ZWO SeeStar Plan Mode vs Vespera Plan My Night vs Dwarf Schedule Shooting: Key Features Explained

[@64gkb]

Thanks for the excellent information, and for investigating this new feature so soon after it was released.

[@the_space_koala]

I had to jump on the opportunity of a total of like 3 hours of clear skies :D

[@donweisbrod5042]

Thank you very much for sharing how to use the new features from SeeStar. Your work helps me jump right in and utilize them with confidence. It's too bad that it will be cloudy tonight, so I won't be able to use this planning feature. Please keep up the great work. Thanks again.

[@the_space_koala]

I bet 90% of seestar users have clouds after the rollout of the new feature 😁

[@JamesBond-mu4ce]

You are amazing and adorable as always. I literally just finished my first night of astrophotography and edited w pixinsight and love it. I was not aware of this feature 😊 now in UK where I live is cloudy for 7 days according to clear sky. 😢

[@the_space_koala]

When you take up astrophotography as a hobby it’s always going to be cloudy - it’s the law!

[@JamesBond-mu4ce]

@ it must be, love the videos and your knowledge. You have mentioned that Equatorial mode is coming is that official or just rumours?

[@luishecheverym56]

Thank you very much for sharing your wisdom, very useful in SEESTAR, which we are working on. When you can, please show us with the Celestron Origen. Your videos are very professional.

[@the_space_koala]

thank you! I don't have an Origin unfortunately - I just had the chance to test one. Who knows I may get one eventually :D

[@wadetubman]

Look forward to trying this out. It will save me from setting 1am alarms! In terms of persistence, i think the seestar collects the subs over multiple nights in the same directory - you can then stack after multiple nights in the seestar app using the Deep sky stack button next to the new plan button. Also wondering why you turn the LP filter off for orion and horsehead, as the app recommends them?

[@the_space_koala]

the point of PerseverENS is that you don't have to store the individual subs - like I said in the video I think they did that because the files are too large and file transfer is painful! I turn the filter off because both Orion and the Horsehead include reflection nebula elements which would not show up with the LP filter (which is not really a light pollution filter but a dual narrowband filter)

[@frederickroberts6523]

Hello, SK. Yes, I have an S50 and a Dwarf that I mainly use for EAA. However, with the new planning feature and the upcoming EQ mode for the S50, I plan to utilize the new planning feature and try my hand at actual astrophotography. Thank you for the comparison.

[@the_space_koala]

the EQ mode will be very welcome by all of us!

[@spookysandwich1355]

awesome video , im still waiting on my D3 feels like forever haha , do you know if the field of view box will have the ability to rotate in the D3 anytime soon so we D3 users can change composition of the targets we image ? also i believe the D3 now can expose for 120 secs which is incredible

[@the_space_koala]

hey, no I don't know if they will do that anytime soon but surely they will do it at some point. I haven't tried the 120sec exposure but I am a bit skeptical as during my original test in November (video is up) I couldn't even expose for 60 seconds. I don't know if in the meantime they have enabled a better PA routine, which would be necessary

[@jacoblee679]

I have been using the D3 with the latest beta software. 120s has been working well so far for me. Mosaic mode is accessible by adjusting the field of view on the sky atlas. However, you can't rotate the fov. Neither of these features are available in the schedule feature yet as they are fine tuning in beta. No doubt they will be in the full release version.

[@the_space_koala]

I think the rotation of the FOV and EQ mode are mutually exclusive by definition - as there's no physical rotator for the sensor, if you are polar aligned, the sensor will stay in the same position compared to the sky. The only way to get a different rotation that way would be to create a somewhat larger mosaic (once they implement) and crop that

[@0815mkl]

Really goof comaprison of this feature. Seems Vaonis is a few steps ahead in terms of features. They also released the dark frame calibration for the Vespera Pro a few days ago, so finally the Vespera can also beneft from that like the DWARF and Seestar already do. When Vaonis released the mosaic mode about two years ago, it was a game changer for these little telescopes. Especially with the narrow field of view from the first Vespera (similar to the Seestar with the same sensor).

