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Post by jaybee on Nov 4, 2023 2:43:07 GMT
Seestar 50 arrived yesterday ..earlier than exppected. Didnt have much time last night . Went outside pointed it south , selected the trifid on the seestar app on my galaxy phone. selected autofocus and here is the 6 minute image. The image was much the same after a couple of minutes. Not sure where this little scope is going to fit in. Probably for moon and solar for me It will be good for beginners and get-go. cheers Paul
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Post by Dragon Man on Nov 4, 2023 4:16:19 GMT
Good to hear you got the Seestar Paul. Yeah, Trifid is a really faint object. It can be tough at times with good Astro imaging gear, so the little Seestar is going to struggle to get it much better than you have.
But from what I've seen posted on the internet, brighter objects look quite spectacular for a simple setup.
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Post by jaybee on Nov 5, 2023 1:42:55 GMT
The seestar is so easy for transport and setup. It comes in a handy case, just make sure the battery is charged and dont forget your phone and that's it. I wont expect to see any small dim objects . It would be a great little scope for beginners. You could produce reasonable images without knowing anything about the night sky, DSO's, cameras, filters,alignment,focusing ,f number, aperture, focal length,fov etc cheers Paul
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Post by Dragon Man on Nov 5, 2023 4:29:36 GMT
The seestar is so easy for transport and setup. It comes in a handy case, just make sure the battery is charged and dont forget your phone and that's it. I wont expect to see any small dim objects . It would be a great little scope for beginners. You could produce reasonable images without knowing anything about the night sky, DSO's, cameras, filters,alignment,focusing ,f number, aperture, focal length,fov etc cheers Paul Too easy
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Post by Dragon Man on Nov 29, 2023 12:54:04 GMT
Good video showing Seestar used in dark skies:
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Post by fondofchips on Dec 5, 2023 20:05:55 GMT
It is obviously the way that stargazing will go, for not much more money than a decent OTA tube. No tripod or eyepieces needed it has to be good. Would be good for travelling too. Thanks for posting the video Ken.
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Post by davy.... Shirva.. on Dec 29, 2023 11:34:57 GMT
Ordered the seestar today.. should be with me just after new year,,be good if it came before lol
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 29, 2023 12:49:44 GMT
Keep us informed Davy We want to see lots of pretty pics of the sky with it
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Post by davy.... Shirva.. on Dec 29, 2023 20:01:14 GMT
We are having really bad weather up here in Scotland,, pissing down and further north snow , was snow on our Campsie hills on Wednesday,, Out tomorrow night following Kilsyth thistle pipe bad around Kilsyth after midnight,,couple of hours going around the town scaring the bejesus out of folk that's in bed sleeping,,daughter playing a drum,, I'm still sin died lol,so taking grandson wae me .nicole hot me the dji osmo mobile se phone gimbal,,so give it a go.. Yeah looking forward to getting the seestar,,nearly got the dwarf 2 instead,,but seestar just edged it,, few guys on astronomy Scotland got them recently so will be in good company,, when I went yo tullibole Castle my gear took up a lot of space,, no a problem if I was on my own but pain in backside wae all the stuff for a couple of days away,,seestar will save a lot of space,, got the scopemobile it's own computer,, beelink mini one,,so The van is getting better all the time,, going to put in dual 10" monitors,,one front and one rear,, astronomy and other use
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Post by davy.... Shirva.. on Dec 30, 2023 16:13:22 GMT
Seestar arrived at daughter's around lunchtime today,, but we got a fair bit of a snow fall,, it's now raining from the heavens big time,, honestly I'm waiting on the sun coming out next..can't believe this weather
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Post by fondofchips on Dec 31, 2023 20:39:46 GMT
The only downside I can see to the Seestar and any future robotic telescopes is that it has the potential to devalue existing stargazing equipment, but that is the price of progress. I came across Space Gandalf (real name Greg Quicke) on Channel 4's Bill Bailey's Australian Adventure: www.astrotours.net/He is based in Western Australia and claims to get 300 clear nights per year. He was using what looked like a larger robotic telescope controlling it with a tablet.
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Post by davy.... Shirva.. on Jan 1, 2024 14:28:08 GMT
Harry,, I think you are correct about devaluation in telescopes due to robotic smart scopes.. I've been rattling through posts on forums and done the utube videos as well.. Like myself a lot debunked the idea that these could be good,, but I was talking about the thousands of pounds jobs,, and still do,, not on there achievements,,just price. The dwarf 2 and seestar are at a price, most half serious astronomers would give it a look,, adverts prior to release,, well I thought they didn't do them any justice,, till the beta testers got a hold of them,, folk who spoke the lingo lol. Once I saw the dwarf in action at a astronomy event at tullibole Castle,, I was convinced 100 percent these aren't gimmick scopes,, it was the last man standing.
