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Comments (55)

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  nameless912
  I've been slowly (slowly....) working on an open source version of what the Seestar provides - a 3D printable shell, easily sourced mechanics and optics, open source electronics (3D printer controller boards are fabulous here). I love the idea of smart telescopes, but I also hope and believe that someday we'll have an open source equivalent to the easy entrypoint of, say, the S30.Maybe I'm being too much of a purist because late model smart telescopes now allow you to grab the raw FITS files so the relative value of a fully open ecosystem is lower, but I'm trying to build towards the motivated teenager segment: someone who maybe has a Seestar or has seen one, and wants to have that experience, but wants to own it themselves and actually understand what's happening. I have the mechanics mostly working in Alt-Az mode, EQ mode is currently accomplished using a hinged plywood board fashioned into the world's shittiest polar alignment wedge, and now I'm working on figuring out how/where to source good enough optics. I have already learned a whack-ton designing the thing, and I hope that in the future the build will be interesting and informative enough for others to get a bunch of experience in Astrophotography for very little money.You can buy the sensors used in a lot of these telescopes for <50USD on Aliexpress, the drive mechanics and electronics are ~80, and then all you should need (hopefully) is a cheapo Raspberry Pi 3 or equivalent, putting the total BOM at under 200 bucks. I'm hoping that by early next year I'll have something presentable and we can start building an open source ecosystem to compete with these very impressive but very heavily integrated instruments.
• HelloUsername
  If I understand correctly, this is only used for astrophotography? You can't actually view through it with your bare eyes? That, to me, was the main reason to buy a reflector/refractor telescope; to receive the actual light of a planet (okay actually the suns light bouncing off the planet) bouncing through a bunch of mirrors, lenses and eyepieces back into your own eyes. The first time finding and seeing Saturn and Jupiter with my own eyes was amazing.
• cuasijoe
  I have a high-end rig and this one. I use this one way more frequently due to the simplicity of the setup. You are capturing light in no time and it does not weight a ton. As long as you are conscious about its limitations, it’s a fun gizmo if you like astronomy or enjoy astrophotography.
• pu_pe
  I'm glad to hear Claude enjoyed it.
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  zokier
  > The telescope works out where it is, finds the target, tracks it and starts collecting images. A few minutes later, something appears on the screen that clearly is the nebula, galaxy or star cluster you selected. And importantly: it is your image.Idk, to me this feels like I'd be so removed from the entire process that it doesn't feel like it is my image anymore.Somewhat poor analogy, but these smart telescopes feel similar to bringing in CNC center for someone enjoying woodworking. Sure, it might be very efficient in manufacturing the end result and it is kinda neat that there are cheap options from china available. But it also removes the whole enjoyment of the craft, working with hand tools and what not.
• throw0101d
  Ed Ting recently had a good video "Let's Overreact!! Smart Scopes Take Over? Chinese Products are the Best? Astronomy is Dead!?":* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYJwgEwxG-UIf you want to get into astronomy, he has a few good beginner advice videos:* 101 books/binoculars/telescopes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IlmekWsEAQ* some more books: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhbAEx2le7o
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  dmarcos
  I have a Dwarflab DWARF 3 (also mentioned in the post) that I highly recommend. It’s one of those gadgets that ended up using more than expected when I bought it. I toss it in my luggage and I got to capture really nice sky pictures with little effort (Marfa TX, Patagonia, latest total solar eclipse in Spain)
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  poulpy123
  That's weird, I'm following only 4 or 5 amateur astronomy youtube channels but they all published at least one video of the exact telescope over the last days
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  zelos
  There is something fundamentally different about actually looking at Jupiter... The image might be faint, imperfect ... But it is live.The astrophotography/live viewing split in astronomy is interesting. For me, the whole reason I do backyard astronomy is to find the objects myself and observe directly, to the point where even using an app like Stellarium feels a bit like cheating.
• _joel
  Can confirm, they're a lot of fun. Especially for the person who wants minimal setup fuss and just to snap some pictures of the heavens.
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  exhilaration
  So like others in this thread, I bought a used telescope, a 8" Dobsonian in my case, and it's absolutely massive, like 5 feet tall. Totally different than this SeeStar. And I don't see things like the photos in this article through my telescope. Those nebulas? No way.So I have to ask - am I getting a more "genuine" viewing experiencing? Are stacking and perhaps AI enhancements reflecting the real night sky? Or is SeeStar/iPhone/Pixel output drifting more towards generative art?
• benmorris
  I already knew what telescope this was before I clicked the link. I've had one for a few years now. It's an awesome tool that has improved over time. You can leave it out all night now if you want and program a schedule.
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  adfr
  Author here, thanks for sharing my post =)
• anon
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  Tepix
  > At a few hundred euros, I am no longer asking whether a smart telescope can replace a serious visual telescopeWell, I bought a used 8 inch (203mm) telescope for 500€ a few years ago. Used telescopes can be very cheap.
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  0xcafecafe
  If you are buying think through whether you want a wider field of view (S30 series) or more details (S50 series). S30 might be a better bet for amateur viewing.
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  appleappleapple
  I hate that the LLM era has turned me into a detective every time I read a piece of writing but… this prose is very AI-speak, no?
• relevant_stats
  I'm really sick of LLM writing.
• gedy
  Nice post, and the only sort of 'advertising' that works for me, ha.They are out of stock unfortunately, though perhaps the pro is worth the higher price.
• dinosaur0001
  Now I gotta go buy one