Tonight was a clear night and I tested the new EQ mode together with the plan/ Mosaic mode and wanted to share the results.
-Polar Alignment: super easy and could be done in relatively early twighlight
-used 20 seconds sub exposures with minimal waste
-stacking was consistent throughout the night. Before success rate declined massively after an hour or so.
I have to applaud the ZWO team for this great update!!!
This is how I setup the Seestar
Support@Seestar will you be developing a solution for “balcony users”? That would mean a lot!
Support@Seestar
This is a great addition…however. I used the framing/mosaic mode with the equatorial mode and the Seestar S50 would not include the objects as framed. It worked ok with the Alt-Azm mode. This was tried while tilting the frame and enlarging the area to be captured. Does the star map have to be in the equatorial mode as well? If so how?
It would be nice to be able to type in a name for unknown objects the Seestar Map does not recognize. I do a lot of odd star clusters that are not NGC objects and even some asteroids that are not framed correctly on the Seestar Atlas.
Support@Seestar
When making a plan, frame of Seestar FOV seems oriented according to current time of day in ALT/AZ mode. Is there a way to do plans based on EQ mode framing?
Support@Seestar hi for EQ mode what part of the sky is used for horizontal calibration? My north and northwest are mostly blocked by trees and buildings.
I like the app changes. Great job, wow.
Hello Seestar Team!
First off, THANK YOU for the highly anticipated release of EQ mode! I have been anxiously awaiting it and was able to test it out first time last night and it worked like a champ! In over three hours of imaging at 30sec exposures I think I have maybe 5-10 rejected images! AMAZING!
I do have one question and possibly a suggestion if this isn’t already a thing. Maybe I am just missing something. In planning mode there doesn’t seem to be a way to get the target framing box set to EQ mode which makes pre planning an EQ session for later tonight almost impossible.
I currently have my Seestar powered off and charging and it being daylight I couldn’t correctly polar align it anyway. I noticed last night that when imaging in EQ mode and searching around the skyatlas for targets, the app correctly displayed the reference target framing box as rotating around the celestial pole. That said, I would like to make a plan for later tonight. The issue is in the planning feature, even if you set the grid to EQ, the “Target” rectangle remains in same orientation as if you were trying to plan an Alt/Az session and does not rotate around the celestial pole as it would, should, and did during EQ imaging. (See attached photo of me trying to pre plan an EQ session using the Pleiades as an example)
I can sort of try and rotate the target framing box to match the grid lines manually using the framing tool, however this is going to be very inaccurate and I would have to redo it for every target I try to add to the plan.
Again this makes planning an EQ session in advance basically impossible. Please correct me if I am wrong but it seems it would be a doable software function to have the “Target” framing box on the skyatlas rotate around the celestial pole when the grid is selected for “EQ” mode so that proper pre planning can be done for EQ sessions.
Other than this so far I have I had no issues setting up EQ mode last night and the imaging session went spectacularly well! Your team has done a great job!!! And the in app instructions and onscreen guidance to get proper alignment is brilliantly done and couldn’t be easier. Took less than five minutes to get up and running last night. Other than the planning mode function discussed above I couldn’t be more pleased at a first go of trying things and can’t wait to get back out there. CLEAR SKYS and thanks again ZWO Seestar Team!
Just a quick heads up about a new and probably unintended Android app behavior:
When I exit the app via the "double back" action, the app doesn't really close anymore. It stays open in the background, the Seestar notification stays there, and the only way to close it is via the "active apps" panel.
In the previous version, the app closed properly.
Congratulations Seestar team (and Alpha and Beta testers). Very easy to set up and allign, you couldn't have made it any simpler. I did a quick 10X30s acquisition on the Monkey Head nebula last night while imaging another target on the SCT and processed it in a quick Pixinsight session and was astounded.
It appears the names of nebulas and galaxies have been removed from the sky atlas. No more searching for Horsehead or Markarian's Chain. Even clicking and opening a target doesn't always say the name, leading to a trip to google.
For beginners such as myself who don't have the star catalog memorized, this doesn't make it easier.
Would it be possible to add the names back?
Thank you ZWO for a great new version! Question, is the AZ bearing OK to handle operations at acute angles other than the normal az/el mode?
Manofkent Very depressing in the UK grey skies again, cloudy nights....
GERARD7744
Après avoir posé la question de la mise à jour que je n'avais pas eu, depuis hier cela a été effectué et je n'ai plus qu'à faire un test lorsque j'aurais la cale équatoriale. Merci.
There is a problem when using Framing in EQ Mode.
When photographing a celestial body away from the meridian, it is rotated at an angle that is off the north-south direction, even though no rotation is specified.
Also, when specifying the rotation and trying to adjust it to match the north-south direction, adjustments can only be made in increments of about 20 degrees.
I'm sorry, but could you please check?
While waiting for a night without clouds, I am playng with the GoTo in the Atlas section of the App and I discovered that trying to GoTo to the zenith (while in EQ mode) leads to the alert (typical of the AltAz mode) "you can't go over 85 degree" ... This should be a bug !
Contrariwise, I have verified that I can point to objects on the horizon with the arm quite closed (but I am at 41° ... I am non sure that at lower latitudes they can achieve it).
This s my setup for SeeStar 50 in EQ mode :-)
I have a problem with Seestar S50 android app, i downloaded newest v2.4.0 apk to my phone OnePlus12 and also my tablet Samsung Galaxy Tab A9, also updated Seestar S50 firmware, in both phone and tablet app crashes after it finds location, i can use app if i quickly connect app to my seestar, but if seestar s50 is not on and i try to use app example to make plan, i cannot use it because it stops all the time. With previous version that i used v2.2.1 i did not have any problems. I have tried to uninstall and install app again several times.
Fivos Yes same here, app remains open and has to be forced closed to exit. Must be a bug.....
Well done on the addition of Equatorial mode. Much improved system now with no dropped frames.Saved a lot of time not having to watch it drop more than half the frames. Out of 6 targets I went to last night with 15 minutes on each I saw only one dropped frame. It was very simple to polar align and set up too.
My only issue which I do not know if it is a bug or not was the goto's hang up. I'd go to a target and sometimes it would just sit there after slewing and do nothing. I'd get that round circle on top of the target X and nothing would happen. It would sit there like that for 5 or 10 minutes, doing nothing not a thing. The only way I could fix this issue was to shut down the See Star App and start it up and connect again. When I did so the target image would be right in the middle were it was supposed to be. It did this on about every other target . I did not have this issue in Alt AZ mode ever.
One major change or future update wish for me would be on the AI Denosie. Talk about image killer WOW. The AI Denoise is way to harsh. It makes a blur of the image and a lot of detail is lost. Gives us some control of this. Maybe a Mild Denoise , a Medium Denosie and this Max Denoise like it is now. I found I was better off not using it at all. It was over kill on the images and blurring them and the details out to much.
Over all it's a great update. Well done ZWO See Star team.
