Unistellar Store Linke: tidd.ly/4i7ZlZB Unistellar loaned me this telescope for this video, and If you're really interested in one of these I have a helpful link to their store (which gets me commission in return). And for the next week or the Black Friday sale is running, giving everyone a 20% discount! AND.... for channel viewers there's a special code that'll get you the Solar Filter for the Odyssey series for free, the filter is essential if you are interested in viewing sunspots or with the telescope. * add an Odyssey/Odyssey Pro and the 'Smart Solar Filter' to the shopping cart and use the code 'scott1124' during the checkout to get the filter for free. So - here's the link for those of you in a buying mood: *** tidd.ly/4i7ZlZB **** The Black Friday Sale runs until December 2nd, after that the discount is gone and the bonus code won't work.
this thing is WAY more expensive than the big newtonian that I own XD . . . but those elecrtonics aint cheap all things concidered this would be Very expensive gift for any kid in my country that most wouldn't afford . . . but it's not like that whith higher wages like you have in the us . . .
I believe that to be an accomplished man one should have a good quality pair of leather shoes, a well made mechanical watch, a library and a telescope. He should also have a globe and fountain pen in his library.
$3200 telescope that ceases to work when the company goes out of business and stops keeping the mobile apps updated... If they made it clear that the protocol for interacting with it was open and published the documentation for it, allowing open source devs to pick up the slack if the company does go out of business, that's a different story. But I'm not finding anything on the subject on their site. Even a commitment to publish the protocol and open-source the app if they go out of business would help, though I'm not sure that would be enough if going out of business involves getting bought up by private equity... So, wake me when they open the protocol, I'd kinda like a good digital scope.
@@JohnSmith-x3y8h they have a good point, why should someone who spent 3.2k on a digital scope and have to worry about it turning into a brick when the company dies and having to turn to the community to fix that issue?
I'm an amature astrophotographer and it is one of the most frustrating but rewarding hobbies I have ever endeavored. It is truly amazing to go to process your image and see the beauty of space that YOU capture with your own equipment. It is incredibly rewarding and awesome
Indeed, and while the Unistellar hardware does its own image processing you can download the raw data from the telescope and apply your own processing to the image stack. The data saved on my phone also has high resolution pixel depths.
@@scottmanley This was actually a really important detail I think I missed from the video! The whole time I was thinking "I hope this allows me to access the raw data too". Makes a big difference for retired astrophoto nerds who want to occasionally dabble but sometimes just want the dopamine hit experience.
How can we be sure this isn't manipulated, like the controversy around Samsung's moon photos? It would be great to understand how the telescope captures and processes the images!
@@scottmanley Thanks for the explanation! It's reassuring to know that raw images are accessible for independent processing. That definitely adds credibility. How was your experience with the comet and terrestrial objects? Did the telescope handle the details well?
This is a cool telescope. However, personally I'd say there's a certain chDm to seeing things (however dim) with your own eyes through an optical system. It's as close as most of us will probably get to seeing the stars/planets etc with our own eyes.
If classical astrophotography is like cooking your own meal, and google images is like a gourmet restaurant, I would consider this to be a microwave dinner. You hit one button and with minimal effort you get something that (to be honest) is not that impressive. Plus for the same money you could have gone out and bought some gourmet ingredients and cooked a really nice meal. I don't take issue with anyone who is new to the hobby and I certainly don't expect people to take amazing pictures their first try, but what you have purchased offers no room for improvement, learning, or growth. You will always have that same microwave experience, and you won't be able to make it any better. I also take issue with people who claim their microwave dinners are better than homecooked meals by amateur chefs because they only needed to press one button. That's just my two cents
@@scottmanley The quality of these images are, usually, not up to par with lower cost solutions using better optics and camera's though. For this amount of money I can buy a very nice setup. This is simply a nice, simple solution for bright DSO objects and ok-ish data, the ease of use is the selling point, not the quality.
Except that it can save the individual raw images, which you can then download onto your PC and process them yourself. So nope, no sneaky sleight of hand stuff going on.
@@richlo8887 'High' range (they go for more): $10,000 Astro rig Low range: $600 seestar Idk what to tell you man, it's an expensive hobby, it's not for everyone.
I appreciate the simplification of the hobby for the masses. If it gets more folks into space I’m all for it. I still do the take my own pictures and self process because I enjoy the process of it. And well, I have all the gear 😊
I'm relatively new to AP but the problem was never complexity, it's always expense, you can get ok scopes for 200$ but the mounts are just all priced at a premium.
Who is this product even for? Its a 3.2k$ device so begainers were out of that equation 3k$ ago, and anyone with that much money has so many other options its insane. Not to mention what happens to the scopes when the company goes under or the software loses support. The pro has a 85mm mirror which is pretty pathetic even a orion observer for 200$ has a 114mm and my homemade refractor has a 127mm aperture yes their focal ratio is a little longer at 4.5 and 5.3 respectivly but the point is the "magic" isnt in the optics so surly this could have been sold as a eyepiece to slot into any scope and maybe a mount or better yet compatable with existing mounts.
