7 replies to this topic

[Dart106A]

As I have my Seestar S50 presently pointed at the Leo Triplet I was wondering if -- with all the S50s in the world pointed toward the cosmos -- has anyone ever actually discovered anything new using a Seestar like a supernova, comet, asteroid, etc., whatever? Not that I would expect to, but I figure a bunch of amateurs have that feeling of discovery every once in awhile and how cool it would be. I do.

 

73, Mark

Edited by Dart106A, 16 June 2025 - 10:58 PM.

[The0s]

Not to my knowledge. Unfortunately, even if people did capture something completely new in their Seestars, the demographic using them - in large part beginners - is also the least likely to have the tools and technical knowledge to realize. With how faint many new discoveries are - comets, nebulae, etc. - it takes a lot of experience to notice that stuff an image, if it's even visible at all. It's also just plain hard for a smart telescope to compete with super sensitive professional astronomy equipment.

Edited by The0s, 17 June 2025 - 01:11 AM.

[Astronotrip]

Unless the data is transferred somwhere (like Unistellar does) and someone actually looks at the data, I don't think it will happen

[chrisecurtis]

depends what you mean by "discovery", I think. Seeing a nova or supernova or comet before anyone else is more a product of chance than equipment, coupled with a painstaking commitment to surveying - which is largely automated and professional these days anyway.

 

On the other hand, Seestars and their users certainly contribute to campaigns e.g. the current BAA one on variable nebulae, or various variable star ones, and that's where many discoveries are made - it's just not by a single scope or user on a single night.

 

Meteor science has been transformed in recent years by the introduction of (relatively) cheap video systems, often run by amateurs, that combine results in near real-time: the relative inaccuracy of those systems is mitigated by having many more measurements than was ever possible before: to the point where scientists are often collecting meteorites within a few hours of a fall: very much cheaper and quicker than asteroid return missions. And the precision with which radiants and orbits are known has increased massively. The real breakthrough was finding ways to pool and analyse massive amounts of data and having common means of collecting and measuring it, alongside mutual support and easy access to get people involved.

 

I'd really like to see similar approaches to "citizen science" with Seestars and other smart scopes. It's not the instrument, but how you use it to collect data on objects of interest, how you involve and collect that data from lots of people and how you apply statistical techniques to refine and analyse it. There are lots of discoveries waiting to be made, but very few of them will be a "eureka" moment from a single amateur using a seestar.

[Airstrike]

CN wont let me upload a small vid clip so i took 3 screens of i guess space debri infront of the moon , but the video i took showing it in motion is pretty incredible and smooth

 

starts below the moon heading upwards >>>

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Edited by Airstrike, 17 June 2025 - 05:52 AM.

[CraigR]

Discoveries made with my Seestar S50:

• The tripod that comes with the S50 is perfectly adequate — in fact it's better than adequate.
• While eq mode is a game-change in general, it's only modestly better for a Seestar.
• Modern humans have no idea that they exist in a vast cosmos. Their technology hides their home from them by artificially lighting up the sky and creating a blanket of light that separates them from literally everything in the universe.
• For the price of cable TV you can host a Seestar S50 at Starfront Remote Observatory and enjoy Bortle 1 skies and clear skies more than half the nights of the year. Then you can cancel cable and watch astrophotograhy videos on YouTube instead.
• For the price of a really beat-up used car, you can get a modest refractor, nice camera, and all the rest of the gear you need to outperform the Seestar S50 while being just as easy to use.
• The Jellyfish Nebula exists, and its seemingly impossible to take too many pictures of it.
• Most of the software you need to process images is free, but key apps are worth what you pay for them.
• If you stop spending money on things you aren't really using, you can spend more on astro gear.

Those are the big ones. I'm sure I could think of more if I tried.

[Airship]

I'm not aware of any unique discoveries made with a Seestar, but they could certainly be used for routinely checking in on a selected list of galaxies for the appearance of any new supernova. That would be kinda cool. I know of several people using their Seestars to obtain photometric data on variable stars and asteroids. I bought mine (three S50s and one S30) specifically for taking photometric images of variable stars and I plan on using the for asteroids as well as soon as I find the time. The supernova thingy sounds like fun as well.

 

Just for yucks... a summary of my Seestar S50 & S30 observations of T CrB from 3/16/2024 through 6/11/2025...

 

 

Enjoy!

 

[Dart106A]

Nothing new in the Leo Triplet from last night that I can see! (Had it centered on M65. Next time I'll adjust a bit.)

 

73, Mark