46 replies to this topic

[Max-OP]

Here are two photos from last night using the new mosaic function available with the latest software update V2.1.0. It was my first try using the function and I found it to be easy to use and it will make photographing larger DSO's possible. There are two functions that the user can control-Magnification and Rotation. You can double the size of the field and rotate the framing to provide the best presentation. The Seestar50 fills in the field over time and there is no user intervention required. It appears as though the edges of the field require additional exposure time as the is more noise in the corners of the field. It is nice to be able to fit larger DSO's into one photo. It will be interesting to see the feedback from the CN community on this new feature. The fact that software can continuously improve a Seestar50 is exciting.

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[Stellar1]

Impressive little tool those Seestar’s are, nice work.

[josjavpol]

Fields of view, including mosaic mode, Seestar S50 y S30:

 

https://www.cloudyni...luding-mosaics/

[bharwood]

Curious where you found the mosaic feature in the software? I have the latest iOS version, as far as I can tell, but I can't find it. Maybe it's Android only at this point? Thanks!

Edited by bharwood, 03 November 2024 - 07:09 PM.

[bradhaak]

It's an icon called 'Framing' on the SkyAtlas page. It's useful once you've selected a target. There are already a lot of posts in other threads describing it's use along with various images captured using it.

[bharwood]

I use the Seestar almost every clear night, and I somehow missed the framing icon. Thanks for pointing it out! Am testing with a mosaic of the Double Cluster right now, and it seems to work as advertised. Very cool! Thanks again.

 

 

 

 

It's an icon called 'Framing' on the SkyAtlas page. It's useful once you've selected a target. There are already a lot of posts in other threads describing it's use along with various images captured using it.

 

[wscolorado]

Is anyone seeing an advantage of setting up the mosaic view by just adjusting the rotation, leaving the field of view alone, to do long exposures on objects that already fit into the normal field of view? I'm thinking the field rotation artifacts may be lessened in mosaic mode and we might be able to get double or triple the integration time in a single night without EQ mode. 

[skins]

this member has...

https://www.cloudyni...8#entry13777913

[sevenofnine]

I'm very impressed with the new Framing/Mosaic mode too! However, it does take a lot longer to expose the entire frame. A black jagged perimeter will remain unexposed for a very long time. Space Koala on YouTube warned about this saying if you're not careful it can take all night. My first snapshot of M31/32 & M110 took 82 minutes to fill in but the result was nice IMO 

 

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[jgraham]

It helps to minimize the frame rotation. If the frame is vertical or horizontal the corners fill fairly quickly. I have had to do a little cropping to clean up the corners of a couple of images, but it hasn’t been a big problem.

[tarbat]

I'm very impressed with the new Framing/Mosaic mode too! However, it does take a lot longer to expose the entire frame.

Yes, if you use a 2x framing selection then that has to cover 4x the sky area. Then there are the losses due to waiting for the Seestar to settle after every framing move. So you'll need at least 4x the integration time to get a similar SNR, and more likely 8x once you take into account the extra sky area needed to cover on the edges of the frame, and the settling time after each framing move.

[Max-OP]

When the Celestron Origin comes out with mosaic mode, it will be a game changer.
At f2.2 the light gathering capability is enormous. The feature/function "space race" will benefit us all.
I think the Seestar50 mosaic feature does add significant exposure time, but it is cool to have a telescope that
gain functions and become better through software. These are great times for amateur astronomy.

[StargazerLuigi]

At my latitude I haven't been able to complete a mosaic of M31 since it gets so high in the sky (Seestar estimates 1.9 hours). Most I have managed is 75 minutes. But I've done two iterations; I haven't had time to process the mosaic in PixInsight and I'm curious how good the result is after processing and some cropping.

Edited by ismosi, 05 November 2024 - 09:21 AM.

[LDW47]

When the Celestron Origin comes out with mosaic mode, it will be a game changer.
At f2.2 the light gathering capability is enormous. The feature/function "space race" will benefit us all.
I think the Seestar50 mosaic feature does add significant exposure time, but it is cool to have a telescope that
gain functions and become better through software. These are great times for amateur astronomy.

Its a good job you said 'when', eh.

[Wildetelescope]

Very pleased with this update.   It is time consuming.  Part of that is that the registration algorithm is very stringent and I see quite a lot of frame rejections.  But the result is worth it I think.  Not going to get rid of my traditional imaging rig, but this is really nice and convenient.  I think it is a really nice compliment for visual imaging.   Can set one of these up to do its thing and then spend your time bouncing around the sky with an eyepiece.  Best of both worlds with minimum set up fuss!

