ZWO have been at the forefront of planetary and deep sky astrophotography cameras for many years. Their new contribution to the SMART telescope range offers an excellent all in one value for money (retailing at £539 at 365 Astronomy), light weight design (weighing 2.5g), extremely transportable and versatile deep sky imaging set up. It has a motorised alt-as mount with a sturdy tripod (with a 3/8”screw) with extendable legs and an integrated level. It can be set up to explore the night sky in a matter of a few minutes.
Seestar has a reliable built-in Blue tooth WiFi connection. It also has a low power consumption and a long battery life providing six hours of battery per charge (including an option of recharging via a cell phone power bank while in use). It operates a simple system of downloading the app (iOS or Android) on your smartphone or tablet and connecting to the Seestar network. The app has an Astronomical database of planets and deep sky objects including “tonight’s best recommendations”. It can work in video mode and photo capture. It also has a solar filter for imaging the sun.
Seestar can then be run using the app for auto GoTo, tracking and plate solving to provide clean, crisp low noise images. It is a professional grade triplet apochromatic refractor incorporating a highly sensitive sensor (IMX462). The refractor has a focal length of 250mm and an aperture of 50mm (focal ratio f/5). It has an electronic auto-focuser and dew heater. It also has a build in duo band light pollution filter reducing the amount of urban light pollution and moonlight.
See the following images taken below using the Seestar. They are deep sky stacked on Seestar and processed in Lightroom mobile.
Further information on Seestar s50 can be found on the 365 Astronomy website via the following link.
The contact at 365 Astronomy is Andy Spencer on 07760351733 or e mail: [email protected].
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Posted on April 2nd, 2024.