ANOTHER WAY - Equatorial mode by LYING to your Seestar S50!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

My Patreon: www.patreon.com/cuivlazygeek Mock GPS app: github.com/warren-bank/Android-Mock-Location/releases Previous video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h52vmn5jrMh_p80 Seestar S50: bit.ly/49mQhLJ or tinyurl.com/3n62hpzx Smart Telescope Underground Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/373417055173095 Equatorial Wedge: amzn.to/3IzKh6t or bit.ly/49NhFCP 1/4 to 3/8 adapter (necessary if using above wedge): amzn.to/4a9kUEu With the above wedge, you may also need an M8 screw (something like this amzn.to/4a5p2Wx) Instructions on how to use the Skywatcher Wedge in this video (from 6:19 to 9:30): kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnvQn6d_p5pjos0 Seestar S50 initial review: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKWVapKhfbtkfMk Amazon affiliate: amzn.to/3hTB5Ne Agena affiliate: bit.ly/3Om0hNG High Point Scientific affiliate: bit.ly/3lReu8R All-Star Telescope affiliate: bit.ly/3SCgVbV Astroshop.eu Affiliate: tinyurl.com/2vafkax8 Dwarf 2 Smart Telescope: bit.ly/3SyChXua Seestar S50: tinyurl.com/3n62hpzx

[@robglassey4517]

This is how I do EQ mode on the Seestar too. The trick to aiming it is to use the "joystick" in stargazing mode to manually point it at any stars, switch to the atlas and tap SYNC. It doesn't matter that it's the wrong place, this will force the Seestar to platesolve where it is when you tap goto (without moving the target from where you synced). Cancel it when it starts to move. Now you're aligned. SYNC is important to stop it using it's compass, which gets confused on angles like this. You can actually do a very rough polar alignment, set the location to the pole and run the horizontal calibration to fix the polar alignment. A degree or two off isn't going to introduce enough field rotation that you would notice it with the Seestar. A final tip is to turn off the location permission for the Seestar app. After a couple of restarts you get a "Choose" button for the location. No mock location required. Great videos :)

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks for the additional tip! I think ZWO removed the Sync feature in the latest firmware though :-( Maybe they'll add it back?

[@robglassey4517]

@@CuivTheLazyGeekCampaign to bring back SYNC :) Although I suspect you can still use older APKs with the latest firmware and sync will probably still work. It seems that ZWO are pretty good at maintaining backwards compatibility with older versions of the app. I have one phone with app 1.11 on it still, and that works fine with firmware 2.30 (from app 1.15). Finger crossed that they bring back SYNC!

[@GAKG86]

@@robglassey4517 It seems the Sync is back but I can't get it work, even though I synced to an align star. When it comes to imaging I have way too many star trails. Did you manage to get it work with the latest firmware?

[@robglassey4517]

@@GAKG86 Don't sync to a star. Just move it to anywhere where it can see stars, go to the atlas and tap sync without doing anything else. Don't move the view, don't select an object, just tell it that it is pointing where it thinks it's pointing, even though it's not. Then tap goto. It will not move the mount but it will identify the stars that it can see, and update it's position to the correct position. Stop the goto at this point. You're done. This assumes that you have followed Quiv and aligned the mount to the pole, set the location to the pole, and skipped horizonal calibration. (Disable the app location permission and restart the app - it will ask for the location). The easiest way to find stars is to mount the Seestar so that the arm opens opposite the pole (ie pointing south if you are in the northern hemisphere), and press the open arm button in the new app (2.0). You'll probably see stars right away and can follow the instructions from there. It work for me just now with app 2.0.

[@NoName-zi9qs]

How can you get to "sync" when the only option is GOTO?

[@ivangeorgiev4664]

I hope ZWO will watch this video and decide to implement wedge EQ mode. Great video!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Enjoy!

[@FieldForestAndTrail]

Your videos and enthusiasm make me happy

[@cmahar3]

Every day I am amazed what this little plastic telescope can do. It's amazing. In the past if you had told me that a $500 plastic telescope would do decent astrophotography I would have laughed. But ZWO hit it out of the park with the Seestar S50. Thanks for the shoutout to Kai Yung and the Smart Telescope Underground Facebook group. We've had a lot of fun in that group stretching what this scope will do.

