Smart telescope market and zwo seestar

The global astronomical telescope market size was valued at USD 333.6 million in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 455.9 million by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period (2021-2028).

The global astronomical telescope market is witnessing significant growth, driven by the increasing interest in astronomy, space exploration, and astrophotography. Astronomical telescopes are essential tools for observing the night sky, planets, stars, and galaxies.

Smart telescope market :

Better description should be EAA computerised telescope

Prototype BOM cost: 1700 RMB est

定價: 犧牲利潤換市佔, 售價 USD399

時機：剛巧在2024日全蝕前推出。但有點rush, 很多配件eg narrowband filter(OIII30nm, Ha20nm), solar filter ( solarlite ND5)後來補加

宣傳手法誇張失實 exaggerated propaganda，不同以往的 technical marketing , 以下此圖盡現：

相中60mm f6 full frame fov vs seestar 50mm f5 6.46mm fov telescope

相中AZGTI payload 5 kg vs seestar < 2.5 kg

內置的UV-IR filter 會 cut off 紅外端的光譜，浪費掉IMX462 的 800nm 近紅外敏感度NIR sensitivity。

相中5 bay filter wheel vs 3 bay filter box:

相中Controller SW is NOT ASI Air, with very limited functionality.

相中USB port cannot be used for external USB drive.( 50 of 64GB eMMC internal memory)

6000 mah battery

看起來好像值USD 1,600一樣

有如銷售一架單車，但放上一輛超跑相片作比較

但宣傳片視場是1/4 太陽或更小. 很多時用家看到照片出就馬上zoom大才能看清楚。bilibili

photo review, all photos are after stacking:

APO但chromatic aberration 算ok, 但總是有點 halo/flare

2.37 arcsec / pix

background noise 明顯, grayscale 一般 , 有black and white stripes

dumbbell nebula:

colour/gamma: washed out/dull. RGB中，R偏小, G偏多. 沒做 flat dark frame calibration?

actual observed by binary star, resolution is only 10~12 arcsec ( vs dawes limit of 2.32 arcsec), due to 2 internal diagonal mirrors.

Contrast is reduced due to the 2 diagonal prism mirrors, ~~just like the porro prism binoculars~~ :

Camera module(IMX462):

SAC9S-462LVDS-131650

M42:

Seestar: Focus error? Tracking error?

Redcat , ASI183

Vaonis vespera: 1.5h

Tracking accuracy

conclusion:

will be happy if you use it for EAA, but turns away serious astrophoto.

The automation takes away chance to learn the basics of setting up a telescope, polar alignment and other skills. It's arguable if this is good way to introduce beginners to Astronomy, learn and grow.

Redcat 51, ASI071, Optolong L-Enhance, 4 hours exposure:

The mobile app is pretty complete and easy-to-use for novice

Limited 10 seconds exposure max., Noticeable field rotation trails (1)

Noticeable star trails at zenith, even for 10 s

Optical test review:

No official spot diagram published, but expect to be same or worse than zwo FF65, which has a spot of 10um in center

Optics test using aberration inspector shows trefoil astig,

FWHM is 1.8 to 2.x pix average in center

Embedded UV/IR-cut filter cut short the blue spectrum.

Slight tilting.

呢個新市場係zwo最想要penetrate。其他大品牌如Celestron, Vixen, Skywatcher 等都沒有積極備戰。

對於普通人來說, 跟本沒聽過Zwo，沒有知名度。所以今次Zwo不惜成本想打入去這新市場。比起其他已有對手existing competitor 暫時是最有潛質

All in all, The market growth for such portable all-in-one "smart" products has no formidable competitor to Zwo, this market is relatively unexploited and unlimited growth.

For post procesed pictures, can look quite eye catching.

Well all magicians can pull rabbits out of the magic hat, and well versed magicians can pull more.

Aug 2024

It seems the fever has died down, the facebook group only recorded 9 new posts in 2 weeks.

