Seestar S50 - Polar Aligned, NO MORE field rotation!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

My Patreon: www.patreon.com/cuivlazygeek Seestar S50: tinyurl.com/3n62hpzx or tinyurl.com/3n62hpzx 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

[@rickmavrovich6349]

Cuiv I do not think you know what you caused. Since your video the Equatorial Wedge has been sold out from all the main distributors in the USA 😂 Now this is what I call influencing.

[@cwminer8235]

Kai Young and others on the Smart Telescope Underground facebook group should get a lot of the credit for coming up with the process and work around. They took a lot of hate and flak from several of the "official" seestar groups saying that it wasn't possible and that it would damage their telescopes. These guys are the ones that truly are on the cutting edge of seestar mods. It is nice that Cuiv finally did a video on it to prove it's viability though.😊

[@forerunner75]

I agree ! they paved the way !

[@gilbertguerin9080]

Definitely. If there was no Kai Young, most probably there will be nobody aware of or using this approach. That goes also a lot further than that as he and some other members of the underground FB group are also putting in place automation, mosaic and planning mode for the seestar. It could be nice that they are at least mentioned, and get some credit where credit is due. Nice video however to explain some of the concepts. Hope zwo is listening and officially take actions to remove the bugs or limitation that have been discovered.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I really don't understand why they would get hate overall, no one is forcing people to use the scope in equatorial mode!

[@gilbertguerin9080]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek Gatekeepers and envious individuals made things incredibly difficult for him, even going so far as to ban him from the FP 'official' group simply for suggesting the idea of equatorial mounting. It's absurd, isn't it? He took however matters into his own hands in response and established the Smart Telescope Underground Facebook group to continue discussing his vision. This group has evolved into a wonderfully supportive and respectful community where innovative thinkers are actively pushing the boundaries of this remarkable equipment. They are curently prototyping planning, mosaic, and automation modes, demonstrating that the sky is truly the limit. He sincerely deserves huge recognition for his efforts and relentless work for the S50 community. Your audience loves your videos for your enthusiasm (it is true also for the members of this FB group), and you'll find that same spirit in the Smart Telescope Underground Facebook group. You should definitely join us there; it promises to be a lot of fun.

[@tmrdarkstar85]

It's always 100% viable on any alt/az telescope. Alt/Az telescopes are not meant for astrophotography because of what Cuiv mentions Field rotation. They make wedges and field de-rotators. The wedge is always the cheaper and less troublesome option

[@lukomatico]

This is taking the seestar to another level, increased complexity but increased results - a worthy trade for many! 👍👍 Good on you buddy, you're always at the cutting edge!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thanks Luke! Others have pioneered this but it's fun anyway :)

[@grahamwhite75a]

@@CuivTheLazyGeekwow two KZbin stars for the price of one😂

[@tarbat]

You can use the Seestar's own internal level measurement to polar align in the declination axis. Just incline the wedge until the internal level measures 90 degrees minus your latitude.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Good point! Thanks for the tip!

[@bronte65]

Since the S50 operations top out at 85 degrees would it be possible in this limited scenario to deduct one’s latitude from 95 degrees, recovering the 5 degrees of loss when using the S50 in the horizontal plane? I’m a total noob so I am probably missing something important. But I had to ask. Thanks!

[@bronte65]

Ok so I have worked out that my question was dumb. If I did what I suggested I just simply be pointing NOT at the South Pole. Derrr… Thanks anyway! Sky-Watcher wedge arrives middle of next week. AU$95.92 You bewdy!

[@traviswilliams2789]

I would think that would get your physical alignment off by 5 degrees. Sure, you'd get that angle to see straight up but defeats the whole point. 5 degrees off, you'd get some field rotation in the photos. .. Edit, I as well are dumb and Didn't notice you corrected yourself...@@bronte65

[@marcericdavis]

Cool, I hope all the smart telescope makers start supporting this to help people move to to the next level.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It was cool to see that the Dwarf II just supported it by default :-)

[@jacobrichards8359]

Great vid! I've wondered about using my wedge from my other mount. I bought my Seestar after seeing your vids on it. The Seestar has been wonderful since I can't get out much anymore with my young kids and what not. It's been pretty slick being able to set this in up in the yard and just let it go. My other setup needs a bit more love and setup. It has really allowed me to stay active with astro despite time constraints!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It's good to have the choice! The Seestar as a plop down and just use scope is also perfectly fine :)

[@PatternMusic]

ZWO has said there is no risk to the gears for EQ mode. (Examination of the castings of the housing reveals "DEC" and "RA" labels on the arms which indicates the Seestar may have been designed for EQ operation.) I suspect ZWO dropped the feature because it would have required a larger, more expensive tripod with the package.