The magic is the integration of the imager, the telescope mount and image processing capability. That's all wrapped up in a single solution. This is an appliance, not an integration exercise of mechanical systems, telescope optics, planetarium program and image processing software suite.
I did a Astro photo class in college we had a night shot at Stony ridge telescope a 28” Newtonian our target was Orion shooting 4x5 B&W 400 asa film I got a great shot my film was the best shot of the night. Stony ridge was one of the locations referred to in the book Lucifer’s Hammer. One can really appreciate what the early astronomers did standing in the cold up 20’ in the air at on a home shop made Elevators guiding their photographs.
The improvements in inexpensive sensors and lenses over the last 10-15 years has been pretty amazing.... combine this with improvements in the software used for image processing and it's a win-win for amateurs everywhere.
For the money, the ZWO Seestar S50 is a much better bargain at about 1/5th the price (aperture is only 50mm vs 83mm, but the software is excellent, and it's delightfully compact). (Assuming this comment is fine to make because this video isn't declared as an ad)
I second this. The nice part about it: people already figured out how to talk to the telescope without the app. So even if they ever disappear, there's at least a chance the telescope doesn't become paperweight. Not sure if this also applies to the Odyssey Pro
@@scottmanley I wouldn't say the see stars a copy at all it uses a triplett telescope mount aimed at a completely different price point down to 450 usd
Years ago, I was staying the night at Fossil Falls on Hwy. 395, heading to the Sierra's, and a group from UCLA were in the next campsite setting up telescopes for photography because dry desert air and no planes near China Lake. They invited me to view and it was amazing.
Beginners should buy a Dobsonian for 1/8 the price. Or binoculars. EV scope has almost no upsides, except aligns itself in the sky, so you will never learn to find your way there yourself. And it is not the best smart telescope. It is definitely the most expensive one. Nice ad tho.
im in the middle of 3d printing my own harmonic drive mounts and use OnStep for the controller to attempt astrophotography. TONS of work but like you said if I can pull this off and get results I will be so extatic. At the same time I am thinking about getting a newer smart telescope for my kids and when I don't feel like setting up my rig. Great video!
Something like this would be cool for the parents to get their kids who are just getting genuinely interested in space. They're curious and seeking more info, but don't have the best patience. Being able to set this up and then view high quality images in just a few minutes, maybe even from the comfort of a warm car on a cold night is beneficial. The kids, who likely have a short attention span, can't wait the hours post processing would take. Getting a more immediate satisfaction out of it keeps them interested longer. Maybe even long enough to graduate into something more advanced. That being said (typed?) though, the price is a little scary. If it were maybe in the $500 to $800 range that would be better. It still looks like a telescope and you get the advantage of the eyepiece still, so it has the advantage over the ZDO options in my book.
I still rock my homemade pvc telescope with 10 bucks worth of lenses in it. The rest is cardboard and glue. I have even got a solar filter for it and it’s actually good enough to see sunspots. I can make it work with my phone camera so there, it’s even digital
I love your rocket videos together with Eager Space and Marcus House. Eager Space supplement your videos with his calculations and Marcus House supplement with the journalism point of view. Thanks to all of you.
That is frackin’ awesome. I have been looking to get back into amateur astro. The demise of Orion was certainly a blow to those aspirations. I will definitely be checking out digital scope options.
Very cool! Here at the observatory in Middelburg (The Netherlands) you can visit every Friday-night and observe through one of their telescopes outside. For free! It's about 2-3 times the size of this one I believe. They also offer workshops for kids teaching them about astronomy.
12:31 Something I've been wondering is if a bunch of digital imaging telescopes like this could be networked together to look for asteroids and Kuiper belt objects by stellar occlusion, and plot their trajectories with some kind of automated tracking system to calculate the gravity fields of the outer solar system, both to survey these objects themselves because a lot are still undiscovered, and to try to narrow down the search space for Planet X based on its gravitational influence on smaller bodies.
I remember having to drive 50-100 miles from my home in Western Washington State to get "acceptable views" with my 6"×24" refractive telescope (heavy light polution), until it was stolen when I had a "bathroom break" at one of my viewing sites 10 years ago...
Hanging with telescope about 10 years ago was one the most fun I have as an adult, childhood fun I mean. This doesn’t look that much fun. Later, in some years I will just buy huge ass dob
Might as well make an app for a phone that recognizes the constellations you're looking at and downloads some properly high-res pictures from made by the really big telescopes.
Hmm, I reckon the digitally-driven mount trumps the Meade telescope as much as the image-stacking. I've got a couple of telescopes but I rarely use them because it's very hard to get them stable and pointed and when you do see something it moves out of view pretty quick.
5:16 I Used a 16yr old Canon DSLR camera and a 300-400mm (+ 1.4x = 420mm-560mm) lens, And a tripod. And got a full screen image of Moon like this, Sharp and good quality. I might get better quality going outside the big city i live in. I was on my balcony, I never thought it be that good with a normal DSLR camera. Would be nice to have a real telescope.
Do you have any advise for somebody who would like to stay in that sub £200 area for a telescope similar to the ones you mentioned at the start, that aren't available?
