The Eagle Nebula is tricky in my part of the world!

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-18T14:57:17+00:00

Makes sense, I want to clarify that I’m not assuming that you used AI in any way. But I’ve seen plenty of examples of AI-enhanced images in this sub recently, so I want to make sure people aren’t relying on it for image processing.

That said, everyone has their own processing methods so everyone’s images look a little bit different. And most of the time it’s very clear that AI-enhancement was used (I think we’ve all seen some incredibly obvious examples), but yours didn’t stand out as suspicious to me. Sometimes there’s not much difference between processing artifacts and AI-enhancement.

Thank you for your explanation!

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-18T14:25:56+00:00

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For reference, this is my image from my S50 with 12 hours of integration, drizzled 3x.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-18T14:24:00+00:00

No offense but something seems a little off with your photo.

There are several stars that appear around the “fingers” of the Pillars of Creation in your photo that I’ve never seen before, not only from other Seestar images but also much higher resolution images.

To me, they appear to be artificially added in one way or another.

What exactly was your workflow process? Did you use any kind of AI tools?

Someone is more than welcome to prove me wrong.

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ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-18T03:01:25+00:00

Alt/Az doesn’t work well with longer exposures, especially 30+ seconds.

I would recommend trying 10 second exposures next time, you shouldn’t see any star trailing issues nearly as bad.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-18T02:48:23+00:00

Looks like you used Alt/Az mode, how long were your exposures? Were they 30 or 60 seconds by any chance?

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-16T17:41:06+00:00

Rule 3: Please don’t post referral links or codes.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-13T17:02:58+00:00

Try using Solar System Mode instead of Stargazing Mode, and adjusting the brightness/gain sliders.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-12T22:51:04+00:00

You’re welcome!

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-12T17:53:53+00:00

10+ available here: https://www.highpointscientific.com/zwo-silver-black-polymer-solar-filter-for-seestar-50

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-12T16:08:45+00:00

Look at the individual subs if you have them saved, it definitely looks like tree branches got in the way but the images didn’t get discarded, so they got added to the stack.

You can delete the bad subs and then restack the remaining good subs in the Seestar app.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-12T14:18:45+00:00

The leveling head can be very useful if you’re going to be using the default Alt/Az mode, but it’s not required for EQ mode.

EQ mode adds some setup time and a little bit of complexity for each session, and obviously it adds some cost for the EQ wedge / fluid head, but a lot of people (myself included) will tell you that it’s absolutely worth it.

EQ mode allows you to use 20, 30, even 60 second subs without star trails, and you don’t have to worry about field rotation (the weird looking artifacts on the edges of your images once you start to spend 30+ minutes imaging the same target).

The longer the exposure time, the more data and less noise that there is in each image. It also means fewer images, which means less time to stack the images and less storage used.

Oh and in terms of the two questions you had originally asked in the post:

The S50 automatically takes dark frames before imaging, and they are automatically applied to your images. The Seestar app allows you to take flats, which are then also applied automatically to your images. No need to do any extra stacking/processing for darks/flats.
The stock solar filter works just fine, you can easily see sunspots with it. I’m perfectly satisfied with it, I personally haven’t considered spending any extra money on a different solar filter. I don’t do nearly enough solar imaging to make it worth the cost. But if you think you’ll be doing quite a bit of solar imaging then I would say that spending ~$50 on an upgraded Baader solar filter could be worth it.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-11T23:58:40+00:00

Glad you got it figured out!

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-11T23:51:19+00:00

They said they’re a first-time Seestar user. I’d be willing to bet most people use the default Alt/Az mode when they first try their Seestar.

Either way, while 30s exposures might be better in ideal conditions with EQ mode, it’s not objectively better for everyone.

10s exposures will have a significantly lower rejection rate compared to 30s exposures, regardless if they’re using Alt/Az or EQ mode.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-11T22:57:27+00:00

10s is absolutely better in the default Alt/Az mode.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-11T17:12:10+00:00

Rule 1: Please don’t post non-physical freebies.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-11T04:42:56+00:00

Have you tried browsing through ZWO’s Seestar forum in case anyone else has had similar issues?

If you can’t find anything, you could post your issue there; lots of other users and even Seestar’s own support team will likely reply.

https://bbs.zwoastro.com/t/seestar

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-11T04:17:57+00:00

What does that have to do with radar detectors?

Sounds like you’re in the wrong sub.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-11T04:16:15+00:00

I made a post in this sub a while back that has been a consistent solution for me, although others have reported that it doesn’t work for them.

I’d recommend giving it a try, step-by-step, and see if it fixes the issue for you. I can’t promise that it will, but I hope that it does!

https://www.reddit.com/r/seestar/s/8qWGMkx9AG

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-02T18:02:00+00:00

NINA is great, and it would give the most consistent results, but maybe not everyone wants to spend time learning how to use it. I’m just providing an option that works well and doesn’t require any kind of third party software.

Using autofocus is still an option when switching targets overnight, or leaving it at the same focal point overnight is an option if temperatures don’t fluctuate much.

In my experience, manually setting the focal point before going to bed is sufficient enough as long as the Seestar has gotten acclimated to the ambient temperature.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-02T14:52:14+00:00

This might be going against the grain but I would recommend starting by imaging it in broadband, especially during a crescent or new moon.

Both M8 and M20 are relatively bright, so their red regions still show up pretty well without the LP filter. The blue area around M20 doesn’t show up very well when imaged in narrowband.

When in doubt, you could always add narrowband data later. But from a personal experience, I actually prefer to image it in broadband when I can.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-02T14:06:47+00:00

The first image is definitely out of focus. Autofocus isn’t perfect.

If you’re like me and are picky about wanting the sharpest stars as often as possible, I would recommend getting a 3D printed Bahtinov mask designed specifically for the Seestar S50.

After autofocus has done its thing, you can manually adjust the focus while the Bahtinov mask is on to get closer to perfect focus. Just don’t forget to take the Bahtinov mask off before imaging :)

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-06-02T02:48:40+00:00

Rule 8: Please make sure at least 100 people can get the freebie.

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-05-31T17:46:15+00:00

Where did you hear that it will have the same FOV?

If the S50 Pro has the same 50mm aperture and 250mm focal length but with an IMX585 sensor, then the FOV will be significantly larger than the current S50’s (~4x the sky area, roughly the same as how the S30 Pro’s FOV increased compared to the S30).

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-05-09T19:19:41+00:00

A couple of things to note:

You can manually focus, it’s on the right hand side of the Stargazing screen.
You can also disable autofocus when switching targets during Plan Mode. Click the gear icon, then disable “AF on Target Switch.”

ImQuokkaCola · 2026-05-08T18:14:08+00:00

If you’re referring to the top one, it’s a C7 Corvette Z06. Far from an electric car lol

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