[@FrogsInOrbit]

Just read this after my comment, lol. Do you have s link to where this was reported? It would definitely ease my mind about giving it a go.

[@barrycraig1549]

​@@FrogsInOrbitYou're overthinking it. Just do it. Lots of people have no issues. Just make sure you don't have a tripod or situation where it might fall over. That's pretty common sense

[@simcoeskies2659]

At any rate, it would be a load on the bearings, not the gears - just like any EQ mount with a scope that's balanced.

[@cobaltchen119]

@@barrycraig1549 do you know have it been tested in low latitude? I am asking because I planed a travel to somewhere with lat. 23.3 degree. So wondering if it got overloaded in such angle. Many thanks!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

By the way in the video you'll see I don't follow my own recommendation (have one leg of the tripod pointing North) - this was simply the position after screwing in the wedge fully, and I would have needed a spacer or something to change that :-(

[@luboinchina3013]

No sample images?😭

[@johnpinto5095]

You could also hang a weight from the tripod to counter balance the tilted SeeStar. I’ve seen a few photos of folks doing that to prevent it from tipping over.

[@johnreilly8672]

I was hoping to see an image of the California nebula after the equatorial configuration :(

[@RonPep-t3l]

Good job.  thanks for your work on this hopefully they will give us a software upgrade And by the way it was Kai Yung who “ sold me “ that it would be doable inEQ so I purchased it ,thanks both of you

[@jackg7225]

Thanks for the video. After I use my S50 for some time, I might be willing to go to the next step and I appreciate these instructions in this video. I’ve only been able to use my Seestar over 4 nights because of leaving on a winter break but I stacked two different nights of the M42 and I can see from that experience how it would be beneficial to go to this method.

[@simonfarmery7356]

This is awesome! I'll be giving this a try. The field rotation seems to be worse the more light pollution that I have, so this will help stop me from having to crop the photos so much!!

[@ridealongwithrandy]

Thank you for this neat idea. I always use a proper tripod, and hang a bag of heavy rocks to cement it to the ground. Cheers!

[@richardnixon8795]

Introducing the new Seestar S50-Pro. ;) I would hope if ZWO officially came out with such they'd upgrade the gears, etc. for robustness.

[@PatternMusic]

ZWO has confirmed there is no risk to the gears for EQ mode. ZWO's primary concern seems to be stability. That's easily solved with a wider tripod.

[@MichaelLaferriere]

Agree,d there is a bit of play in both the altitude and azimuth gears. Not enough to lose a bunch of light frames, but with a touch of wind, it can make a mess. Also if it crosses the meridian, the weight will shift from going against the gear to going with the gear, kinda like balancing a pencil on the tip.

[@tekkietekkie]

yet another great video, i have been watching this on the facebook group for a while now but have not tried it, just ordered the wedge so i can check it out also

[@martinbriscoe9439]

Thank you - excellent video as usual. I have been wanting to try this - hopefully you will let us see the results and maybe a comparison of the SS in alt az mode? Is it important to level the tripod (not the SS50)? Id be interested in what to do if cannot find enough stars to calibrate (I have lots of trees in the garden which can get in the way)

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I can make a back to back comparison once weather allows :-)

[@Shteev91]

Insane that you never thought we might like to see an actual photo you took using this mode. 😂

[@lterrey]

Absolutely GOLD mate... stretching the limits.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Thank you!

[@JemCruz]

Reminds me of an equatorial platform for manual dobsonian telescopes. Enables the scope to do AP with DSOs.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It looks similar right!

[@cobaltchen119]

Interesting! In April I will be in Iriomote island of Okinawa with my Seestar, will try this and see what I can got. Cannot wait!

[@ShevillMathers]

What thinking outside the square can achieve, you are a fellow after my own heart. Greetings from Tasmania Australia 👍🔭😁🇦🇺

[@kalon9999]

Here in the Southern Hemisphere we have no bright stars visible to the naked eye near our celestial pole... there is a small group nearby but you need to know the rotation of them on any given night to offset them to the blank spot of sky that is our pole! We use apps like PS Align Pro to find out the pattern and rough positioning

[@abulka]

Yep, polar alignment in the southern hemisphere is impossible visually like this. Thank goodness for ASIAir, NINA and Ekos software driven three point polar alignment routines - but nothing like that is available for the Seestar. I did see one video where they glue laser pointers to the Seestar, but again, nothing visible to point at in the southern hemisphere.