Not quite as cheap as your looking for, but for $349, ZWO makes the Seestar S30, which is a digital scope similar to the one in this video. It's a smaller scope than this one, but the results you can get from it are amazing. It's on pre-order and should start shipping in December. Going up just a little more in price, you can get the Seestar S50 or the Dwarflabs Dwarf 3 for around $500.
Edit: I just realized I did the typical American thing and ignored the pounds symbol. Prices might be off, but the advice still holds There are three really good options for beginners, (and many more options within the main three) Like Scott says in the vid, a small travel scope is a good starting point. something like a Celestron 70 mm refractor or similar sized scope. A lot of those are under $150 and come with some accessories. If you can buy used, do so, and spend the saved cash on an eyepiece or two. (Telescope power is based on the ratio of the scope : eyepiece. the bigger that ratio, the more zoomed in you will be, but also the narrower the view. there are some adjustable "zoom" eyepieces though they can be as expensive as the scopes in this price range) Agena Astro, and Highpoint Scientific are good places to look for new gear. However, a lot of people will get gear and realize the hobby is not for them, so starting with used gear can be a great way to get into it for less money upfront. The second option, is a set of binoculars + A tripod adapter. I recommend "Nikon ACULON A211 7x50" (7x zoom, 50mm front lens) which are currently on sale for $86 bucks on amazon. add in a tripod and adapter and for less than 120, you are in really good shape. I have this set up, but its a companion to other gear. If this will be your only gear, and you don't want to use the Binoculars for anything else, (like birding, etc) then go for higher magnification. the ACULON line has a zoom model that can go 10x to 22x for about $150, maybe a bit less. add in the tripod+adapter, and you are right around the $200 range. One added benefit with binoculars is you are getting light in both eyes, so a set of 50mm binoculars vs a 50mm scope, the binoculars will be twice as bright. the last option, only "fits" the price range if you already have it, but a regular digital camera, a tripod, and a computer for processing, can be used to get amazing pictures. Any lens, any camera. The youtube channel "nebula photos" has a bunch of videos dedicated to showing how to take images of common DSOs (Deep sky objects) Like Nebula, and galaxy, with out a dedicated astronomy mount. I started Astrophotography based on his "andromeda with a DSLR and tripod". He shows you how to process it too. There is an updated version of that video that uses more modern software. I didn't put any links because I don't want any filters to flag the comment. If you want them I can reply.
I don't think you can get a digital telescope unless maybe Temu has something. But there's a few traditional Celestron options on Amazon in that price range. I would get a lower cost portable scope that can sit on a camera tripod and then upgrade the eyepieces, mount and other stuff over time
Growing up, I always wanted a good telescope but they were just too expensive. Being able to see other planets with my own eye just seems more authentic. For me, using a digital telescope would be no different than seeing a picture found online. A researcher would see more benefit over someone like me.
Can you get the "raw" stack of photos that the telescope took to make the finished image? Also, is the CCD a, like, normal mosaic-ed CCD like you find in digital cameras? Or are there filters and stuff and multiple CCDs?
Yes, you can download all the 4 second exposures and do your own stacking and processing. Also, the final images have 32bit colour depth so, lots of room to tweak even those
When i was selling telescopes(working for a science museum) in the mid 90's there were 2 big brand names. Meade and Celestron. Celestron is still alive it seems. Sorry to see Meade go.
it is more fun to build your own rig. Because you suffer and use it and learn how to. And then you can make great photos. With the price of this smart telescope you could make an even better rig!
I suspect that for every person who does it the hard way, there are many more whose telescopes get used a handful of times and then lie abandoned at the back of the garage until they're eventually scrapped or sold on ebay. This is the type of telescope most people should be buying unless they want to make astrophotography their main hobby.
1. Is there a "negative mode"? Like you subtract reliably tracked objects and get the tracks of only fast moving objects? Software should be almost the same. 2. Conspiracy mode: can one check if they use orientation of the telescope and just download pictures from somewhere and mix them with local landscape obstacles?
At this point it might as well blend image from sensor with photos of galaxies taken by Webb. There is not many of them and you can fit them in memory. Similar what Samsung did with the Moon.
Oof, can't say im surprised about orion closing down. I ordered my xt8+ from them a couple years ago, waited like 6 months for it to ship just for them to ship half of it to some random dude on the other side of the country, I told them immediately when I noticed it was shipping to the wrong place, it took a week and emails back and forth with like 6 different people before someone confirmed what I told them on day one, by that point the guy had already received the part and then I had to wait another 2 weeks to get the other half of my telescope, terrible buying experience, terrible customer service, half the people I talked to were rude AF. The telescope is pretty awesome though, at least I got it when I did.
... for 3k$ IDK. for that u can put together impressive telescope these days. with cooled sensor etc and have best of both worlds .real eye peace and digital sensor
I picked up a used totally basic Tasco one. One day it seemed to me I found Jupiter and could see some dots around it that were moons? Maybe it was in a close point of our orbits.