[@Halvor80]

Is it Smart Telescope Underground or Underworld? I am only seeing Underworld

[@cmahar3]

@@Halvor80 I could'a swore it used to be underground, but you're right, now it's Underworld

[@IamArtimon-ui4co]

Thanks, it worked for me ... and it's more easy than the 3 points orientation. Great improvment, Cuiv! Merci à toi pour cette idée géniale. Bon voyage et profite bien de l'éclipse, veinard.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Merci! :D

[@tarbat]

This is how I've always done EQ mode on the Seestar, as it also frames each DSO correctly in the Star Atlas. In Mock My GPS, you can turn the joystick overlay OFF by unticking it.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks for the tip on the joystick overlay!!

[@johnpinto5095]

On the iPhone you disable location services for the SeeStar app. Then when you run the app it will ask you for your latitude and longitude. Easy Peasy! 😁

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Good for the iPhone!

[@DaveEmde]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek On android you can do this as well. Disable location permission then open the app 2-3 times then it will ask for your location.

[@darwintea]

@@DaveEmde It asks every time...

[@jacobrichards8359]

"Shhh, I'll never lie to you my little friend." Cuiv, after the camera is turned off. Great video as usual. Pumped for your trip over to the states for the eclipse!???? Under 20 days to go!!!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hahaha, that was accurate! And yes super excited!

[@fazergazer]

ZWO will need to improve axis bearings in the next version in order to handle the lateral shear induced by equatorial mode. My first copy of the S50 had a defective altitude bearing. Its seat seems prone to loosening and flopping. Don’t know about the azimuth bearing which is the one we are stressing more in new mode. Hope for eq mode in next model. 🎉🎉🎉

[@robertlamantin5088]

Well done ! For what I've seen from your previous video about tricking the Seestar to perform as a simili equatorial mount, I'd say the first method is easier... at least, for me :)

[@artyombeilis9075]

Nice solution. And indeed intuitive idea - fake north/south pole.

[@nikivan]

I hope that ZWO will implement sensor rotation in the next product version. That would be a killer scope.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I agree! Or have a cool wedge :)

[@KevinRudd-w8s]

If it works Cuiv, it works. I personally didn't find it that complicated, not the way you explained it anyway. Even though I don't own a SeeStar, still found this an interesting watch, perhaps I'm a bit sad but I find the technology used in astro photography almost as interesting as the targets themselves!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Glad it worked for you! And yes I agree, I love the tech aspect of the hobby as well! It's not a bad thing :-)

[@TANTALUM55]

With recent software (2.0.0/2.95) if you turn off Location Permission, in the Seestar app, a screen will appear, called Choose Location, that will allow entering coordinates when the app is launched.

[@tedlee2013]

Absolutely amazing, you are so clever

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@brianbaxter5895]

Great video Cuiv! Thank you so much!

[@ssrattus]

Thanks Cuiv!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Cheers!

[@StarlancerAstro]

Or ZWO could just give us an EQ mode and solve all the Jerry rigging

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yep

[@deep_space_dave]

Dude you're a genius! That's a great idea!

[@darwintea]

I got it to work on my Samsung A54, but not on my Motorola One 5G Ace. It doesn't have a "Location" tab in the developer app. The SeeStar's location must be stored in the SeeStar phone app, because one phone shows it to be at the North Pole, the other shows it at my actual location, even when Mock My GPS is running

[@bazpearce9993]

If i understand properly, there are no restrictions on where you point using this method. Unlike the first way of polar aligning.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Unfortunately you still won't be able to point south of the Celestial Equator (or North of it if you're in the Southern hemisphere), because the app refuses to point below the horizon :-(

[@bazpearce9993]

@@CuivTheLazyGeekI suppose that's a handy restriction, keeping you at relatively high altitude and getting the best sky possible.

[@KingLoopie1]

"and the seestar BELIEVES IT!".... I'm guessing that the seestar s50 isn't so smart at all... 😜

[@marsman735]

Great Video! Thanks! After aligning, have you tried to "Go To" Polaris? My Seestar will not look Zenith (straight up) along the axis of the Seestar body. After my polar equatorial alignment, "Go To" would fail. I was able to view and track stars in the big dipper and in the little dipper "handle" . When, the scope is actually level, it will not look up 90 degrees to Zenith, but only 82 degrees. It gives me a voice message "Can't move up any further" . Appreciate your thoughts or experience.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yep, that's the Seestar for you, it still thinks tracking near zenith will be hard so refuses to go there

[@marsman735]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek Thanks! Interesting we can "fake out" the scope to equatorial alignment, but can't view the and image Polaris 🤔 Hope that ZWO will widen their views (pun intended) on this matter. This is a great scope and I'm enjoying it. Looking forward to imaging the Solar Eclipse on the 8th.