[@NMukkavilli]

From what I read on the Smart Telescope Underground Group, polar alignment doesn’t have to be super accurate. You may get away with rough polar alignment using a compass and inclinometer. In ages gone by I used an ETX 70 in EQ mode .. and a rough polar alignment was generally enough. Maybe you don’t eliminate field rotation but minimise or significantly reduce it. The alternative would be to use a Polemaster and polar align but that sort of defeats the purpose of a Seestar don’t you think?

[@danyalmedley4926]

I really want to get one of these SeeStars now to try out. But I agree with you that in some of these low-cost telescopes designs, the azimuth axis is not preloaded, and not well-suited to more tilted orientations... I have not had one of these in my hands, so I don't know if it's possible, but if it doesn't fall off, the loose-ness would translate to effectively be a "hub" error in the pointing. In these modern technology telescopes, this is easily compensated. When I would test equatorial telescopes, I would sometimes need to mount one in an "anti-polar" alignment to test North vs South alignments. It was a challenge to get the clearance with my tripod, but it wasn't too difficult to overcome if supported correctly. This effectively gives it a "southern equatorial" operating configuration. This would open up the other half of the sky to the Alt axis. I think this is more achievable in the higher latitudes (I was at about 33º N) But, I understand that the azimuth axis may not be happy about it.

[@gomcse]

Absolutely love your videos and instruction. For this one it would have been nice to see an example of a finished photo using the EQ mode. In any case, I can't wait to try this!

[@photonqopt]

Thanks a lot for the video. I will try out soon when the weather gets better (this year, i have had only a few clear nights). Speaking of how to find polaris, you forgot to mention another method using Cassiopeia when big dipper is too low/blocked.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Have fun! And good point on the big dipper! Actually arguably the best method is to use the seestar in AltAz to find Polaris, remember where it is, and then simply move the scope back to equatorial mode :-)

[@jimcarter2092]

Another great tip! I've slways been a beliver in improvement of something And a least try out an idea, there is no Rules for using something out of box After spending much money on the Pro rig setups i will be receiving a seestar in a couple days from B&h photo, been using them for many years for music equipment and astro. Fast shipping great people to work with. I want to go to the coast and camping this year and the seestar will be easier And less time than hauling 80+ lbs Of equipment, I really like the "W" explanation of Cassiopeia constellation to explain effects of field rotation, was trying to explain to someone who cant seem to get it. From a, w to an m. Thanks! 😊

[@johnkulczycki3021]

If you can find a way to offset the wedge to the south a bit, it will place the centre of mass over the centre of the tripod more, reducing the “tipping” load from an unbalanced orientation.

[@sergiocantoli5783]

You forgot to show the image you made without cropping. Thanks for sharing anyway!

[@theglobetrevor5212]

Brilliant! I saw the Seestar for sale, saw that it was Alt Az and was deflated a bit. However I then thought, why not add a wedge? So I searched for it and then saw this video and you confirmed my thoughts. Thank you! Liked and Subscribed

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

My pleasure, enjoy the scope!

[@deep_space_dave]

Excellent idea! FYI iOptron also sells those wedges. Maybe one day a robo scope will come with a built in field derotator then it can stay Alt-Az. Looks like you're having fun with that scope. Sometime I forget how fun this hobby can be when you're not pulling your hair out LOL. Clear Skies Cuiv!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Or autopolar alignment! Field derotation does require three motors to track instead of one :)

[@thewheelieguy]

One of the Vaonis(?) scopes has a rotator. Pretty easy to do with a known camera module in a known enclosure.

[@rgaywala]

@6:58 That's a brilliant trick. Thank you!!!

[@maverick332]

Excellent video! Everything explained so clearly, TY!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Glad it was helpful!

[@vizionct1]

Kai young also mentioned there was another slight below horizon tracking issue. Wonder if software update will fix this..

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Do you know what the issue is?

[@TomHarris1964]

Great video - thank you. I gave this a try with my Seestar for the first time tonight on the Eastern Veil nebula, but it didn't work out. Every picture was discarded because of star trails. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

[@bronte65]

Cuiv, maaate! Thank you for this vid. After the vid on the printable wedge I was wondering how this would bolt together and how to make it work. I totally understand now so that’s not bad for a noob! WRT the Czech wedge I was thinking I would probably need to get two of them if I wanted to do astrophotography concurrently. This might still be true since this setup with the Seestar is pretty much for specific types of objects and locations within the available plane of, in my case, the southern hemisphere. So I’ll start with just the one wedge and see how that goes. I can always buy another in the future, perhaps after the planned integration of a goto mechanism. Sorry for the long-winded post. It helps me clarify my own plans. Keep it up. You really help and inspire me. Thank you!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It always helps to type down your thoughts!

