I look forward to the upcoming update for the Seastar in its New EQ mode. It has already improved the overall experience significantly—no more field rotation, which is a major win. However, achieving polar alignment can be quite challenging, especially with a Skywatcher wedge. I can't speak for those using a ZWO wedge, but I find it frustrating. I struggled with polar alignment for days. My first attempt was successful, but honestly, I had no clue how I managed it; I was just guessing. Now, though, I'm truly wrestling with the process.
That's why I'm advocating for a firmware update to enhance the Seastar's capabilities. One key feature I envision is called Pure Polar Alignment. When activated, this would redefine the adjustment settings, keeping the numbers below 50 and starting the polar alignment from 50°. It would also allow the Seastar to surpass the typical azimuth and altitude parameters, targeting a perfect polar alignment of -0.05.
Additionally, I propose a feature that saves the last successful polar alignment settings. This would be a significant improvement for the Seastar, enabling it to remember settings for future use and automatically set itself to polar aligned, provided we get our current altitude right first. Given that the Seastar is already a smart telescope, it makes perfect sense to enhance its intelligence further. I strongly believe that ZWO should incorporate these features in the upcoming update, whatever their plans may be.
