61 replies to this topic

[Psion]

It is not exactly easy to calculate a mathematical model of the sky from a two-star alignment. The mount has misalignment flaws and when I programmed the software for the dobson mount, the ideal alignment was 10 stars in 360° sky space. The better the alignment of the mount, the less the field of view rotation or shift errors will show up. 

[Bikes4life]

Hello CN! I am a low-tech visual observer considering a small all-in-one imaging scope for outreach and education work. I am just curious, if anyone happens to know, why leveling the S50 so precisely is so critical. I would have thought it straightforward to create a coordinate transformation regardless. I think they ran an article about that in S&T ages ago, in the context of Dobsonian mounts with encoders. Any insights would be welcome. NOT mission-critical, just curious! Clear skies to all - JR

If your using a wedge then leveling is definitely important - tbh leveling any setup should be important IMO 

[tarbat]

 I am just curious, if anyone happens to know, why leveling the S50 so precisely is so critical. I would have thought it straightforward to create a coordinate transformation regardless.

As long as you don't disable Horizontal Calibration you don't need to level the Seestar for the Stargazing mode.

 

In fact when I polar align its tens of degrees out of level.

Edited by tarbat, 22 June 2024 - 09:31 AM.

[jprideaux]

As long as you don't disable Horizontal Calibration you don't need to level the Seestar for the Stargazing mode.

In fact when I polar align its tens of degrees out of level.

Yes the horizontal calibration step allows you to skip the leveling step and some people purposefully have it WAY off of level getting a rough polar alignment. Others still like to level it just in case the horizontal calibration step did not work. Then the unit falls back to needing to be level.

Note also that for daytime solar usage, there will not be the horizontal calibration step so it will need to be level to help it find the sun.

 

Edited by jprideaux, 22 June 2024 - 02:05 PM.

[GSBass]

It sounds like they need to make it official and foolproof, although the sun and moon will always require a different setup requiring level, the dwarf actually tells you this if you select the sun or moon, it will direct you to return to level for accurate tracking

Yes the horizontal calibration step allows you to skip the leveling step and some people purposefully have it WAY off of level getting a rough polar alignment. Others still like to level it just in case the horizontal calibration step did not work. Then the unit falls back to needing to be level.

Not also that for daytime solar usage, there will not be the horizontal calibration step so it will need to be level to help it find the sun.



One exception

[Joshua Roth]

Thanks to all for the input!

[jprideaux]

To test out what might be the advantage of a larger aperture version of the SeeStar,  I braved the heat mid-day today and did a shoot-out between my 50mm SeeStar and a 92mm refractor with using my Nikon ZFC mirrorless camera.   Both were using DIY solar filters with Baader solar safety film.

The SeeStar has the ability to take raw AVI video and I took 90 seconds of video totaling 1312 raw frames.  
I took 41 raw still frames using a blue-tooth "clicker" with my Nikon camera. 

The Nikon frames are much higher resolution (and using a higher focal-length optical system) but way fewer number of frames.
I first ran the frames of each through PIPP to center and crop down to the size of the sun. 

Then I stacked with AutoStakkert.  I kept the best 25%  for the SeeStar and the best 50% for the refractor/Nikon.
I then followed roughly the same additional post-processing steps with Affinity Photo to further increase the contrast a bit.

I didn't quite do the exact same processing in that I managed to get more of a 3D effect with the SeeStar image with being more bright in the center.  I probably could have gotten that in the other as well with slightly different treatment.  But you can see if you zoon-in a bit the greater detail in the refractor/Nikon image as expected because of the longer focal-length and higher sensor resolution.   

 

So anyway, this gives you an idea at least for the sun what a larger aperture, longer focal-length and larger sensor may give you.

 

Click each image for a larger version

 

50mm SeeStar

 

92mm refractor & mirrorless camera.

 

Edited by jprideaux, 22 June 2024 - 02:14 PM.