[@sergiocantoli5783]

See you in Texas!

[@mr.b3054]

Cuiv, do you know if this will improve tracking for objects near the zenith? I find I get star trails if I try to image stars at high elevations. with the Seestar. The field rotation is a minor problem if you can't track in the first place.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It definitely will, since in equatorial mode, the zenith is Polaris effectively (from the point of view of the scope)

[@timczapiewski527]

Thank you Cuiv, I like the idea and how simply you explained it. I bought the wedge a few months ago but have yet to use it. I have seen many talk about it but not seen any side by side comparison pics to see how this increases the quality of the picture. Can you provide any in a subsequent video or on the Facebook SeeStar groups?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Probably in a subsequent video - I actually really dislike Facebook groups as a way of sharing information in a structured way

[@ianenting2260]

One thing that I want to try is tilting the S50 by a little bit, to shift what appears to be zenith. S50 won't track properly if ALT greater than 75 or 80, which for me at 35S was ruling out M83 at the begining of the month.

[@cmahar3]

Now that Cuiv has mainstreamed this approach, how about releasing an equatorial mode in software, ZWO?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Now THAT would be awesome.

[@davidwebb4451]

From what I've heard the new Dwarf 3 now officially supports equatorial mode with exposure times upto 60 seconds specifically for use in that mode. Hence ZWO will likely be forced to support equatorial mode either on the Seestar S50 or on the next version they produce if they want to maintain market share.

[@robertlamantin5088]

Hi there, new subscriber here. As an amateur astronomer living in Saitama Prefecture, I appreciate your work on the Seestar and this equatorial mode (kind of) looks very interesting. But I really worry about the fact that this smartscope, being designed at a low cost for azimutal mode, isn't strong enough to afford the constrains you put on its gears. This is especially true if you're low in latitude (let's say under 50°), like we are in or near Tokyo. I guess I'll wait comments from people daring to use it that way and if nothing bad is reported after some monthes, maybe I'll do it myself ? But again, I appreciate that kind of experiment.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Apparently it's not an issue due to the metal bearings, and it has been confirmed as fine by ZWO from what I'm told!

[@robertlamantin5088]

Oh great ! That's a good new ! Well, Ive got no reason to not try this at home, now :) @@CuivTheLazyGeek

[@dgdave2673]

Honestly would have liked if you had posted the results of the nebula you shot with details. What would be good to know is can the tripod legs be adjusted longer or shorter individually to compensate for the tilt and weight imbalance?

[@brianbaxter5895]

Thank you for this research!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

To be fair this was initially done by Kai Young and he shares a lot on his private FB group - but in the end I just worked on my own to nail down my own methodology

[@MixatAAA]

Hi, the specifications of the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Equatorial Wedge Base said, "The wedge mounts on any tripod with a 3/8"-16 or 1/4"-20 screw ", why can't just use the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Equatorial Wedge Base out of the box without a 1/4 to 3/8 adapter and M8 screws? How many screws are required? Thank you!

[@kiscsigabee]

Brilliant, my main concern about the Seestar S50 was the missing EQ mode, this is a nice workaround and it makes the S50 even more desirable. Can we also see the results? Is there any update regarding the horizontal limitations?

[@nathans.3751]

I have seen a large number of people do this and the results are good. However, I am concerned about the structural integrity of the gears. We are talking about plastic gears that are designed to withstand horizontal stresses but not vertical or shear forces. There will be abnormal wear on the gear edges eventually leading to slipping and failure. Unless the mechanical components have been designed to withstand this type of wear.

[@Seanjones1990]

they use metal bearings on the axis the gears wont be under any additional load the forces will be on the bearing at the base

[@renato892-j4i]

Zwo has said that there is no risk of damaging your seestar internal component by using it in Eq mode. But, they don't recommend to use it in that mode because the risk of fall down. Also, some people has open the Seestar and they discovered that it's internal component were originally designed to support EQ mode, and that's not a big surprise, because Zwo in their initial pre-sales announcement said that it will support EQ mode and it will come with a wedge.

[@PatternMusic]

@@renato892-j4i I suspect ZWO dropped the EQ mode feature because it would have required a larger, and more expensive tripod in the package and raise the price.

[@renato892-j4i]

Yea! I think that that's a very probable reason!

[@johngoyer9705]

Great idea - thanks! Can you simply point the axis 180 degrees away from Polaris to image the other bits of the sky?