@scottmanley wrote that before 11:11 , excuse my attention span But that seems a lot of fun, maybe even get it on a big screen for everyone to watch at the same time, beats watching tv
Note if you buy one of those non-digital backpack telescopes, avoid going below 80mm in aperture. Had someone bring a tiny 50mm box store telescope to a star party one time, but unfortunately those will always be a disappointment.
70mm is the bare minimum, you can see a few things. As I said, the nice thing about the backpack scopes is even when you buy a serious monster light bucket there's a still a use for a small easily portably fun scope.
Had my astro photography craze around the same time. Had a moded Canon 350D that had some filter removed so it could get better shots of nebula's. Remember standing out in winter in -20C weather getting exposures...it was all worth it. Got some nice shots.
Checking on this now: It's worldwide, Make sure you add the telescope and the matching filter both to the cart and then add the code at checkout. Different filters for different sized telescopes.
Well if its connected to the internet it has an option to cheat a bit. I assume most obvious objects has images from large telescopes as in +2 meter online. It would not work for planets as they change but galaxies :)
0:35 You said that backwards. The view is never as good as the Hubble-class photos on the box. Although… I never pull out the box for the packaging photos again but I keep coming back for the view through the eyepiece. So maybe you had it right…
@@scottmanley I did. For the money you can have "stupid" scope with double diameter. Triple if you go old school Newton. I even found 40cm Dobson for $3000. Sorry, all I can see is just pure pre-Christmass selling out. Kinda sad, rly.
Not really, there's an entire hobby (not using these digital smart thingies) out there with fully computerized solutions for the same or a lower price (more frustration though so there's that) that actually make amazing images and with the proper software you can get rid of these trails quite easily.
Cool but it's app based, so it'll be a paperweight in less than a decade because the app won't work any more. Not to mention, just about anyone credible who seems to have reviewed this also seems to think it's rubbish.
What should you buy, well, not a 3200 dollar scope that simply isn't the best you can buy. Sure it's easy, but very fast you want more and then you find out you need something completely different. Other solutions are a bit more difficult, but boy is the reward so much better. Try to stay with open solutions that are not tied to a company.
Unistellar Store Linke: tidd.ly/4i7ZlZB
Unistellar loaned me this telescope for this video, and If you're really interested in one of these I have a helpful link to their store (which gets me commission in return).
And for the next week or the Black Friday sale is running, giving everyone a 20% discount!
AND.... for channel viewers there's a special code that'll get you the Solar Filter for the Odyssey series for free, the filter is essential if you are interested in viewing sunspots or with the telescope.
* add an Odyssey/Odyssey Pro and the 'Smart Solar Filter' to the shopping cart and use the code 'scott1124' during the checkout to get the filter for free.
So - here's the link for those of you in a buying mood:
*** tidd.ly/4i7ZlZB ****
The Black Friday Sale runs until December 2nd, after that the discount is gone and the bonus code won't work.
this thing is WAY more expensive than the big newtonian that I own XD . . . but those elecrtonics aint cheap
all things concidered this would be Very expensive gift for any kid in my country that most wouldn't afford . . . but it's not like that whith higher wages like you have in the us . . .
I believe that to be an accomplished man one should have a good quality pair of leather shoes, a well made mechanical watch, a library and a telescope. He should also have a globe and fountain pen in his library.
Scott, I get a message that scott1124 is not valid for this purchase. I tried a couple of different telescopes. FYI
$3200 telescope that ceases to work when the company goes out of business and stops keeping the mobile apps updated...
If they made it clear that the protocol for interacting with it was open and published the documentation for it, allowing open source devs to pick up the slack if the company does go out of business, that's a different story. But I'm not finding anything on the subject on their site. Even a commitment to publish the protocol and open-source the app if they go out of business would help, though I'm not sure that would be enough if going out of business involves getting bought up by private equity...
So, wake me when they open the protocol, I'd kinda like a good digital scope.
Hasn’t it been hacked already? Which amounts to the same thing.
@JohnSmith-x3y8h So I have to hack the device to make it work properly? It is an overpriced peice of junk.
@@myacctoostale9345
That’s not what I said.
Argumentative
Blocked
ZWO avec leur Seestar a cela de disponible. Il est possible de créer des applications externes pour le contrôler (déjà fait).
@@JohnSmith-x3y8h they have a good point, why should someone who spent 3.2k on a digital scope and have to worry about it turning into a brick when the company dies and having to turn to the community to fix that issue?
The rule in Astrophotography is that whenever someone buys a telescope in your area, the skies will be cloudy for many days.
True also for fancy eyepieces, CCD sensors, and even mounts. Cloud cover is directly proportional to the cost of the new gear.
That's how I know this is a real telescope and not a toy.
@@scottmanleyagreed.
Amen brotha
"I'm a big space nerd", I think by now you earned the privilege of being called "the space nerd".
Not really a privilege though, just a label, like i am "the argument nerd"
I'm an amature astrophotographer and it is one of the most frustrating but rewarding hobbies I have ever endeavored. It is truly amazing to go to process your image and see the beauty of space that YOU capture with your own equipment. It is incredibly rewarding and awesome
Indeed, and while the Unistellar hardware does its own image processing you can download the raw data from the telescope and apply your own processing to the image stack. The data saved on my phone also has high resolution pixel depths.
