Can faint comets be seen or observed using the Seestar S30 telescope ?

qnhswS9I

Regardless of the brightness of the faint comet itself, I asked this question out of curiosity, and is it different from S50 also in terms of observing or seeing faint comets ?

Support@Seestar

It's about the same.

qnhswS9I

Support@Seestar what do you mean ?

Support@Seestar

qnhswS9I
I mean the S30 and S50 can see comets almost the same, but the S50 has more details and the S30 has a larger field of view.

qnhswS9I

Support@Seestar for example, there is a faint comet has an appernt magnitude of +12 to +15,

But I think this depends on the limiting magnitude of the two telescope. Maybe ?

Support@Seestar

qnhswS9I
If the limiting magnitude of a telescope is +15 or dimmer, it is likely to capture the comet. However, if the limiting magnitude is brighter (e.g., +12), the comet may not be captured clearly. Therefore, whether a target can be observed depends not only on its apparent magnitude but also on the specific performance of the telescope and the observing conditions. Relatively speaking, Seestar's performance in deepsky imaging is quite good.

starnet59

I was able to capture stars down to magnitude +17 with exposures of 30 minutes or longer, from a Bortle 7-8 zone. +12 to +15 magnitude is definitely doable. I have pictures of minor planet Pluto for example, magnitude +15.5.

qnhswS9I

starnet59 do you have s30 or s50 ?

Tompilot1

In the lower right portion of this photo are 3 stars that look like Orion's Belt. Above and to right is Comet 213/Van Ness. At the time Seestar imaged, the apparent magnitude was 28.8 (The Sky Live). After 15 months of ownership, the only "limit" has been my imagination! :-) This image is unprocessed other than stacked in Seestar.

qnhswS9I

Tompilot1 well, have you tried to observe faint comet like comet called C/2021 G2 (ATLAS), A comet with an apparent magnitude of 16+ ?

corner

Tompilot1 Can you write the Data of the Image? A Comet at 28.8m is impossible normally, but sometimes the Values in Sky, Stellarium, Guide etc. are wrong. A good Source is weekly comets, COPS, FG Kometen et all.
Regards Comet

corner

The Limit of S30 or S50 on a Comet can be 15 or 16 for S30 and 17-18m for S50. But a faint Comet is very small at S30 or S50. Look into the weekly comets list for choosing an Object.
A good Comet is 29P Schwassmann-Wachmann because is an very active Comet. Looking to my images taken by C11 and S50. Sorry the C11 images are shut from Display...

So far comet

qnhswS9I

corner Is it also noticeable when using the S30?

starnet59

qnhswS9I I only have an S50. I got it in December 2023 and it is still running. I am very happy with the S50, less so with the SeeStar app, but I have stated this here so many times it is not worth repeating. I hope my S50 will not die of old age before the SeeStar app improves significantly.

Tompilot1

Here is the an enhanced area of the photo Comet 213/Van Ness. For magnitude, the lower the number, the brighter the object. Even though it is just a faint smudge (directly above the word), Seestar S50 has captured an object at magnitude 28.8. For reference, Venus is currently at magnitude -4.4. C/2021 G2 (ATLAS) is currently at Mag 14.4 so Seestar will likely capture it but will show very little detail. Hope this helps. These telescopes are fantastic.

starnet59

Tompilot1 I doubt you can capture something of magnitude 18.8 with the S50, let alone 28.8.

Tompilot1

Thanks for the comet info Corner. I used the magnitude from TheSkyLive. The references for Venus and C2 ATLAS are also from TSL.

Tompilot1

I was wrong to state the 28.8 number without doing a little more research. I framed Omicron to include the comet as SkyAtlas indicated it nearby. I was surprised to see anything knowing it had to be dim. In the next day or so I Google'd 213 and the first result was TheSkyLive. I was astonished to see the Mag listed at 28.8. I reasoned that the nucleus might be 28.8, but the tail would be bright enough to image. I should have added that context in the reply to the original poster. Yesterday I went back in time on TheSkyLive and Stellarium to Dec 30, 2024 at 8pm EST to get info on 213. TSL indicated Mag 27.7, Stellarium 17.7

Common sense should have told me that if Seestar can image at Mag 28.8, they might as well retire the JWST. I should have also made the distinction between "detecting" and getting a reasonably detailed image.

Thanks to all the replies!