[@adamhofmann2769]

If you can do this with the Seestar, could we do the same with the Skywatcher SolarQuest. I am using the SolarQuest to perform lucky imaging of the Sun with a Lunt60 HA. The problem with the Skywatcher SolarQuest is that it is also an Alt Z mount that works great for individual lucky image videos. But if you want to create a long time-lapse using the mount, then it have the rotation problem. Any thoughts?

[@TomHarris1964]

After I've pointed my Seestar upwards and pressed Record, I don't get anything about horizontal calibration, just "Initialization progress". Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

[@marsman735]

Weather good early this morning a gave it a quick go. The alignment set-up was quick, but did not see any field rotation for 5 minutes viewing of Mizar or 20 minutes of HIP 82894 in the Little Dipper Handle. HIP 82894 was about the closest I could get to Polaris since the scope runs out of elevation travel (it doesn't look straight up along the body of the Seestar). Is this a problem with my scope. I have never checked it to see if it can look directly zenith when scope is level. Thanks.

[@tedlee2013]

Thanks for this great video, I will surely want to try the equatorial mode; however, there are plenty of tall buildings around my apartment, hence cannot do the 3 point calibration. Can you please shoot a video regarding how to get around this? Thank you.

[@HiroakiMorikawa]

Thanks for the video. Always enjoy your content. Do you think using an app such as ps polar algin pro's daytime/no polarscope alignment would enough to align the telescope without actually seeing the polaris and align? Reason I say is that from my driveway which faces south and my house being a 2nd story house, it's difficult to align to polaris unless I drive to somewhere else.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

You can do a rough polar alignment using just such an app, and it's likely going to be good enough to greatly reduce field rotation!

[@robertlamantin5088]

BTW, to shoot under the celestial equator, would it work to put the Seestar upside down ? Not its high part inclined at +36° in the North direction, but at -144° in the South one ?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

In theory, it would work - as long as it's aligned to the celestial pole! But the horizon calibration might have issues if it ends up trying to image through one of the tripod legs. Fake GPS to South Pole + disabling horizon calibration would work better though

[@daemn42]

Another way to align to north star is with a green astro laser pointer. Just align it with the main body and point it at Polaris. My MSM tracker comes with one. The problem I have is that I usually can't actually see Polaris from the city.

[@PatternMusic]

You don't need to see Polaris to align to the Celestial North Pole. A compass to align the unit true North, and you can use the Seestar software (Advanced Settings Leveling) to adjust the declination to 90-your latitude.

[@ssrattus]

Thanks Cuiv!

[@manni1998]

I‘d like to see some photos. What improvement did you get with ploar alignment?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I wanted to focus only on the setup itself, I may do another video in the future

[@johnpinto5095]

Others have mentioned they are imaging objects below the celestial equator using this technique from the Northern Hemisphere. Have you actually tried it on M42? What happens when you do that? Do you get an error immediately? Or does it try to go there and fail? Or does it actually work as some are saying it does? If it works then how far South can you go in declination at your latitude?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It had failed for me, but this may have been when I was testing with my first workaround (fake GPS coordinates to the North Pole and horizon calibration off), I'll have to test again!

[@SpaceIsBeautiful]

I’m considering buying the equipment you linked in the description, but before I do I have to ask, how do you go about taking exposures when the telescope needs to be leveled before you begin taking exposures? Is there a way you can bypass the leveling process?

[@jasonpatterson8091]

Which settings change caused it to not gripe about being out of level all of the time?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Horizon Calibration :)

[@Bonewerkz]

Does it not affect the lifetime of the mechanics? I have trying mosaics today with the Andromeda Galaxy. The Problem was the field rotation, i can't align the mosaic frames to eachother.

[@vincetsoi]

Hi Cuiv, have you ever consider mounting the bottom plane to point North instead so the switch side points North instead of the top of the unit pointing North?

[@cdlp8131]

WHEN did you made the stars focusing? It's impossible to get the focus if the stars are drifting before horizontal calibration... and I don't think we will get a good plate solving with the stars out of focus after horizontal calibration.

[@FrogsInOrbit]

I keep thinking about trying this, but then it's a fairly new discovery and I'm concerned about the long term effects on the added stress to the gears by the weight no longer being distributed evenly. Somebody mentioned they've been doing this since January, but no idea how many shooting hours. I know for some it's a simple expense and they don't mind fiddling, but i think I'm going to wait and see what the long term effects may be.

