Seestar App/Firmware

The Seestar app you downloaded is what helps you manage the Seestar and provides the tools to find, capture, and process images. The app was designed for use with a tablet, although it works fine with a phone but some menu items will be hiding off the screen.

The app’s Home screen will show your Seestar and battery level, provide a local weather forecast, offer three observation modes you can choose from, offer some observing recommendations, displays a bottom menu that includes a Home button and, among other things, an awesome Sky Atlas.

This mode really should be called DSO (Deep Sky Objects) because it is designed for exploring and capturing galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, comets, asteroids, double stars, etc.

Seestar's GoTo system automatically locates and tracks celestial objects based on your selection from the home screen suggestions or from the extensive database in the Seestar’s Sky Atlas.

Plate-solving technology ensures quick identification and centering of the target object in your field of view, while image stacking combines multiple exposures to reveal faint details and reduce noise. Light pollution and UV/IR Cut filters are automatically applied to enhance the results.

Happily, one thing that makes the Seestar so much fun is that in minutes you will begin to see objects that are simply invisible to an observer without a large telescope. In minutes you can produce an image good enough to post on social media or send to your friends.

Here's an image of the Sombrero Galaxy (M104) created in just 22 minutes of data collection (49 minutes on the clock)¹⁾

Seestar's GoTo will find the Sun, the Moon (even during the daytime), and the planets, automatically keep the target centered in the frame, as it travels across the sky. The telescope and camera can capture lunar features like craters, mountains, and valleys with 2x and 4x views, and solar active areas and sunspots.

Video recording capabilities (MP4 or AVI) allow you to use other software to collect a bunch a frames in close succession and then select the sharpest frames in the movie so you can process them later. PIPP, AstroStakkert!3, Registax and waveSharp are the weapons of choice in battle against noise in the Windows world.

ZWO’s ASIstudio software is the easiest to use and produces decent results. AstroEdit is my choice for iPhone or iPad post processing if you don’t want to spend a lot of time or money. It has special features including AI satellite removal, star reduction or removal, yet it's simple and easy to use—and its only $2.99 (iOS only so far). Lightroom and Photomator, both subscription products, are popular, too.

Siril is a very popular stacking and processing program and it's free. PixInsight is also very popular because of its extensive processes and scripts but it's very expensive. With a couple of ,must-have add0ns you will spend as much as your did to buy the Seestar. For more on image processing go here

You can safely observe and photograph the Sun's dynamic surface with Seestar's Solar Mode. The telescope's tracking system will find and follow the Sun's movement throughout the day, making it easy to capture Sunspots and other solar features in detail….it can be fun even on cloudy days.

A built-in reminder insures you install the solar filter before observing the Sun to prevent accidental damage. You won’t ruin your eyes with this scope if you leave the filter off, but you will fry the camera sensor if you don’t put it on or if you take the filter off while the scope is still pointed at the Sun. It’s easy to just yank off the filter knowing you’re going to turn the scope off, but it will still be pointed at the Sun unless you move the Seestar first.

Seestar is not good at imaging planets because of it's short focal length, but planetary mode is designed to help you enhance the visibility and details of planets by allowing you to adjust the exposure to prevent overexposure and bring out subtle details.

You can reduce the camera’s exposure so the bright planets aren’t entirely blown out (over-exposed). This image combines two images, one exposed for the surface of Jupiter and one exposed to show the four inner Galilean Moons.

The planets are tiny, thanks to Seestar short focal length, and they're very bright against a black background. You can, however, lower the exposure to prevent overexposure so you can see the stripes on Jupiter or the rings around Saturn.

To capture Jupiter's inner (Galilean) moons, you can increase the exposure until they become visible. Using GIMP, Photoshop, or other image processing software you can combine an image exposed for Jupiter with an image exposed for the Galilean moons.

Seestar isn't just for celestial wonders; it also doubles as a capable terrestrial telephoto camera. In Scenery Mode, the Seestar will track an object but you also have full manual control over the camera's direction and settings. Video and Time-lapse functionality offer some interesting ways to capture the world around you, too.

I live close to the Pacific Ocean near big Navy and Marine Corps bases and have had some fun taking pictures and videos of ships and boats. I even managed to get video of a unique unmanned robot ship launching a kite for a better electronic view over the horizon.