[@Kluza_DFYM]

The new firmware removes the sync feature, which doesn't make me too happy so this is very interesting to try out.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yeah that's such a weird decision to take... Why remove an existing feature that doesn't hurt anyone?

[@mikecmp]

The sync was not really super useful, you could just tell the scope to "goto" the place you are pointing and it will solve and sync automatically. Sync was also not needed for the EQ mode, as you can just initiate the horizon calibration. So I think they eliminated it from the app as even if you synced to a locations, the next GOTO would plate solve and re-update coordinates anyway. I agree it was a somewhat useful feature, but I never used it, an have done a large number of mosaics and other imaging on the S50. Even running a script to do mosaics in python, its enough to just GOTO the location, the seestar will respond every time it is off target and has to re-goto, until it succeeds and begins tracking Side note is that the feature is actually not "removed" as the underlying software still has a "sync", its just accessed via API instead, similar to an ASI air.

[@nesherasner9937]

GREAT tutorials! Only problem: I can't seem to get ANY mock GPS apps to actually fool my tablet. Running Android 12.

[@cdlp8131]

Mi smartphone and my Andriod tablet have successfully implemented the "Mock my GPS" but in any case the SeeStar stays stubbornly with my real coordinates even if I disabled the "Location" in both of them. Any suggestions?

[@darwintea]

I had that problem with my Motorola phone. In Developer Options, it didn't include "Location", so I couldn't click on it there.

[@giannivivona6910]

Hi there. Some ideas for changing iphone GPS?

[@cdaworldnav]

Do you use a different exposure when in the EQ mode, for better results?

[@huf67]

Lying, cheating, and stealing.... The ways of the internet !! Damn it's good to be a gangster !!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

And just like that it reminds me of Office Space :-)

[@huf67]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek ... Mission accomplished !!

[@MrMaunotube]

great video Cuiv. I don’t have a S50, so i don’t know exactly how the field rotation affect is images. I thot that S50 would process the field rotation by it self. does the polar alignment enhances the S50 images? can you show by how far?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It does rotate the images back when stacking, but can't avoid the impact of the field rotation as that requires a physical solution (like the equatorial mode). Effectively, if you used the Seestar over a whole night on a target, the only area with a full stack will be the area within the inscribed circle of the chip field of view rectangle. And then when cropping you'd want to crop to the inscribed square of the inscribed circle. That's a lot of cropping!

[@felixf4613]

Hey, I have another question. Will this work with the seestar tripod or should an aother one be used because of the extra weight caused by the angle?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

If you set it up so that the telescope is angled directly above one of the tripod legs, and you live in a latitude above 30 degrees or so you should be fine with the standard tripod

[@felixf4613]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek Thanks for the explanation. :-)

[@felixf4613]

Doesn´t this method affect the thread alot more as the weight of the S50 will move as a side-strength on it?

[@michaelnixon6672]

looking for the best light rig setup based on the SvBony 503ed 80mm with Skywatcher Adventurer GTI mount. Can you provide suggestions?

[@Bonewerkz]

How does it affects the mechanics of the Seestar?

[@MichaelMcMillan-cf2no]

Does it slew to southern objects after the alignment?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Nope still can't slew below what it believes in the horizon :(

[@NoName-zi9qs]

It doesn't work for me. I get star trails. Stuck on "Identifying..." then it just fails.

[@SamStars8811]

Has anyone found a way to take calibration frames with the Seestar? Or do we not think they are necessary?

[@NMHC1978]

can we image M42 with this method

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Unfortunately not, as from the Seestar's point of view M42 is below the horizon and thus the Seestar won't point to it!

[@aradani3]

Hi Cuiv, This is fun and all, but I must say that I kind of changed my opinion about the Seestar S50 after seeing your two last videos about having it work in EQ mode. Until ZWO release a proper EQ mode, there are too many downsides for using it this way. F.e. are you even going to be able to use it in Summer when it's 24h daytime in the north pole?