Reference

Reportsanddata

YouTube

Weibo, 2

seestar owner FB

astrobin

Waloszekz vespera vs eVscope

Skiesandscopes

DIY with AZ GTi

Four smart scopes compare , Dwarf II, Seestar, Vespera, eVscope2 in one night

Interesting to find that, Vespera(f/4) can exposure at least 1.56 x faster than Seestar(f/5), disregard the FOV difference. IMHO, it's close to 2x faster

The eVscope2 has faults in tracking and battery problem, so hard to give a fair comparison against the others.

昭昭經略 dji vs zwo. Frankly speaking astrophotography is now golden age because of advances of computing, internet synergy, and AI, rather than just HW advance. And recent drone ban/size limit is suffocating this hobby.

StarGazersLounge

IG: seestar S50 vs full rig

NB filter test

internals

Install filter hack

(1) equatorial mode modd from Kai yung

CMOS sensor trends and astrophotography, from amateur astronomers perspective

Nowadays, even in low light conditions, digital camera can quality pictures with higher ISO, noise and hot pixels have been gradually reduced. Sony has introduced back illumination process for consumer market. Sony BSI sensors evolved from Exmor to now Exmor RS( stacked) technology. This stacked technology allows further chip size reduction, which has strong demands in smartphone camera market. Digital astrophotography is also benefited from such advances, utilising Back Side Illumination technology Exmor: Within the CMOS sensor, it outputs low-noise digital signals by "on-chip column AD conversion" and "dual noise reduction" to suppress noise in the first half of the process In low light conditions, when a wide aperture is desirable to collect as much light as possible. At apertures wider than f/2.0, back-illuminated Exmor R sensors are significantly more efficient at collecting light than conventional, front-illuminated sensor...

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ultrafast rendezvous to ISS

14 Oct 2020, being the first to use a new “ultrafast” rendezvous” scheme with the ISS. Following a flawless ascent to the correct orbit, Soyuz 2 .1a , Soyuz MS-17 caught up with the orbiting laboratory in only two orbits (three hours), halving the time it takes for crew to get to the Station. The three space travelers of the Soyuz MS-17 mission launched on a six-month mission the International Space Station. previous 3/4 orbit rendezvous: Soyuz MS-16 4 orbit rendezvous A three-orbit profile was deemed possible without major flight design changes after inauguration of the Soyuz 2-1A rocket that provides a much higher orbit injection accuracy than its predecessors and would allow the two correction maneuvers on Orbit #2 to be eliminated while the Automated Rendezvous Phase would still remain untouched. The deletion of the Orbit #2 maneuvers was expected to slightly tighten the already restrictive phase angle window from and upper limit of 30-35° to 25-28°...

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Scythians 斯泰基塞種西古提人

900 BC - 200 AD British museum Tomb of scythe prince, Buktarma valley, 1200 masl, Google map Herodotus 絲路上的帝國 Biblegeography 哥羅西書 3：11 在此並不分希利尼人、猶太人、受割禮的、未受割禮的、化外人、西古提人、為奴的、自主的．惟有基督是包括一切、又住在各人之內。塞種塞迦 saka 史記漢書西域傳：塞種 ctext 昔匈奴破大月氏，大月氏西君大夏，而塞王南君罽賓。塞種分散，往往為數國。自疏勒以西北，休循、捐毒之屬，皆故塞種也。匈奴列傳 Ctext ：塞王《史記》在《大宛列傳》與《匈奴列傳》中，詳細記錄了中亞至天山一帶的塞種（塞王、塞地）狀況。例如，文中記載了月氏西破走塞王，導致塞人南遷越過懸度（今帕米爾高原及克什米爾一帶） Baike Genetic history Genetics Nih griffin ? Scytho-Siberian world 塞迦 saka wiki Disappeared? Sarmatians （薩爾馬泰，奄蔡史記 , Aorsi ）and goths YouTube

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