Photographing deep sky objects (DSOs) as well as solar viewing is now possible with a budget-friendly smart telescope.
ZWO makes the seeStar S50, selling for under $700 CAD. This is the smart telescope Mike Burns recommended at the February Club meeting.
It uses the Sony IMX462 CMOS sensor which has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (2 MP). The Seestar has an aperture of 50mm (1.97 in), a focal length of 250mm, and a focal ratio of f/5. It has built-in Bluetooth and WiFi, a battery life of approximately 6 hours.
The mount on the S50 is an altitude azimuth mount and not an EQ mount, so 10 seconds exposure works best. This mount features the ability to find and track any object in the night sky plus the Sun. Once you select the object you wish to capture, the mount will automatically point to it and keep it centered for the exposure astrophotography.
The Seestar S50 is not equipped to capture detailed images of planets, but you’ll be able to see craters on the Moon and detailed sunspots on the Sun.
Clicking this link provides great details on this smart telescope.
And, for a deeper dive into the Seestar S50 and how to use for viewing DSOs, see this youtube vide0
Tom Kimber – News