@@scottmanley This was actually a really important detail I think I missed from the video! The whole time I was thinking "I hope this allows me to access the raw data too". Makes a big difference for retired astrophoto nerds who want to occasionally dabble but sometimes just want the dopamine hit experience.
If you go go google you can download HD versions 🤣
3k murican dollars and you need an app... Fuck this. Way too expensive, and they can brick it at any point in time.
How can we be sure this isn't manipulated, like the controversy around Samsung's moon photos? It would be great to understand how the telescope captures and processes the images!
Yeah, I took a bunch of images to test this, like the recent comet and terrestrial objects. You can also dump the raw images and process them yourself
@@scottmanley Thanks for the explanation! It's reassuring to know that raw images are accessible for independent processing. That definitely adds credibility. How was your experience with the comet and terrestrial objects? Did the telescope handle the details well?
@@scottmanley By the way, is the telescope capable of tracking satellites? That would be amazing to see!
Really glad there are plenty of comments pointing out how a black box like this makes most people skeptical.
What is there to be glad about? And most people? Hardly.
This video was an advertisement. Scott, you have to include the advertisement tag. :))
Happy Holidays, bro! Good fortune be unto you and yours!
This is a cool telescope. However, personally I'd say there's a certain chDm to seeing things (however dim) with your own eyes through an optical system. It's as close as most of us will probably get to seeing the stars/planets etc with our own eyes.
Scott made the biggest mistake an amateur astronomer could make - he bought gear and revived the curse.
If classical astrophotography is like cooking your own meal, and google images is like a gourmet restaurant, I would consider this to be a microwave dinner. You hit one button and with minimal effort you get something that (to be honest) is not that impressive. Plus for the same money you could have gone out and bought some gourmet ingredients and cooked a really nice meal.
I don't take issue with anyone who is new to the hobby and I certainly don't expect people to take amazing pictures their first try, but what you have purchased offers no room for improvement, learning, or growth. You will always have that same microwave experience, and you won't be able to make it any better. I also take issue with people who claim their microwave dinners are better than homecooked meals by amateur chefs because they only needed to press one button. That's just my two cents
You can get all the raw images from the telescope and further process them, the images on the phone are just the starting point.
@@scottmanley The quality of these images are, usually, not up to par with lower cost solutions using better optics and camera's though. For this amount of money I can buy a very nice setup. This is simply a nice, simple solution for bright DSO objects and ok-ish data, the ease of use is the selling point, not the quality.
The photos on the box “are never as good as what you can see through the eyepiece”? I think you meant the reverse of that. 0:33
lol… this is what happens when I add lib things
I didn't even realize until I read this comment! 😅
This seems to take out nearly all the work that makes astrophotography a challenging and fun art.
Indeed, but that leaves more time for me to make videos.
Of course, if I was being a cynic it could be downloading hubble quality pictures and fading them in :D
My thoughts exactly.
Except for near earth fast movers, i cant see the point of a privat telescope.
Except that it can save the individual raw images, which you can then download onto your PC and process them yourself. So nope, no sneaky sleight of hand stuff going on.
$1,800 to $3,500 range? Holy night sky, Batman!!!
As he said, it's a mid level entry. That price would barely buy a good mount and tripod for a full rig.
@netanmaldoran4816 That is not mid range! 🤡
@@richlo8887 'High' range (they go for more): $10,000 Astro rig
Low range: $600 seestar
Idk what to tell you man, it's an expensive hobby, it's not for everyone.
I appreciate the simplification of the hobby for the masses. If it gets more folks into space I’m all for it. I still do the take my own pictures and self process because I enjoy the process of it. And well, I have all the gear 😊
I'm relatively new to AP but the problem was never complexity, it's always expense, you can get ok scopes for 200$ but the mounts are just all priced at a premium.
Who is this product even for? Its a 3.2k$ device so begainers were out of that equation 3k$ ago, and anyone with that much money has so many other options its insane. Not to mention what happens to the scopes when the company goes under or the software loses support.
The pro has a 85mm mirror which is pretty pathetic even a orion observer for 200$ has a 114mm and my homemade refractor has a 127mm aperture yes their focal ratio is a little longer at 4.5 and 5.3 respectivly but the point is the "magic" isnt in the optics so surly this could have been sold as a eyepiece to slot into any scope and maybe a mount or better yet compatable with existing mounts.
The magic is the integration of the imager, the telescope mount and image processing capability. That's all wrapped up in a single solution. This is an appliance, not an integration exercise of mechanical systems, telescope optics, planetarium program and image processing software suite.
I did a Astro photo class in college we had a night shot at Stony ridge telescope a 28” Newtonian our target was Orion shooting 4x5 B&W 400 asa film I got a great shot my film was the best shot of the night. Stony ridge was one of the locations referred to in the book Lucifer’s Hammer. One can really appreciate what the early astronomers did standing in the cold up 20’ in the air at on a home shop made Elevators guiding their photographs.
