Thanks.

---Dwight

[Tidu]

Hello Stefano Giardinelli,

I also have a Vaonis Stelina that I purchased in the summer of 2020 for public outreach during Covid. I am an electrical engineer and amateur astronomer and found your article quite intriguing. would it be possible to also get a copy of the PDF so that I could resolve the axis?

I too would be interested in seeing your article on the light curve of an asteroid.

I have a Verspera Pro on order with expected delivery next summer. It has a 12 megapixel camera and 16th magnitude sensitivity. I'm hoping to be able to go much deeper than what my Stellina can achieve (6.3 megapixel and 13th mag sensitivity.)

Thanks.

---Dwight

Hi Dwight

here we are

 

https://docs.google....?usp=drive_link

 

Best

 

Stefano

[Jaimo!]

Outstanding work.  

[safinsd]

In the last couple of years I used STELLINA (Vaonis) to take pictures of classical deep sky objects with some nice results:Now I have decided that it’s time to start using this fantastic small robot telescope for some scientific purpose. In particular my challenge is to explore the capability to detect faint luminosity variations using photometry. Having as a final goal to observe exoplanet transits, I present this first project consisting in the successful detection of the light curve for the binary stars system V548 Cygni during one eclipse.

Click here to view the article

Hello. This is quite interesting. Does the app to compare stars use absolute magnitudes?

[Tidu]

Hello. This is quite interesting. Does the app to compare stars use absolute magnitudes?

No, it uses apparent magnitudes

[random_greg]

Very near the top of the piece you have a broken link:

In the last couple of years I used STELLINA (Vaonis) to take pictures of classical  deep sky objects with some nice results:

https://www.cloudyni...tellina-vaonis/

 

-- random_greg