One Smart Telescope, Four Worlds: Milky Way, Solar & Deep Sky & Scenery with the Seestar S50 Pro
The Seestar S50 Pro reviewed by astrophotographer Jason Marriott
When I first heard of this telescope and looked at the specs, I’ll admit I wasn’t initially excited but after using it for some time, I’m absolutely hooked. Read on to discover how I came to absolutely love this telescope.
Milky Way Mode: Can a Smart Telescope Capture it?
One of the new features of the S50 Pro is the addition of a wide-angle lens (identical to the S30 Pro). This feature is super simple to use! In alt/az mode all you need to do is a compass calibration and level the telescope then you pick your framing/exposure time in the sky atlas. On a recent trip to a dark sky (Bortle 2) location I put the new S50 Pro to work and did some serious testing. Being the current owner of a S30pro comes at a great benefit as you can leverage the wide-angle lens of each scope to combine data! The sensor is the same for each telescope (IMX586). The picture below was captured with combined data totaling 324 minutes or 5.4Hours. I tracked the sky using equatorial mode and shot the foreground separately during blue hour using star trail mode and edited in PixInsight then blended both exposures in photoshop.
Seestar S50 Pro - Milky Way Mode - Bortle 2 - 324 minutes
Examples of other wide angle photos I’ve taken with my S30 Pro
Seestar S30 Pro - Orion constellation from Bortle 5 28.5 minutes(EQ mode).
Seestar S30 Pro - 180 Panorama using 30s exposures from Bortle 2 (alt/az mode)
Now all these photos are edited using PixInsight and Photoshop so I’ll share some “straight out of Seestar” results you can expect without any processing skills or knowledge.
(live stack) of 10x60s exposures tracked in EQ mode from Bortle 2. If you use Alt\az mode you can “freeze ground” to keep the foreground still.
One single 30s exposure tracked in EQ mode from Bortle 4. (that’s me!)
(live stack)Cygnus Milkyway 110x60s EQ mode from Bortle 4.
You may notice how I use EQ for most shots this is mainly to eliminate field rotation. I highly recommend upgrading to this setup but for casual observing the default alt/az mode works great too especially for short sessions.
Deep Sky Mode: Putting the S50 Pro to the Test
That first milkway photo I shared at the beginning of the article was captured at the same time I shot both the Lagoon and Trifid Nebula! The Seestar can simultaneously shoot with both lenses. Meaning you’ll get the most out of a dark sky trip. For this example, I will share the live stacked image vs the new A.I. enhanced edit (non-generative!) vs PixInsight/Photoshop.
Would you like to capture a photo like this in about two hours?
The upgraded sensor allows for just that, super clean 4k resolution images with a lot of signal and low noise. The corrected optics (quadruplet apo) also allow for sharp stars from corner to corner. There is also upgraded tracking mechanics that help eliminate backlash which will also help improve image quality and much less dropped frames.
Real world performance
Not everyone has access to a dark sky location so what’s it like shooting from light polluted skies? Not to worry I tested that too! My backyard is in a Bortle 7 zone meaning that the sky is so bright that the Milky Way is completely invisible to the naked eye. This is where the Light Pollution filter really shines. I set my target to the western half of the Veil Nebula and took 410 minutes’ worth of 60 second exposures over two nights. I think the results speak for themselves!
Solar Imaging Test — Tracking the Sun with Ease
What better way to test the solar capabilities than a transit of the Internation Space Station? Setting up is super simple and takes only a few minutes! After calibration steps the Seestar found the Sun right away and I started taking a video while directly in the path of the ISS. This is a photo created from extracting the frames from the video and layered together in photoshop. Look at those sunspots! (Never look directly at the sun without certified eye protection.)
Scenery Mode — Not Just for Astronomy
Clouds got you down? Enter into scenery mode and get creative! You can take a time-lapse of a thunderstorm, take photos and videos of animals in a national park or maybe even shoot a rainbow!
What else should you know about the new Seestar S50Pro?
Let’s talk about battery life. For me testing in the summer here in Utah I don’t have any need to run the dew heater and so the battery lasts all night with extra to spare. Under ideal conditions ZWO states nine hours of normal stacking operation is possible. If you plan to shoot during the long cold winter months a battery pack is probably still a good idea. One cool thing I noticed with this new design was an accessible internal battery via the four screws on the bottom. Great if you ever need to replace it or another use would be to remove the battery in case you want to fly and do not want to take it on carry-on luggage (you would just need to keep the battery with you!).
Another great feature about the included tripod is the ability for the legs to lie flat. This would enable you to more readily use it for EQ mode with whatever wedge you choose.
What impressed me the most?
In EQ mode the Seestar S50Pro tracks using 60 seconds extremely well!
Finals thoughts
Whether or not you’re an experienced astrophotographer or have never touched a telescope before you can create beautiful photos of the night sky right out of the box without any prior knowledge (there’s plenty of helpful tutorials in the app)! I know a lot of you reading this are eagerly waiting on an “S70” but this is a great smart telescope and worthy addition to the Seestar lineup at ZWO.
Any downsides?
While testing I had my fair share of software bugs, however the folks at ZWO are super responsive to resolving these and I have full confidence the vast majority of them will be fixed before release. I’ll note that none of these bugs prevented me from shooting on any given night.
Clear skies！
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