Yeah I never had a chance to use film with a telescope, but I did learn to develop film as part of my astronomy degree, used it for spectra.
The improvements in inexpensive sensors and lenses over the last 10-15 years has been pretty amazing.... combine this with improvements in the software used for image processing and it's a win-win for amateurs everywhere.
For the money, the ZWO Seestar S50 is a much better bargain at about 1/5th the price (aperture is only 50mm vs 83mm, but the software is excellent, and it's delightfully compact).
(Assuming this comment is fine to make because this video isn't declared as an ad)
I second this. The nice part about it: people already figured out how to talk to the telescope without the app. So even if they ever disappear, there's at least a chance the telescope doesn't become paperweight. Not sure if this also applies to the Odyssey Pro
Yes, there's always a lower cost Chinese copy made.
I just checked that out. That does look nice.
@@scottmanley I wouldn't say the see stars a copy at all it uses a triplett telescope mount aimed at a completely different price point down to 450 usd
3K $ for a telescope smaller than my powerseker , insane!!!
Years ago, I was staying the night at Fossil Falls on Hwy. 395, heading to the Sierra's, and a group from UCLA were in the next campsite setting up telescopes for photography because dry desert air and no planes near China Lake. They invited me to view and it was amazing.
Beginners should buy a Dobsonian for 1/8 the price. Or binoculars.
EV scope has almost no upsides, except aligns itself in the sky, so you will never learn to find your way there yourself.
And it is not the best smart telescope. It is definitely the most expensive one.
Nice ad tho.
Counterpoint, I owned a 300mm Dob and never got into it, I tried, but spend more time with a 100mm refractor.
Definitely not the most expensive, but it's up there. For smart scopes, nothing beats the price/performance of the ZWO or DwarfLabs options.
@@michaeldiaz4942 C'est de loin le plus chère par rapport au résultat de celui-ci. Le Vespera (Vaonis) est un très bon choix a regarder avant achat.
im in the middle of 3d printing my own harmonic drive mounts and use OnStep for the controller to attempt astrophotography. TONS of work but like you said if I can pull this off and get results I will be so extatic. At the same time I am thinking about getting a newer smart telescope for my kids and when I don't feel like setting up my rig. Great video!
My deranged brain immediately went to a scam where the app just downloads pictures from the internet and the telescope doesn't actually work at all 🤪
Nah, don't confuse this with Samsung's moon mode.
Something like this would be cool for the parents to get their kids who are just getting genuinely interested in space. They're curious and seeking more info, but don't have the best patience. Being able to set this up and then view high quality images in just a few minutes, maybe even from the comfort of a warm car on a cold night is beneficial. The kids, who likely have a short attention span, can't wait the hours post processing would take. Getting a more immediate satisfaction out of it keeps them interested longer. Maybe even long enough to graduate into something more advanced. That being said (typed?) though, the price is a little scary. If it were maybe in the $500 to $800 range that would be better. It still looks like a telescope and you get the advantage of the eyepiece still, so it has the advantage over the ZDO options in my book.
I still rock my homemade pvc telescope with 10 bucks worth of lenses in it. The rest is cardboard and glue. I have even got a solar filter for it and it’s actually good enough to see sunspots. I can make it work with my phone camera so there, it’s even digital
Fantastic!
Does it have a replaceable battery? External Power? Also, does the app rely on internet services, or is it fully standalone? Thanks Scott!
External power and there's a mode which limits the mount rotation if you have it plugged in.
Why is Unistellar so expensive? Isn’t the bulk of the cost optics and they are using cheap optics and cheap sensors instead?
Meade and Orion were mostly resellers of JOC and Synta products. Celestron now has a monopoly over Schmidt-Cassegrains
Nice video. You solved part of my Christmas list, got two of them for grandkids.
I love your rocket videos together with Eager Space and Marcus House. Eager Space supplement your videos with his calculations and Marcus House supplement with the journalism point of view. Thanks to all of you.
Is the AI related stuff just to help adjust getting a better picture? Nothing like what Samsung was doing with those moon pictures years ago?
I intentionally took a bunch of pictures to verify it wasn’t faking things in this way
That is frackin’ awesome. I have been looking to get back into amateur astro. The demise of Orion was certainly a blow to those aspirations. I will definitely be checking out digital scope options.
"I was probably not entirely sober."
- Scott Manley, 2024
Scott, don't ever change! :))
Very cool!
Here at the observatory in Middelburg (The Netherlands) you can visit every Friday-night and observe through one of their telescopes outside. For free! It's about 2-3 times the size of this one I believe.
They also offer workshops for kids teaching them about astronomy.
Why couldn't infomercials be this fun when I was a kid?
Scott got a D in Astronomy class.
I appreciate this video tremendously, have been looking at different options for weeks. Thanks Scott!
12:31 Something I've been wondering is if a bunch of digital imaging telescopes like this could be networked together to look for asteroids and Kuiper belt objects by stellar occlusion, and plot their trajectories with some kind of automated tracking system to calculate the gravity fields of the outer solar system, both to survey these objects themselves because a lot are still undiscovered, and to try to narrow down the search space for Planet X based on its gravitational influence on smaller bodies.
