ZWO Seestar S50/S30 Smart Telescopes

Recently, at our April 2024 meeting, FAS member Dr. Bill Rankin gave a most interesting talk about the ZWO Seestar S50 telescope.

Two days after Bill’s talk, the folks at BBC Sky at Night Magazine published a review of the Seestar S50. It is getting a lot of hype lately. So, we thought it would be appropriate to post something on the FAS website about this telescope with some information and a few reviews found online.

Here are a few images from Bill’s Seestar S50 (Credit: Dr. William Rankin). The S50 comes with a solar filter. FAS member Betty Allison took a couple images of the April 8th solar eclipse with her Seestar S50 (Credit: Betty Allison).

FAS member Bruce Gavett also took a few images with his new Seestar S50. (Credit: Bruce Gavett).

The easiest target was the Moon, highlighted by the August 2024 blue supermoon. Note how clear you can see the rays coming from Tyco. And Copernicus is easy to find near the center.

Open star clusters can be found and imaged in even light polluted areas with only a short (3 minute or so) set of exposures. A longer exposure time brings out more of the adjacent stars.

Globular clusters were the same – led, of course, by the Hercules cluster (M13) and M15 in Pegasus. However, a longer exposure time does bring out more details.

Planetary Nebula are easy targets, although the Helix nebula required a much longer set of exposures. Supernovae remnants are a bit more difficult and also require a longer series of exposures, but the Veil nebula, in particular, is worth the effort.

Emission nebulae are a bit more challenging, particularly from a light polluted area, but can be viewed using longer sets of exposures and the dual band filter. Larger nebula such as the North American and California nebulae are even more challenging.

Galaxies are the most difficult. Light pollution does limit what you can see. Therefore, a dark location is best.

Just recently (October 2024), ZWO added a “mosaic“ mode. This allows one to take images that are offset from the previous vertical only orientation or to expand the view to capture wider field objects.

In November 2024, ZWO launched the Seestar S30 – a smaller version of the Seestar S50.

For more on astrophotography including other “smart” telescope options, see our Astrophotography Page. You can also find a summary of the different types of deep-sky objects on our website.

Please note that FAS does not necessarily endorse or recommend this or any other specific telescope or accessory. We simply provide information that might be interesting and useful for the public.