{"id":11793,"date":"2024-07-02T07:09:42","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T11:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fas37.org\/wp\/?p=11793"},"modified":"2026-07-13T02:02:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:02:05","slug":"zwo-seestar-s50-telescope","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fas37.org\/wp\/zwo-seestar-s50-telescope\/","title":{"rendered":"ZWO Seestar Smart Telescopes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Image credits: Bill Rankin, Bruce Gavett, and Joe Haberthier<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FAS member Dr. Bill Rankin gave a most interesting talk<\/a> at our April 2024 meeting about the ZWO Seestar S50 smart telescope<\/a>. Since then, several FAS members have purchased a Seestar S50 and the club now has a ZWO Seestar S30<\/a> at its observatory. ZWO has also introduced the Seestar S30 Pro<\/a> see our recent post about the Seestar S30 Pro<\/a>). There is a rumor that ZWO will discontinue the S50 and replace it with an S50 Pro sometime in late 2026 or early 2027. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Seestars are one of several smart telescopes<\/a> that bring astrophotography to the average amateur astronomer. These telescopes take care of most of the complications (and expense) of traditional astrophotography by providing everything in a single bundle for a very low price ($400 to $700). Within a few minutes you can set up a Seestar and begin imaging the night sky. Rather than using an eyepiece, everything is viewed through the Seestar App. You can see your image come to life as the Seestar takes and stacks individual frames. When you are finished, you simply download the final image for further viewing. You can also re-stack your subs and process your final image within the Seestar app or offload the individual frames for further processing using 3rd party software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ZWO has added an (EQ) Equatorial Mode<\/a>, although for this, you will need the Seestar TH10 Hydraulic Tripod Head<\/a> or something similar<\/a>. The Seestars also have a Mosaic mode<\/a>, where you can capture more of the night sky than within the normal field of view. ZWO has recently improved its post processing tools with AI Enhance<\/a>. The various Seestar models have widely different fields of view<\/a>, which means your target object will appear smaller (wide field of view) or larger (narrow field of view). You can compensate for this by resizing and cropping your image during your post processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Seestar S30 Pro. M8 & M20<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Seestar S30. M8 and M20<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Seestar S30 Pro. NGC 6888<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Seestar S50. NGC 6888<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

For comparisons, Dwarf Labs<\/a> offers two alternatives to the Seestar S30 and S50; The Dwarf 3<\/a> and Dwarf Mini<\/a> smart telescopes. Some of our members feel that Dwarf Labs has better processing tools than ZWO (Seestars). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019re thinking about purchasing a Seestar, go here.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Seestar S50<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Seestar S30<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Seestar S30 Pro<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n