The Astronomy Thread

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faille

faille

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Moogalak said:
Bought ourselves one of the seestar s50. We just received it a couple weeks ago, but I hadn't had a chance to mess with it until last night. I have to say, I am impressed at how easy it is to set up and use. The app is decent enough, could be improved. The wifi range on it is tiny, and your phone connects to the s50 wifi so you can control it. It has daytime capabilities: a solar filter so you can photgraph the sun, scenery mode which seems sketch af as the intro video literally shows the user pointing it at an apartment building in China at extreme long range, lol. It's quiet, lightweight and takes amazing exposures.

Here's some quick exposures we took in my backyard in DFW with nearly a full moon:
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www.seestar.com
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I just became aware of this little device and I'm pretty intrigued by it. It's a bit too much to spend on a whim atm, though appears to be fantastic value for money. I can only imagine how much better these smart telescopes are going to get.

Have you had a chance to play with it some more?
 
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Moogalak

Moogalak

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faille said:
I just became aware of this little device and I'm pretty intrigued by it. It's a bit too much to spend on a whim atm, though appears to be fantastic value for money. I can only imagine how much better these smart telescopes are going to get.

Have you had a chance to play with it some more?
Click to expand...
Yeah I try to use it every clear night. No major complaints yet! Next step is to get the device hooked up to my PC so I can start to mess around with the raw images. Apparently the photographs are much better with a bit of processing and stacking.

Here are some more recent images, no further processing other than the native app. These .jpg are put out directly into your phone's gallery or files. You can see the light pollution, it makes the images have a washed out look.
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Kajiimagi

Kajiimagi

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Moogalak said:
Yeah I try to use it every clear night. No major complaints yet! Next step is to get the device hooked up to my PC so I can start to mess around with the raw images. Apparently the photographs are much better with a bit of processing and stacking.

Here are some more recent images, no further processing other than the native app. These .jpg are put out directly into your phone's gallery or files. You can see the light pollution, it makes the images have a washed out look. View attachment 510654View attachment 510655View attachment 510656
Click to expand...
Those shots are amazing! I had a meade 12" that I could not get to produce images that good. I'm sure it had more to do with the user than the telescope.
how big is the telescope? Also what is the tripod made of? I have a high quality camera tripod that would work if the camera isn't too big/heavy.
 
Moogalak

Moogalak

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Kajiimagi said:
Those shots are amazing! I had a meade 12" that I could not get to produce images that good. I'm sure it had more to do with the user than the telescope.
how big is the telescope? Also what is the tripod made of? I have a high quality camera tripod that would work if the camera isn't too big/heavy.
Click to expand...

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The tripod quality seems good to me, it's better than the aluminum tripod I have on an old telescope. Seems to be a polymer material of some sort, covered in a foam material. Honestly the tripod has been a complete afterthought with this thing. On the night I got that sweet exposure of M42 (the colorful pic), all I did was spread the tripod out and place the s50 in my grass. That one was a 62 minute exposure on a very cold (for DFW) night recently. I'll add that airplane traffic around here has ruined many a shot. I can still hardly believe the images myself. It's even fun to see what other effects you can create or see.

1703993647929.jpg


That orange streak is the light coming out of a chimney of a large fireplace. Such a fun device!
 
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Borzak

Borzak

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Things have really changed over the years. First pics I took with a telescope were an 8" reflector telescope on a mount with a drive, but not guiding or go to. On top of it was an 80 achromat long refractor with an illuminated eyepieces. Used that to eyepiece and scope to guide. Camera was an OM-1 Olympus manual and I used 35mm slide film. It would open the shutter as long as wanted.

Not only has the scope and mount tech changed drastically over the decades I'm not how difficul it would be to get slide film developed. Last I heard it was down to Fuji.
 
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Kajiimagi

Kajiimagi

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Moogalak said:
View attachment 510721
View attachment 510722

The tripod quality seems good to me, it's better than the aluminum tripod I have on an old telescope. Seems to be a polymer material of some sort, covered in a foam material. Honestly the tripod has been a complete afterthought with this thing. On the night I got that sweet exposure of M42 (the colorful pic), all I did was spread the tripod out and place the s50 in my grass. That one was a 62 minute exposure on a very cold (for DFW) night recently. I'll add that airplane traffic around here has ruined many a shot. I can still hardly believe the images myself. It's even fun to see what other effects you can create or see.

View attachment 510723

That orange streak is the light coming out of a chimney of a large fireplace. Such a fun device!
Click to expand...
How does it do with planets?
Told the wife, at first she was like 'oh god' but after I explained that it didn't weigh 120lbs like my last set up she was intrigued.
 
Moogalak

Moogalak

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Kajiimagi said:
How does it do with planets?
Told the wife, at first she was like 'oh god' but after I explained that it didn't weigh 120lbs like my last set up she was intrigued.
Click to expand...
No dice on planets for me yet... I haven't figured out how to get a good picture. There is a "planetary" mode in the app. But it was finnicky for me. I have seen some good pics on the 'net, so it seems capable? Dunno. Here's what the "home page" looks like on the app, and a shot of Uranus and it's moons.
SmartSelect_20240124_092314_Gallery.jpg
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L

Lenardo

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for your seestar, did you turn on the light filter mode to remove the light pollution?
(i just looked at the manual)
 
Kharzette

Kharzette

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This lunar base is cool. Apparently there's sun at the south pole of the moon yearround, just needs the panels stuck up on a pole.

 
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Cybsled

Cybsled

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South Pole is going to be prime real estate. Water reserves + reliable solar power = you've taken care of two major concerns for a long term lunar habitat.
 
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Sanrith Descartes

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Cybsled said:
South Pole is going to be prime real estate. Water reserves + reliable solar power = you've taken care of two major concerns for a long term lunar habitat.
Click to expand...
Which begs the question, who actually owns it. Im sure at this point various gubmints have all made various claims to it, but who actually owns it.
 
Lambourne

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Sanrith Descartes said:
Which begs the question, who actually owns it. Im sure at this point various gubmints have all made various claims to it, but who actually owns it.
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Nobody owns anything in space, this was settled back in the 60s under the UN Outer Space Treaty which every space-faring country has signed. How long this will hold up once there is a significant human presence on the Moon or Mars is another question.
 
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C

Captain Suave

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Lambourne said:
How long this will hold up once there is a significant human presence on the Moon or Mars is another question.
Click to expand...

Or if that presence is by a non-governmental entity like SpaceX. Musk is highly likely to plant a flag on Mars and tell anyone that if they disagree they can spend 20 years and $$Billions developing their own transit platform and come at him.
 
meStevo

meStevo

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science.nasa.gov

NASA’s Webb Depicts Staggering Structure in 19 Nearby Spiral Galaxies - NASA Science

It’s oh-so-easy to be absolutely mesmerized by these spiral galaxies. Follow their clearly defined arms, which are brimming with stars, to their centers, where there may be old star clusters and – sometimes – active supermassive black holes. Only NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope can deliver...
science.nasa.gov science.nasa.gov


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The James Webb Space Telescope observed 19 nearby face-on spiral galaxies in near- and mid-infrared light as part of its contributions to the Physics at High Angular resolution in Nearby GalaxieS (PHANGS) program. PHANGS also includes images and data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Telescope’s Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, which included observations taken in ultraviolet, visible, and radio light.​


Bigger image and comparisons to hubble versions:

webb.nasa.gov

James Webb Space Telescope - NASA Science

Space Telescope
webb.nasa.gov webb.nasa.gov
 
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