 

JMD

[LDW47]

 

 

Very pleased with this update.   It is time consuming.  Part of that is that the registration algorithm is very stringent and I see quite a lot of frame rejections.  But the result is worth it I think.  Not going to get rid of my traditional imaging rig, but this is really nice and convenient.  I think it is a really nice compliment for visual imaging.   Can set one of these up to do its thing and then spend your time bouncing around the sky with an eyepiece.  Best of both worlds with minimum set up fuss!

 

JMD

 

What is 'visual imaging' exactly, eh.

[maniack]

When the Celestron Origin comes out with mosaic mode, it will be a game changer.
At f2.2 the light gathering capability is enormous. The feature/function "space race" will benefit us all.
I think the Seestar50 mosaic feature does add significant exposure time, but it is cool to have a telescope that
gain functions and become better through software. These are great times for amateur astronomy.

It's hard to be a game changer when you're a niche product at the $4000 price point.

[LDW47]

It's hard to be a game changer when you're a niche product at the $4000 price point.

Its only a game changer for those that chose to spend that kind of $'s, eh.

[Wildetelescope]

What is 'visual imaging' exactly, eh.

Mispoke.  Visual observation is what I meant:-)

 

JMD

[StargazerLuigi]

Last night I started a mosaic of the Wizard Nebula (NGC 7380/Sh2-142 in Cepheus). After almost 75 minutes the mosaic appeared to be completed. But then after that the Seestar could not register any more images (got the failed too stack message repeatedly). The Wizard maxes out about 70 degrees altitude and was lower in the sky when the mosaic completed.

 

I got just under 75 minutes of data for a 1.6x mosaic. The target was still visible, no clouds or trees or anything in the way.

The frame seemed filled. Saw no messages, other than 'failed to stack' so I ended the capture.

 

When the mosaic completes, does Seestar alert the user?

Should it repeat capturing the frames until stopped? If so, I've not seen this happen.

[Dwight J]

I tried out the new mosiac feature last night on the Rosette Neb.  It said that 1.3 hrs would be required to complete it.  I let it go 2.5 hours to see what happens.  At the end the object was almost out of field so likely just stop after the recommended time.   

[bradhaak]

I tried out the new mosiac feature last night on the Rosette Neb.  It said that 1.3 hrs would be required to complete it.  I let it go 2.5 hours to see what happens.  At the end the object was almost out of field so likely just stop after the recommended time.   

The 1.3 hour estimate is the amount of data gathered, not the total amount of time it takes. So, if you figure that 1.3 hours is about 80 minutes, that's going to take 480 10-second images. It doesn't matter how long it takes in human waiting time.

[josjavpol]

Script para apilar mosaicos en Siril

 

https://www.facebook...e/p/14yBQQcWj7/

[jprideaux]

I tried the new SeeStar mosaic mode out last night for the first time from my bortle 7 front yard on M31.  Doing the automatic mosiac does take a lot longer so it is best to let it run as long as the night allows.  I got a late start (around 11:30 PM) and set my alarm to 4 AM to go out and stop it.  It was still stacking at 4 AM even though M31 was down in the trees.  Hopefully the SeeStar was rejecting all the bad frames.  It was rejecting the ones currently being captured when I went out there at 4 AM.
Anyway, even with these considerations, I thought it did a good job.  What you see here first is the automatic processing that the SeeStar gives you in JPG format.  I only rotated, cropped, and lowered the JPG quality a bit so the file would not be too large. 

Next up is my processing the saved stacked but not stretched single FIT file exported as JPG with the quality set to be about the same size as the first file.
I'm sure it could do better if I drove out to a darker location and started earlier in the night and made sure I stopped it before it got down in the trees.
For those that have the SeeStar, be sure to try out the new mosaic mode.

 

Click for larger versions.

 

no post-processing

 

Post-processed.

[jgraham]

I have been having a lot of fun with the new framing function. I ran into the same problem with M31 not having enough time in the evening and I'm going to try again in the morning sky. I have found that it takes less time if you can frame the field either vertically or horizontally as it takes far fewer frames to fill the corners. And yes, it should drop the bad frames as it drops into the tress. If you save all of the source images you can see what time they were taken and when the Seestar stops stacking frames. That comes in handy to help understand when the Seestar starts to struggle.

 

Neat stuff.