Seestar S30 Messier Marathon Log

M15 2025/12/8

M27 2025/12/4

M31 2025/11/21

M33 2025/12/20

M35 2025/12/8

M76 2026/1/4

M81 2026/3/20 2026/3/6 2026/12/16

M82 2026/3/20 2026/3/6 2026/12/16

M108 2026/3/21 

New equipment - the joy of visual observation

It's a reclining chair.  

Observation with my Canon IS is just fantastic!  Now, I just want darker sky.

My neighbour keeps his light on all the night, and there is also a nearby street lamp.  

Nevertheless, scanning with binoculars are simply irreplacable experience.

 

20260321 Not so good sky - M108 Seestar S30

The sky is not very clear.  I will be using the SeeStar only tonight.

The target will be M108.  

I suddenly got a thought about running a Messier Marathon myself with the S30?

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Equipment thoughts:

I will not upgrade my mount, since I won't use the 8" SCT for deep sky imaging.  

For planet imaging, my HEM15 will work with the 8" SCT.  

For deep sky observation, even my SVBony SV225 will work.  So, it's a keeper.

Maybe just sell that f/6.3 reducer and then done.

20260320 Jupiter and M81/M82/NGC3077/NGC2076

Setup the S30 for mosaic around M81, M82, NGC3077 and NGC2076.

1:37 hr of signal acquired.

One with latest AI denoise another is raw stacked.

Trying out Jupiter with my 8" SCT, collimation was off after quite some time.  

Some videos were taken at prime focus, I didn't take any after inserting the barlows.  Collimation was pretty off.

(result pending)

Focusing with the short pier is no fun at all, centering the Jupiter was not too difficult with the bigger sensor of the 533mc but I don't think it's much fun.  I am one more step closer to sell it, for visual observation a dobsonian might be better.  I don't quite like planet imaging any more.  Long focal length deep sky would require a better mount which I won't probably want.  Time to downsize?

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20260321 Followup

The collimation screws were too long, it should be 8mm but mine were 12mm, maybe that's why they couldn't hold the collimation well enough.  Order has been placed to get 10mm collimation screws since I could get exactly 8mm.  The new one has thinner thumb holder was shorter, the lens cap might be placed on after changing?

On checking my blog, I was considering adapting the NGF-CM to the ZWO EAF.  It's well worth further exploration.

Mini Observatory Project based on SeeStar S30

A small garden storage box will be used with the following dimension:

56cm * 41cm base and it is 50cm tall.

A rigid solar panel will be placed on top of it, with the following dimension:

101cm * 46cm.

It will be used to charge an old car battery.  

The battery will make the whole thing more stable, and will not be blown away easily by wind.  The SeeStar S30 will be placed on top of the battery, making it close to the cover for unblocked view.

The battery will be providing power to the SeeStar S30, as well as some minimum lighting and maybe a small ventilation fan to keep moisture out.

Will try to add mechanism to close automatically when rain is detected.  

Automatic openning is optional.

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20260319 Update

The storage box arrived and it's of good size.  

Strong and waterproof enough as it looks.

The solar panel is probably too big and heavy, I will need to find something else.

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20260320 Update

Maybe the new solar panel should be placed on top of the storage shed, the exisitng flexible panel should be moved in the front.  This combination should provide far more than enough power except winter.  I shall then use the power station more now, maybe find a way to mount a powerful kitchen ceiling lamp to save energy in the long run.

My LiFePO4 will be charged via the power station.

The older flexible panels will be installed on top of the mini-observatory, to charge a car battery continuously.   This battery will be used for charging up powerbank for the S30, as well as to power fan and some backyard light?  

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Solar panel installed:

Drill another hole on the side to let the wire goes inside:

Placed the battery and solar controller inside, need to find a way to "fix" it in a better location.  

Door closed, looked quite nice!

These two panels are relatively old.  One of them were damaged partially and the power output is reduced.  Anyway, just collect as much as sunshine as it could.  I have power banks which could be charged fully by the power station easily.

Need to find way to mount the new solar panel on top of the storage shed.