[@the_space_koala]

yes I remember, I am an early adopter (I got the Stellina back in 2020). Vaonis has done some great things but I wish they would listen to users about some of the feedback - they really need to figure out flat frames for the Passengers and the Pro scope because the sensors show vignetting

[@0815mkl]

@@the_space_koala oh that's true. Also for the "live" imaging like sun or moon. Users requesting RAW images or RAW video for these modes for years now. Still nothing. I had a Stellina for review in 2021 and later the first Vespera. I bought the Vespera as it was the best smart telescope out there at the time. Vaonis is still innovating with new features, but lately it seems they are pushing too hard for their Pro model with older models not getting useful features anymore and they are missing out a lot of easy upgrades to make their userbase happy. Hopefully with dark frame calibration the next thing will be flat frames as well.

[@bamsemh1]

We can't plan 💩 with this weather 😢 still trying to get a chance to get the g3 comet, but I only gets clouds

[@the_space_koala]

Story of my life

[@markalot]

Really enjoyed the video. Can you set up the same target every hour, same rotation, and doing this "fix" field rotation since it will re-frame at the start of each target? I have the S50, and clouds :)

[@the_space_koala]

No it wouldn’t fix the rotation issue if you did that back to back, the problem is the position of your sensor that is fixed compared to the sky that is rotating

[@michaeldiaz4942]

Technically, if you enter any rotation in framing or increase the size of the mosaic, you will already counteract the field rotation effect, so no need to create a plan for that. What TSP is describing (taking images of a target over multiple nights for a limited time (like 1 hour)) you would do on the SeeStar for targets you capture in normal non-mosaic mode. And since this video is about planning, you would create the plan to shoot the same 3 non mosaic mode targets at the same times in the same order each night.

[@SpikeF14]

By rotating on the S30/S50 doesn't that make it a mosaic anyway ? Great help tho, thanks

[@the_space_koala]

Yes changing the framing in any way makes it sort of a mosaic

[@dionysos6838]

Schöner vergleich, Wundere mich dass das vespera so schwache bilder macht im vergleich.? S30 nailes it😁

[@the_space_koala]

the vespera pro uses tiny pixels which helps with the resolution but in turn needs longer integration times

[@oooknowknow6434]

So it won't work for future using, say 3 days in the future?

[@the_space_koala]

not on the Seestar - you cannot schedule for a specific date in the future in the current iteration. You can on the D3 though

[@AstroCHARLY]

Vielen Dank für das tolle Video 👍 Ich habe trotzdem die Frage ob es Ihnen auch möglich ist, grundsätzlich auch diese Audio-Simultan-Übersetzung einzufügen, wie es bei „AstroBackyard“ vorhanden ist?

[@allffrommars6019]

Das ist irgendwie per KI ...

[@the_space_koala]

I saw that on his channel and I tried to enable it on mine as well but it’s not available for my channel/country/whatever :(

[@NMHC1978]

Better wil be after chinese newyear ZWO will release a new upgrade that includes EQ Mode

[@the_space_koala]

Fingers crossed it’s coming soon!

[@ahiemstra]

So you won’t use a feature that only the Dwarf 3 has (polar alignment) “to keep it fair”, but you will use features like mosaic that the Dwarf 3 has not? Isn’t that an example of Confirmation Bias? I think to compare fairly, one should try to get the best out of all of them.

[@the_space_koala]

Polar alignment is not a “plan” related feature while the framing is. I showed PA in my Dwarf testing/review in November and I actually loved it! It makes the images much better, however image quality was not the focus of this video, but the usability of the planning mode

[@ahiemstra]

@ ok. Makes sense.

[@trabensburg]

Why would you compare 3 units when 2 of them copied from one. I don't support copycat businesses. Apparently you do... or are you just trying to get views.

[@the_space_koala]

I’ve been an early adopter of Vaonis, having purchased the Stellina back in 2020. However, it’s worth noting that Unistellar introduced the EVScope in 2017, which predates Vaonis bringing their technology to market