Got 40 mins on the whirlpool galaxy with my s50 last night :). Great piece of kit.
I remember having to drive 50-100 miles from my home in Western Washington State to get "acceptable views" with my 6"×24" refractive telescope (heavy light polution), until it was stolen when I had a "bathroom break" at one of my viewing sites 10 years ago...
I have that same Meade scope, I use it more than my $1200 carbon fiber triplet on an equally expensive tracking mount
Hanging with telescope about 10 years ago was one the most fun I have as an adult, childhood fun I mean. This doesn’t look that much fun. Later, in some years I will just buy huge ass dob
We need an @astrobiscuit collaboration next time you’re back in the UK. 🔭
Might as well make an app for a phone that recognizes the constellations you're looking at and downloads some properly high-res pictures from made by the really big telescopes.
Good g-d I love this channel. Just one terrific video after another and I MUST HAVE THIS TELESCOPE.
Fantastic! Some day I'm definitely going to get one! 😃
Thanks, Scott!!!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Hmm, I reckon the digitally-driven mount trumps the Meade telescope as much as the image-stacking. I've got a couple of telescopes but I rarely use them because it's very hard to get them stable and pointed and when you do see something it moves out of view pretty quick.
5:16 I Used a 16yr old Canon DSLR camera and a 300-400mm (+ 1.4x = 420mm-560mm) lens, And a tripod. And got a full screen image of Moon like this, Sharp and good quality.
I might get better quality going outside the big city i live in. I was on my balcony, I never thought it be that good with a normal DSLR camera.
Would be nice to have a real telescope.
__
Seems like there are several of these scopes coming onto the market at the moment.
What is it with loads of people doing full video adverts atm?
I think I should buy a "Scott Manley" robot thingy
Do you have any advise for somebody who would like to stay in that sub £200 area for a telescope similar to the ones you mentioned at the start, that aren't available?
Not quite as cheap as your looking for, but for $349, ZWO makes the Seestar S30, which is a digital scope similar to the one in this video. It's a smaller scope than this one, but the results you can get from it are amazing. It's on pre-order and should start shipping in December. Going up just a little more in price, you can get the Seestar S50 or the Dwarflabs Dwarf 3 for around $500.
Edit: I just realized I did the typical American thing and ignored the pounds symbol. Prices might be off, but the advice still holds
There are three really good options for beginners, (and many more options within the main three)
Like Scott says in the vid, a small travel scope is a good starting point. something like a Celestron 70 mm refractor or similar sized scope. A lot of those are under $150 and come with some accessories. If you can buy used, do so, and spend the saved cash on an eyepiece or two. (Telescope power is based on the ratio of the scope : eyepiece. the bigger that ratio, the more zoomed in you will be, but also the narrower the view. there are some adjustable "zoom" eyepieces though they can be as expensive as the scopes in this price range)
Agena Astro, and Highpoint Scientific are good places to look for new gear. However, a lot of people will get gear and realize the hobby is not for them, so starting with used gear can be a great way to get into it for less money upfront.
The second option, is a set of binoculars + A tripod adapter. I recommend "Nikon ACULON A211 7x50" (7x zoom, 50mm front lens) which are currently on sale for $86 bucks on amazon. add in a tripod and adapter and for less than 120, you are in really good shape. I have this set up, but its a companion to other gear. If this will be your only gear, and you don't want to use the Binoculars for anything else, (like birding, etc) then go for higher magnification. the ACULON line has a zoom model that can go 10x to 22x for about $150, maybe a bit less. add in the tripod+adapter, and you are right around the $200 range.
One added benefit with binoculars is you are getting light in both eyes, so a set of 50mm binoculars vs a 50mm scope, the binoculars will be twice as bright.
the last option, only "fits" the price range if you already have it, but a regular digital camera, a tripod, and a computer for processing, can be used to get amazing pictures. Any lens, any camera.
The youtube channel "nebula photos" has a bunch of videos dedicated to showing how to take images of common DSOs (Deep sky objects) Like Nebula, and galaxy, with out a dedicated astronomy mount.
I started Astrophotography based on his "andromeda with a DSLR and tripod". He shows you how to process it too. There is an updated version of that video that uses more modern software.
I didn't put any links because I don't want any filters to flag the comment. If you want them I can reply.
I don't think you can get a digital telescope unless maybe Temu has something. But there's a few traditional Celestron options on Amazon in that price range. I would get a lower cost portable scope that can sit on a camera tripod and then upgrade the eyepieces, mount and other stuff over time
Growing up, I always wanted a good telescope but they were just too expensive. Being able to see other planets with my own eye just seems more authentic. For me, using a digital telescope would be no different than seeing a picture found online. A researcher would see more benefit over someone like me.
Can you get the "raw" stack of photos that the telescope took to make the finished image? Also, is the CCD a, like, normal mosaic-ed CCD like you find in digital cameras? Or are there filters and stuff and multiple CCDs?