[@dersupra]

Howdy. I'd like to request a S50 Vs D3 comparison. I have a Dwarf2 and love it and was ready to get a 3 but Id like to see if the S50 is still a good competitor

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

I'll do it at some point :)

[@garyschmelz6728]

Ok that was very cool. But how do you get rid of all the pixelation of the Seestar? It is similar to photography with my cell phone in the dark.

[@DieterIlg-r4d]

Hi Cuiv, thanks for the information, I for one would love to see a video on how to fool the Seestar to making it think is at the north pole. Please and thank you.

[@SciMajor1]

Very cool. I'm for too lazy to go through all that though. I'll just deal with the field rotation. 🙂

[@best_pilot1002]

Hi Cuiv, your shown equatorial mount (wedge) appears to be motorized (stepper ??). I guess that this motor will not drive the right ascention axis, correct ? Otherweise - I presume - one would have a system with two drives, fighting against each other in order to stabilize the image. In a nutshell; I guess your wedge is a passive element; correct ?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Correct it is completely off, otherwise it would interfere with the S50

[@shaunozs1ra92]

Cuiv, please stop it. Because of you I now have ordered another new mount the WD-20 🤣😆

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Hahaha, sorry! Congrats on your new mount!

[@cdlp8131]

Skip horizontal calibration should be RED or GRAY???????

[@ShevillMathers]

Does it have EQ mode included yet as of Sept. 2024? Greetings from Tasmania Australia 😁🔭🇦🇺🦘

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Nope :(

[@ShevillMathers]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek -Thank you, what a pity, given its superior optics it would be a winner. I will take another look at your work around. Kind Regards.😇

[@GalaxyArtMedia]

When i asked last year Zwo about it they told me the Seestar S50 does not work in equatorial mod eand they do not recommend me to try it. Why you think i got this answer?

[@PatternMusic]

ZWO does not "support" this mode, but they have clearly said EQ mode won't harm the scope. I suspect their primary concern is the stability with the tripod supplied with the unit. So use a wider tripod. There are also bugs in the software that get in the way of EQ mode. So ZWO would have to refine the operation of their software to support EQ mode.

[@barrycraig1549]

Correct me if I'm wrong in my thinking but if there where stress, friction or other types of mechanical stresses on the drive system it would show up in your imaging performance. This also would include any balancing issues that would cause extra stress on the drive system. If balancing was an issue it would also show up in bad imaging. I think this whole EQ gear wear and tear concern is not going to be an issue and The benefits definitely outweigh the stress of overthinking. Just my opinion my experience so far

[@tomwall8403]

Cuiv. This is a strictly hypothetical question. 😁Could field rotation problems be countered if only the image capturing chip rotated, but the scope remained in its alt/az configuration? Obviously, the internals of the scope would need to be re-engineered by ZWO, but it might be a simpler (and cheaper) solution. Thanks. I love this little scope!!!

[@stinkyfungus]

A cheap, but effective lightweight eq wedge is about 65 bucks on Amazon. Somehow, I think if ZWO put in a 3rd motorized axis - it'll raise the price of a seestar a mite more than 65 bucks. Plus, most users that would want eq mode, will be "not beginner" so, probably already have a small wedge kicking around that can be used.

[@tomwall8403]

@@stinkyfungus Yes.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Yes, it's called a field derotator. It's actually not as simple as it sounds, as the rate of field rotation depends on your latitude and the alt and az coordinates of the target you are imaging! See this paper: vixra.org/abs/2205.0085

[@Fractalite]

@@CuivTheLazyGeekIts perfectly simple for ZWO CPU to calculate the rotation of the field and derotate it as its use depends on knowing exactly where it is pointed . It would be another potential source of failure though . Its an EAA device , and ZWO would hope you move on quickly to their range of cameras , scopes and mounts ;-)

[@Astronurd]

What if it's M42 that you actually want to image? Or any other targets below its imaginary horizon?

[@jeroenvdw]

Would like to see the images it takes

[@AstroCHARLY]

Does it actually matter in which direction the Seestar is mounted on the wedge?

[@Fossbear]

i know someone who is gonna try this (not me) with his EQ-8 - no tipping over for sure

[@huexley]

Hope to see a mount like a Star Adventurer with auto polar alignment and goto. I know the Benro Polaris exists but its not that reliable.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Auto polar alignment is really difficult, I'd say right now the Benro or the SA GTi are the best we got at a budget. Otherwise there's the Avalon mount with auto PA/motorized PA!

