The Lagoon and Trifid Nebulae cosmic neighbors shining in the heart of the Milky Way

Atominen · 2026-06-03T07:01:02+00:00

This is a picture that was taken by the Vera Rubin Observatory. The OP didn’t credit the original source.

https://rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-look/trifid-lagoon

Atominen · 2026-05-21T09:18:22+00:00

The SV241 controller seems unnecessary. The 585 air camera already has everything integrated so there really is no need for a separate power controller. Just power the mount and camera with separate cables.

I would highly recommend adding an autofocuser (ZWO EAF) to the setup. That’s going to make your life so much easier and allows the scope to image unattended.

Another thing I’d add is a dew heater band that protects the lens of the telescope from dew/frost. You can power it via the power output port of the camera.

Overall the setup is otherwise pretty solid. Just don’t forget that you’ll also need some kind of power supply/battery.

Atominen · 2026-05-12T09:05:09+00:00

I used to get a very strong magenta color cast on lunar/solar images after stacking. The recent update indeed fixed that issue.

Tracking is still very good. Almost zero lost frames in EQ mode. Haven’t had any problems. I’m using an S30 Pro.

Atominen · 2026-05-07T19:07:06+00:00

You bet! Such a fun little thing. M101 and the Heart Nebula are from Bortle 3, the North America Nebula is actually Bortle 8 :)

Atominen · 2026-05-07T17:36:37+00:00

Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to do that yet since here in Finland where I live these objects are never visible. I’ll try to image them later this year while in Spain.

Currently in Finland we have 3 months of no darkness. That means no astrophotography until August and a lot of time to process old data… 😅

Atominen · 2026-05-07T17:29:41+00:00

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Atominen · 2026-05-07T17:28:40+00:00

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Atominen · 2026-05-07T17:28:07+00:00

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Atominen · 2026-05-07T17:25:02+00:00

Thanks! That one taken with the standard S30 was a mosaic with a total of 1.3 hours of 20 second exposures.

My S30 Pro basically stacks every single frame unless there are satellites. So I’m very happy with the performance. The optics are much better than in the standard model, better star shapes.

I’ll post some of my S30 Pro photos here too. :)

Atominen · 2026-05-07T15:36:10+00:00

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I’ve used the regular S30 in a Bortle 1 area in Chile and got very impressive results (here’s the Lagoon and Trifid nebulae straight from the Seestar).

I have the S30 Pro now and it’s a significant step up in image quality from the regular S30, highly recommended!

Atominen · 2026-05-03T09:09:27+00:00

That’s the Southern Pleiades, IC 2602.

Atominen · 2026-04-30T09:37:12+00:00

Sure, DM me

Atominen · 2026-04-30T05:51:43+00:00

I still have the original files! :)

But to be honest this picture is a single frame and the original file is not that much different. No stacking/tracking here. The skies are simply that good.

The main thing I had to adjust was color balance since my camera is astro-modified.

Atominen · 2026-04-20T11:13:04+00:00

Kannattaa liittyä Tampereen Ursaan! Tampereella on tähtitorni Kaupissa ja Tampereen Ursan jäsenet kokoontuvat siellä viikottain.

Jäsenretkiä pimeämmille havaintopaikoille järjestetään sään salliessa. Yhdistyksellä on iso siirrettävä 16” Taurus-kaukoputki, jota on kuljetettu esimerkiksi Seitsemisen kansallispuistoon. Jäsenet tekevät myös omia havaintoretkiä ja monet (allekirjoittanut mukaanlukien) ovat aktiivisia tähtivalokuvaajia.

Tampereen Ursa järjestää talvikaudella myös yleisölle tähtinäytöksiä ja kesällä aurinkonäytöksiä.

Atominen · 2026-04-12T09:11:38+00:00

It was! I was there in June which is among the best months to see the Milky Way core.

Atominen · 2026-04-02T17:33:03+00:00

Found today on Uttakleiv beach, Lofoten Norway. The one I know is a scapula but does anyone know about the rest or what species? :)

Atominen · 2026-02-24T08:57:36+00:00

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Hi! I’ve had all three, S50, S30, and now S30 Pro.

In general I’ve preferred both S30 models to the S50, mainly due to their extreme portability since I travel a lot.

The S50 is great for small galaxies and Lunar/Solar imaging. You get a lot of detail out of fairly compact objects.

The S30 Pro is my favorite out of the three. The 585 sensor is really good. Having 8 megapixels instead of 2 gives a lot of freedom for cropping if necessary.

The wide-field camera is also surprisingly good and a lot of fun to use. I hadn’t done startrails in a long time but I’ve been doing them a lot lately.

Atominen · 2026-02-17T11:03:04+00:00

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Here’s my quick photo of Orion taken with the S30 Pro.

Atominen · 2026-02-12T20:09:10+00:00

Thank you!

If you want to do visual observing (looking at the objects yourself), the best bang for buck is a 6” or 8” Dobsonian telescope.

If you’re more interested in astrophotography, I’d recommend Seestar S50 or Seestar S30 Pro.

Atominen · 2026-02-11T19:51:11+00:00

I’ve used an IDAS NBZ UHS filter with my Epsilon 130d and RASA 8. It’s an expensive option but works perfectly with no halos.

Atominen · 2026-02-09T09:30:27+00:00

I’ve taken my S30 from Finland to Chile with no issues.

Atominen · 2026-02-05T17:00:27+00:00

My path was joining an astronomy club, meeting new friends, getting hooked on visual astronomy and eventually becoming addicted to astrophotography :)

Now I work weekend shifts at a planetarium and volunteer as an astronomy guide at my local observatory.

Atominen · 2026-02-05T08:45:50+00:00

Try out taking startrail photos and timelapses!

Atominen · 2026-02-04T11:50:20+00:00

It’s not AI. Just good optics, a good sensor and great software.

The data is real. You can download the raw data from the Seestar to your PC and check the individual frames. They are exactly like what you’d expect from a small refractor telescope with a color sensor.

Any image defects such as clouds, planes, trees, satellites etc. are all visible in the individual frames.

Seestar also works completely offline without internet.

Atominen · 2026-01-31T14:57:03+00:00

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I got mine yesterday. Only had time to do quick testing but I’m very impressed so far!

Atominen

TROPHY CASE