So I can see it hitting a dent in telescope sales at the 500 quid range,, if you want to do astrophotography or video astronomy,, then buy a tracking mount and camera,, These cheaper smart scopes are going to take a chunk out skywatcher and celestron profits. Yeah,, still in its infancy,,but going by what I've seen and read ,,plus sales.. They are going to explode into a niche of there own,, and if I was dwarflabs or zwo I'd be looking at second gen models,,80mm or 100mm variants with better cameras,, this is them dipping the toe in to see if the waters warm.. Anyway,, I unbowed mine last night,, cracking looking scope and carry box.. Was nervous doing software/ firmware update as quite a few folk have had a lot of bother,,so I was bricking it. Went like a dream.. Software wise,, leans towards the beginner, but still well thought out. Folk have been requesting a mosaic mode since July,, so I can't see zwo missing that boat.. Still to get first light..but I'm impressed..so far
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Post by Dragon Man on Jan 1, 2024 15:42:33 GMT
So true Harry and Davy. I look at all my gear and add up the many thousands of dollars, and all the years to assemble this collection, and the time and effort in setting it all up. It has really taken many years, and many dollars! But now, for under a thousand dollars and a few minutes effort, people can do almost the same as me with all my fancy expensive gear and years of time These companies making the new range of 'Instant' Astro setups will have rocks in their heads if they don't jump on it and make slightly larger, but still portable, scopes with better cameras. People will pay if it looks good and gives instant gratification.
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Post by fondofchips on Jan 2, 2024 10:44:17 GMT
I'm really grateful for you putting the Seestar on this forum Davy. It has spooked me a bit, I'm going to thin down my astro gear as if I sell my mobile ST80 scope as well the money raised will easily cover the cost of the Seestar. I will take the Seestar on holiday with me instead. One of the best things about it is when a group is using it you don't have to take turns at the eyepiece, which is one of Video Astronomy's advantages anyway.
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Post by davy.... Shirva.. on Jan 2, 2024 13:47:02 GMT
Glad you guys are on the same page,, we've always tried to move and grow with the hobby.. adding the latest tech and giving honest reviews.. Facebook has taken over from forums a fair bit.. but I still feel there is a place for us old codgers on here. But we have to adapt.. and like Ken says..we've spent a lot of money on kit..lot of Time learning it. And yeah bit of sadness as some of it may go the same way as our samsung analogue cameras. Harry you are also correct.. this may be the event horizon coming up on some of our kit.. sell and reinvest or..stuff it in a box.. I've still got my analogue kit.. and I checked prices lol and they have held them well.. astonishing since most go back 11 years. I think we have to embrace the new kit coming out on here.. but still have the bread and butter of the high end kit we have.. this gear ain't going away.. I can see a split in the hobby between classic set up we have just now and new smart scopes.. bit like astrophotography and video astronomy when we created vaf. Even later when USB digital cameras took over from analogue. Think the forum will need a revamp and we look at archiving some stuff that isn't as popular as it was and kèep our history of the forum intact. Have a classic..section with the stuff we are doing just now.. big mounts..big scopes. Observatory stuff from Ken Smaller rigs.. Astrophotography section and video section We don't over complicate stuff ..keep it simple..lot of new folk coming in the hobby.. and a lot of.. shit experts out there.. some great but we have great experiences lol some of the stuff out just now is stuff video astronomers we're doing ten years ago.. And stick in a smart telescope category Up to you guys..
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Post by davy.... Shirva.. on Jan 2, 2024 14:11:06 GMT
Weather still .. pants.. at mine.. back to work on Thursday so hitting the Internet and doing the research.. Last night I installed the seestar app on a new 10" android tablet I got few months back to run my astair.. Glad to say all works fine.. I use my phone hotspot to run the tablet.. On the 10" tablet it feels a better fit than using on the phone.. Given the seestar wiĺ be used from the scopemobile , I had purchased a mini PC for the van, Looking into whether I can get android on it( dual boot set up with windows).. seen few folk mention that a windows version of the seestar software would be good.. can't see it happening anytime soon from zwo but have no doubts somebody will home brew a solution. Filter wise..3d printed adapters have started appearing in ebay and files on thingyverse to print your own.. 2" filters seem to be the normal.. but 2" filters are still blòdy expensive and most folk like myself will have the smaller ones in there kit. Even saw a guy use a rubbish bin as an observatory type cover.. so folk out there taking these set up seriously. Outreach is mentioned time and time again with these seestar scopes and I can see the advantage.. the space I will recover in the camper will be brilliant.. I think we will se projectors coming back into fashion again
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Post by Dragon Man on Jan 2, 2024 18:38:36 GMT
Interesting to note that when Seestar is being viewed on an Android device it's easy to hit 'Cast' on the device to show the view on a TV
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Post by davy.... Shirva.. on Jan 2, 2024 20:55:09 GMT
Brilliant Ken.. I'm looking at raspberry pi5 to see if it would be OK to use as a secondary system in the campervan alongside the mini PC.. It's trying to piece really usable kit in a confind space in the campervan.. needs to be stealth mode.. any decent kit in sight is a big temptation for somebody to nick it. I need to find a balance.. I want stuff permanently in the van..so set up times are fast but hidden.. roughly its just a monitor that I need to sort out.. or use a TV I bought..
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Post by fondofchips on Jan 3, 2024 9:45:19 GMT
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Post by davy.... Shirva.. on Jan 3, 2024 10:21:01 GMT
I spoke with my cousin last night..her son builds computers, so I asked if he could make my new mini PC into a dual boot. Windows/ android machine, unfortunately he hasn't done this before.. I did watch a tutorial but decided just to use my 10" tablet.. it's mobile anyway so no a big deal.. can sit in van with it plugged into charger ..so no big deal.. would leave the mini PC free for another set up ect. Going to start setting it up for astronomy today..
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