[@sploinky_splurgus]

Can someone share why you wouldn’t be able to see the Orion with this? I’m pretty much brand spankin new and wanted some info as to why it may limit this

[@Wolfie6020]

Thanks for another informative video,. I am enjoying my Seestar. The supplied solar filter is ok but I have an adapter that allows me to use much higher quality glass solar filters and the results are spectacular. I will post a link below this comment. Two points I would like ZWO to be aware of (I will post this on their support forum also) 1. Make a white version of the Seestar - black is terrible for a scope that is used for solar viewing. In Australia it gets so hot I worry about it getting damaged (I covered mine in white contact paper and it now stays cool. Make a limited edition white version please ZWO) 2. Allow us to set a custom "Park" position when the unit powers off. I have a nice lens hood for this scope and it allows me to screw in solar (and other) filters. However I have to remove the hood each time I park the scope or it will jam the mechanism. If we could set a park position with the scope pointing horizontal that would solve the issue and I could leave the hood fitted. Cheers and keep up the great work.

[@Wolfie6020]

kzbin.infoqbYZIaNJDWs. The Sun with a glass solar filter on the Seestar.

[@voxelmaniam]

But what is the actual wedge that you are using with the Seestar in this video? It looks much more interesting than the Sky Watcher one you link to on Amazon.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It's the OG Star Tracker (turned off)

[@marsman735]

Great Video. Need to give it a go. Thanks! Do you think you can minimize field rotation by setting the wedge to 90 degree due south and perform the alignment as the you would for the north equatorial. It wouldn't be perfect but might minimize it. Cheers!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

You'd introduce new opposite field rotation :)

[@marsman735]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek Thanks and understand.

[@CoadyL]

Your review of the S50 sparked me buying one, and having a blast, thanks! Thanks too for showing this possibility. Question you might address for me, how do we charge it while it is running so we get more than 3 hours out of it?

[@brettcourtenay569]

I just use 2 power banks and continuously use/charge them so that my Seestar is always almost fully charged as its being used and by the end of the night! As I type this , I have had the Seestar observing now for 7 hours and its 93% charged and should get no lower by the time the sun rises in about 2 hours (I'm in Australia). When I am finished , I always end my Night by packing up my Seestar at or very near 100% fully charged so that the next time of use its ready to go.

[@CoadyL]

@@brettcourtenay569Thanks! Good to know it's possible. When I attached it to power, it gave me messages about connecting to a computer, which it was just a power pack, so I gave up. Something in the settings maybe. Clear skies!

[@mr.b3054]

I use a Makita 5ah 18v cordless tool battery and their USB power adapter. Then a USB-A to USB-C cable. It will run the Seestar all night with the dew heater on. All the major cordless tool manufacturers offer USB adapters for their batteries, so others may work as well. I think I saw somewhere Seestar does not support USB-C to USB-C cables.

[@brettcourtenay569]

@@CoadyL ...I read that whatever you use to charge the Seestar it needs 5 volts with a minimum 2 amps of power going in otherwise it won't recognise the charge so a USB from a laptop or PC will usually only have 1 or 1.5 amps as well as some power banks which might not give you a choice of amps with the 5Volts. Hope that helps !

[@paulwilson8367]

Hmm. After all this, I would have thought you would be eager to display some results? I would think that better tracking and longer sessions/exposures would significantly improve the images, but from this I have to wonder. Truthfully, from what I have seen online, I am not impressed at all with the images produced by this scope, and I can't imagine anyone who is not a total beginner in the hobby being impressed. I would LOVE to get one of these, because my son has a sophisticated camper truck remotely spotted in western Colorado for expeditions to very remote locations that feature very dark skies! Think, Arches National Monument. I have seen starry skies there to die for! The SeeStar is small enough and light enough, I could fly with it to the truck and then leave it inside between trips. But I would have to see images more inspiring than any that I have seen to date. I would also process the images in PI instead of whatever live stacking the system uses.

[@stephenrichendefer8782]

This is a cool way to adapt this scope and make it even better. One question, do you have any concerns that tilting the rotating axis like this will put loads on the gears and bearings that aren't there when the scope is on Alt/Az mode ? Or is the gearing sturdy enough to handle this ?

[@PatternMusic]

ZWO has said the gearing won't be harmed by EQ mode use.

[@ducky7377]

YES!!!!!!!

[@miller-joel]

Waitaminute. The telescope doesn't compensate for that already, rotating the image?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

It does rotate the images back when stacking digitally, 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!

[@miller-joel]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek Ah, cool. I do understand your solution is far more precise and elegant, but the reason to buy this telescope is to avoid all that work in the first place! 😀

[@Samurai93939393]

I have been using my S50 in this mode since Jan and have imaged Orion a lot... so it is possible. I am at 34.0232° N

[@knimrod]

How?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

How?