[GSBass]

Nice, fun to go back and forth on these, 90 to !00mm is such a nice size scope… would love a refractor robot in that size. Even though I have a 7” for more serious lunar observation I am still amazed at the detail I can see through my 102edl, matched with the right sensor that would be the ultimate bot… only issue is it’s f7 but the focal reducer does bring it down to F5.6 so perhaps still doable 

 

To test out what might be the advantage of a larger aperture version of the SeeStar,  I braved the heat mid-day today and did a shoot-out between my 50mm SeeStar and a 92mm refractor with using my Nikon ZFC mirrorless camera.   Both were using DIY solar filters with Baader solar safety film.

The SeeStar has the ability to take raw AVI video and I took 90 seconds of video totaling 1312 raw frames.  
I took 41 raw still frames using a blue-tooth "clicker" with my Nikon camera. 

The Nikon frames are much higher resolution (and using a higher focal-length optical system) but way fewer number of frames.
I first ran the frames of each through PIPP to center and crop down to the size of the sun. 

Then I stacked with AutoStakkert.  I kept the best 25%  for the SeeStar and the best 50% for the refractor/Nikon.
I then followed roughly the same additional post-processing steps with Affinity Photo to further increase the contrast a bit.

I didn't quite do the exact same processing in that I managed to get more of a 3D effect with the SeeStar image with being more bright in the center.  I probably could have gotten that in the other as well with slightly different treatment.  But you can see if you zoon-in a bit the greater detail in the refractor/Nikon image as expected because of the longer focal-length and higher sensor resolution.   

 

So anyway, this gives you an idea at least for the sun what a larger aperture, longer focal-length and larger sensor may give you.

 

Click each image for a larger version

 

50mm SeeStar

 

 

92mm refractor & mirrorless camera.

 

 

 

[Foobaria]

I would love to see this product too, a larger and improved Seestar in S60, S70 or S80 size would be wonderful, with a new camera, maybe this ASI676MC. 

[Mr.Wilson]

I would love to see this product too, a larger and improved Seestar in S60, S70 or S80 size would be wonderful, with a new camera, maybe this ASI676MC. 

I love to see a larger aperture as well, though an 80mm would make the unit too large to be portable.
At least, I expect to see better sensor with higher resolution and better tracking for 60-second or longer exposures are must on the new model.
I’d be thrilled if ZWO could upgrade the aperture to around 60-65mm and include a higher resolution sensor, like the IMX678 or better. Improved tracking is essential as well.
It also would be a game-changer if they incorporate a type or mini AM3 mount built-in to be used either in alt-az and equatorial configuration.

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by Mr.Wilson, 12 September 2024 - 04:54 PM.

[Stevan Klaas]

Indeed, I would love a 70 aperture 300-350mm focal length, with a bigger sensor than S50, eq mode, maybe sensor rotator for better framing depending on chip size, and since we are there, dual lens like in S30 for nature imaging.

 

Then I would often escape from my city center bortle 9 balcony to go to a nice “nature” place for the week end with the family, have dinner, a glass of wine and continue social interaction, while capturing a couple of targets to stack and process them back home. Without thinking about cables, power, bag for this, bag for that, and fiddling here and there while others are having good conversations.

 

In short, some sort of “non-invasive”, light hearted, dark sky opportunistic astrophotography.

 

The Vaonis Stellina is 80mm aperture, and still ultra portable as a single object in a backpack but way too pricey.

 

Would spend 1000USD for that with no hesitation, maybe some more.

 

A couple of sensors could do the job.

 

Edited by Stevan Klaas, 08 December 2024 - 01:57 PM.

[Roger Corbett]

Nice comparison photos of the sun through the Baader solar film and the two scopes.

 

Not sure why, but I much prefer the S50 image!  It seems crisper and brighter. 

 

Or, did you inadvertently mislabel the two?!

 

In any event, it shows what the S50 is capable of in good hands.  Impressive.