[@bartholomule]

There are no protections from use during daylight hours and there is no scheduling. So 24 hour daylight won't matter. If I just leave mine be on a target, it'll happily keep capturing even after the sun rises -- it just won't see any stars and will throw those frames away. The brightened sky before the stars finally disappear will ruin the stack, but if you have it set to save individual frames and stack it yourself (minus the bright frames where the stars are barely visible) it's just fine. What does matter for "EQ mode" is that it won't let you image below the horizon, so if you're at the north pole (when actually in Tokyo), a large part of the southern sky is no longer usable.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yep, completely understand... Bartholomule is also accurate, and the biggest weakness right now is the inability to slew to the south of the Celestial Equator. If only the app asked instead of just refused to slew to objects under the horizon...

[@johnleach324]

Excellent

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@seanmorgan6410]

So smart. Bravo

[@bobmusil1458]

What’s the advantage of this method of EQ mount compared to the old one? The Seestar refuses to go to objects below the horizon. If the telescope believes it’s at the North Pole more objects are out of reach. Or am I wrong?

[@darwintea]

You are correct. Anything below the equator

[@cdlp8131]

Now I have the "Mock my GPS" icon in my smartphone desktop, I tapped on it, I set 89° latitude but I wasn't able to see the floating white rhomboidal stuff that you have in your video. Why? Does it matter?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It shouldn't matter as long as your location seems to be fine from the POV of the scopr

[@johngleason6472]

However...... this approach does not eliminate the pointing limit at the celestial equator. ZWO need to unlock this limit. I have a feeling that Seestar S50 MKII will surprise us.

[@FrogsInOrbit]

What is the benefit of this method? Does it prevent Seestar from being confused about where the horizon is so you can target those objects it thought was below the horizon? I don't 100% understand the ins and outs of this but what is stopping me from trying this is that you said in your first video that it gets confused on some targets and won't let you shoot them because it thinks it's below the horizon. Does this method eliminate that? I'd also like to know if you are only using the Seestar in this equatorial mode now because you find it that much better.

[@darwintea]

In equatorial mode, the telescope only needs to move in one axis (the bottom one) to track stuff. It also eliminates field rotation. One should also be able to use 20 or 20 second exposures. There should be fewer dropped frames, too, I would think.

[@FrogsInOrbit]

@darwintea You didn't really answer my question. I knew all that information. I want to know if this method eliminates the negatives. When you use equatorial mode, the Seestar doesn't know where the horizon is, and therefore won't be able to image things it thinks is below the horizon and 'invisible'.

[@darwintea]

@JoshuaAkonom in equatorial mode, it can't see south of the equator because it thinks it is below the horizon. If it had true equatorial mode, it would know the horizon was much lower.

[@gilbertguerin9080]

Clever 😊

[@giant80000]

On Android you should just be able to deny location permissions, and then the seestar app let's me manually enter it

[@niner_six_echo]

If It thinks its at the North Pole, will it turn on the lens heater?🤔 Seriously, this is genius. I just ordered my S50.

[@meloney]

Give climate change 50 more years than it wont do that haha

[@NevadaDesertSkies]

I just want to know more about that HD video of Donut Packing... 😁

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Ha! That's packing procedure for a rescue parachute called the Donut by Air Design:-)

[@jimcarter2092]

You be nice nice to your little seestar! 😅😅

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Well I bumbed it against a wall in the house, broke the arm off, and epoxied it back together, does that count as being nice to it? :D

[@jimcarter2092]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek... oh my gosh! You masher! I'm reporting you to zwo! Lol!

[@jimcarter2092]

You do realize I'm just clowning with you? Actually, you, and a few other mainstream popular teacher, instructor, astrophotographers Are who I learned everything from Starting 15 months ago and been a great benefit of my learning process And I thank all you people to take time to share your knowledge and experiences with us. One of the positive benefits of KZbin! Sayonara! 😊

[@andydawson5678]

WARNING i followed your tripod leg alignment advice to stop it falling over, But it fell over and jammed the arm, (which I have freed but I dont know what permanent damage has been done) . Clearly to be safe you need a sturdier tripod which is weighted down to be safe.

[@akessel1956]

why not just turn off location services on the phone for seestar app, then the app prompts you for gps coordinates.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It doesn't for me! Maybe that's on iOS? Or maybe there was an app update?

[@akessel1956]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek I will try it tonight and see. I haven't tried EQ yet, but have good skies here in central US.

[@ROCKETKNIGHT-ph7xp]

I think the seestar is a scam

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It isn't, obviously.