[@Samurai93939393]

​ @CuivTheLazyGeek @@knimrod​ I setup the tripod and the mount. I manually move the telescope to point roughly to the constellation Orion. I then goto the star map and move it to the rough point it is pointing to and "sync". I then go back and hit the red button to calibrate, then cancel before it goes back to the origin. I then point the star map to Betelgeuse and "GoTo". Once itwork finds it I "sync" again. I have then gotot Orion nebula or horsehead nebula and record. Has worked for me almost everytime if it can calibrate.

[@Samurai93939393]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek I will admit that in Bortle 9 and lots of trees that I don't always get it lined up to polaris 100%, so sometime I have just pointed it as close as I can so I still get a little movement on stars but I don't get the field rotation like I use to.

[@BruceDumes]

To me, it seems like the tricky part is the accuracy of pointing to Polaris. Does it only need to be "pretty close"? If it is a little off, is it still much better in terms of field rotation? Thanks!!

[@tarbat]

Even a few degrees out reduces field rotation to almost zero. In fact some of us think it's better to be slightly off from polar alignment so that the DEC axis isn't constantly hunting around a mid-point.

[@BruceDumes]

@@tarbat Thanks!

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Close enough is enough :)

[@pinarellofp3]

Can you use a laser pointer mounted on suction cups attached to the body of the Seestar for polar alignment?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

That works too!

[@pinarellofp3]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek thank you so much!! Just ordered the wedge mount too!! Shame that Orion is off the table!!

[@tarbat]

Did you find the tracking accuracy was better or worse when polar aligned?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Better, almost all frames get stacked

[@kristycyw]

You mentioned that the wedge you are using is actually a startracker, i’m looking for something similar, what model are you using?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

This one! www.ogstartech.com/home/

[@benburden9323]

Do you got to poler alignment

[@LyngJohn205]

Are we on the cusp of discarding the need for “equatorial mounts”? Why can’t we just rotate the camera? If we can guide and plate-solve can’t we just program our session to rotate the camera as needed?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

That's a field derotator, and it's been around for a while! But no that doesn't discard the need for EQ mounts... EQ mounts need a single motor to track their object. An AltAz mount with field rotator needs 3, with their imprecisions adding up, and can get pretty bad near Zenith...

[@jiinx72]

I know its a old post. Im wondering if they've now released a update for the S50 to include EQ mode like DawrfLab did.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Unfortunately not - and likely no plan of doing so

[@jiinx72]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek Shame but I feel this maybe a feature released for the S30, seeing that's going to be SeeStar counter to the Dwarf 3 which does have a EQ mode.

[@FrankSWOhio_FCCianciolo]

After using this method with great success for a couple of weeks, the SeeStar no longer goes into Horizon Calibration mode as Cuiv discusses. This means that the rest of the steps fail and tracking never starts up correctly. Couild this be the result of the recent firmware update?

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

That's possible... I just released another video with a different workaround, that should still work

[@FrankSWOhio_FCCianciolo]

@@CuivTheLazyGeek -- many thanks, Cuiv, but unfortunately, I'm an iPhone/iPad person and currently do not have access to an Android device (that you stated in your new video was needed for this new method). I'm nothing if not persistent, though, and have discovered that the method described in your video on this page will still work about 30-40% of the time. One of the challenges is that it appears that the sync function that used to be readily available whenever a GoTo command was issued now only appears ... ummm, sometimes ... I know it does when observing the Sun & Moon. Any other time, not so much. I can live with the uncertainty, though ... this close to the eclipse, I really hope ZWO just leaves things alone and doesn't try to "fix" anything else. I appreciate how responsive they've been but, really, don't mess with it until AFTER April 8th!

[@FrankSWOhio_FCCianciolo]

And, of course, ZWO released a firmware update while I was on the road (just a few days before the eclipse) so, of course, I didn't know about it until the night before the eclipse. REALLY ZWO!?!?!? (((sigh))) Also, now this method seems to work only about 10% of the time. Extremely frustrating ... it's like ZWO wants us to ONLY USE THE S50 IN PRECISELY THE MANNER DEFINED BY ZWO (i.e., alt-az) and no other. Where's the "fun" in that?

[@darksanity]

Can you share any videos/photos thst hou have using this method?

[@miserable_old_git]

Can you let the S50 find polaris before connecting it to the mount ?

[@walterhock7809]

???????

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

Ah you could indeed use the Seestar itself to figure out where Polaris is!