20260307 Canon 200mm f2.8 NGC 2174 Monkey Head Nebula + IC443 Jellyfish Nebula

I went back to my Canon EF 200mm f2.8 after testing my Canon FD 300mm f2.8.

I have used a Optolong Quad Band light pollution filtyer this time.  I am trying to compare it with the Antlia Quad Band.  Preliminary ideas:

1. the Antlia Quad Band should have tighter passband, you can see if even side by side, simply less light could pass through it

2. bloating stars are a side effect of (1), and thus the Optolong Quad Band gives less bloating bright stars as a result

On setting the things up, I found that I failed to focus my 200mm lens for unknown reason.  

In order to save valuable observation time, I went to use the Guidescope with the guiding camera for polar alignment.  I even used this combination to take images of the M45, the result was quite unexpected.  Seems like a monochromatic camera has a clear edge, despite it is not a cooled camera. 

60s expoure, 11 frames in total, taken with ASI462mm and the guidescope of 230mm focal length:

I aimed at M45 since I know there will be some bright stars for focusing.  Later, I found that the lens cap was not removed.  <GRIN>

Finally, I turned to NGC 2174 and IC443 for the rest of the night.  Quite busy area in the sky, quite of subexposure was affected by satellites.  Total two hours of exposure.

I then pulled out my S30 again, this time pointing at IC434 the horse head nebula.  Exposure of slightly more than an hour, pretty low in the sky, in the direction of a street light.  Field rotation pretty serious in that part of the sky.

It's never in a good position in the UK.

20260306 Equipment Testing: Canon FD300mm f2.8 on the double cluster + Seestar S30 in EQ mode

Canon FD300 f2.8 Testing:  Other than the double clusters, I have tried a number of other targets as well.  They will be used to demonstrate the lens.

EQ mode testing failed, since the Seestar failed to point at a clear patch of sky when doing the polar alignment.  It keeps resetting its WIFI for unknown reason.  I have given up and pointed it to M81 and M82 for the rest of the night.

1.5hr in total, altazimuth mode 30s subexposures.

My daughter came back and I setup my 85mm refractor on a SVBony SV225 mount for some visual observation.  I have used my Canon 10x30 IS as well.  Very fine session.

I tested a new zoom eyepiece which is better than expected.

20260304 NGC 1893 - Pillar mount connection changed - Comparing S30 and 533mc pro

I change the way the mount is connected to the pillar, should be more stable and consistent now.  That quick release bracket was removed.

Canon 200mm again, with Antlia quad band filter tonight.  The Antlia filter is creating bloating stars.

Recalibrated the guiding since it's quite erratic.

I then pulled out my Seestar S30 to point at NGC 1893 as well, the field of view is much narrower.  I shall compare them side by side later.

First up is taken by my 533mc pro, 300s exposure x 24 (two hours):

It should win hands down, better sensor, better optics and longer exposure.

Next up is taken by my Seestar 30, 30s exposure x 300 (1.5 hours):

The field of view is narrower, smaller sensor, smaller pixel, non-cooled, shorter exposures and shorter total exposure.  However, the result is still very respectable.

20260303 Long overdue clear skies (but with the near full moon)

It has been very long since the last observation.  Scottish weather is just fantastic.

Since the moon is hanging high, I have to avoid that direction.

Gemini suggested Heart and Sould Nebula with my Canon 200mm f2.8 and ASI 533mc pro.  I shall start doing polar alignment at 7:00pm and real imaging shall start at around 7:30p.

Accident: The 533mc and the guidescope/cam unscrewed itself from the EOS adapter, dropped on the ground but thank God, nothing got damage, not even a small mark.

I removed the whole thing inside home, dew formed on the light pollution filter and so it was not used in this session.

The final target was IC 1805.

I shall pull out my Seestar S30 too.  

Firmware update when the session begins, it's not unexpected after a long bad weather pause but it's certainly undesirable.

IC 1848 which is close to IC 1805 for the S30 tonight, AI denoised by the SeeStar, no other processing.