Yes, you can download all the 4 second exposures and do your own stacking and processing. Also, the final images have 32bit colour depth so, lots of room to tweak even those
Missed title
"How I learned to perform astrophotography through the clouds safely"
When i was selling telescopes(working for a science museum) in the mid 90's there were 2 big brand names. Meade and Celestron. Celestron is still alive it seems. Sorry to see Meade go.
it is more fun to build your own rig. Because you suffer and use it and learn how to. And then you can make great photos. With the price of this smart telescope you could make an even better rig!
I suspect that for every person who does it the hard way, there are many more whose telescopes get used a handful of times and then lie abandoned at the back of the garage until they're eventually scrapped or sold on ebay. This is the type of telescope most people should be buying unless they want to make astrophotography their main hobby.
All of those results are very impressive. Quite a pricetag but hey, maybe someday lol.
1. Is there a "negative mode"? Like you subtract reliably tracked objects and get the tracks of only fast moving objects? Software should be almost the same.
2. Conspiracy mode: can one check if they use orientation of the telescope and just download pictures from somewhere and mix them with local landscape obstacles?
You can download the images and process them yourself
At this point it might as well blend image from sensor with photos of galaxies taken by Webb. There is not many of them and you can fit them in memory. Similar what Samsung did with the Moon.
Oof, can't say im surprised about orion closing down. I ordered my xt8+ from them a couple years ago, waited like 6 months for it to ship just for them to ship half of it to some random dude on the other side of the country, I told them immediately when I noticed it was shipping to the wrong place, it took a week and emails back and forth with like 6 different people before someone confirmed what I told them on day one, by that point the guy had already received the part and then I had to wait another 2 weeks to get the other half of my telescope, terrible buying experience, terrible customer service, half the people I talked to were rude AF. The telescope is pretty awesome though, at least I got it when I did.
... for 3k$ IDK. for that u can put together impressive telescope these days. with cooled sensor etc and have best of both worlds .real eye peace and digital sensor
I picked up a used totally basic Tasco one. One day it seemed to me I found Jupiter and could see some dots around it that were moons? Maybe it was in a close point of our orbits.
Shoot! My Meade might be worth some money in a few decades.
$3200 for that is insane
Can i set it up in my backyard, mirror the camera to my phone and doom scroll the night sky?
Yes, I tried it on a hilltop and was freezing my butt off, brought it home and had more fun sitting inside controlling the scope/
@scottmanley wrote that before 11:11 , excuse my attention span
But that seems a lot of fun, maybe even get it on a big screen for everyone to watch at the same time, beats watching tv
sorry scott i live in a big town lott of light polution , and I am working on a raspberry pi telescope because of that.
As I said, I'm amazed at its ability to subtract sky haze and light pollution.
Note if you buy one of those non-digital backpack telescopes, avoid going below 80mm in aperture. Had someone bring a tiny 50mm box store telescope to a star party one time, but unfortunately those will always be a disappointment.
70mm is the bare minimum, you can see a few things. As I said, the nice thing about the backpack scopes is even when you buy a serious monster light bucket there's a still a use for a small easily portably fun scope.
6:56 is the big blue stars being different from paralax?
Stars are different colours
It’s chromatic aberration, an effect from imaging through uncorrected optics. They don’t actually have that blueish-purple fringing around them.
I think they ment why are the stars in different places in the right and left pictures
Different because I was lazy in aligning the two images and didn't get tis straight.
Had my astro photography craze around the same time. Had a moded Canon 350D that had some filter removed so it could get better shots of nebula's. Remember standing out in winter in -20C weather getting exposures...it was all worth it. Got some nice shots.
Those were the days.... when we had time for things like that.
@@scottmanley That's why I made my setup automatic. :)
If its enhancing the image, are you really seeing what's actually there? Ir is this the equivalent of an instagram filter?
Scott I hope you know what you did there goes my holiday bonus 😂
I've tried your code in the UK and it isn't recognised - Is it US shop only?
Checking on this now: It's worldwide, Make sure you add the telescope and the matching filter both to the cart and then add the code at checkout. Different filters for different sized telescopes.
Sorry, should have read the instructions better!
Well if its connected to the internet it has an option to cheat a bit.
I assume most obvious objects has images from large telescopes as in +2 meter online.
It would not work for planets as they change but galaxies :)
And they would be found out very quickly. The amateur astronomy community wouldn't tolerate such nonsense.
0:35 You said that backwards. The view is never as good as the Hubble-class photos on the box. Although… I never pull out the box for the packaging photos again but I keep coming back for the view through the eyepiece. So maybe you had it right…
For what it's worth the code isn't working on the odyssey or odyssey pro
Pas surpris de cela il ne sont pas les premiers a faire cela.
An eyepiece that shows you what's on the smartphone screen is the most gimmicky thing ever. I can see why they market it towards kids.
Meade is out if business? That's sad.
The only thing more embarrassing than realising you can’t use your iPhone because you’re filming with it…
…is not realising…🤣
Oh good, I need another expensive hobby! Modular synths, regular photography, and R/C aren't enough!
I stay away from module Synths for this exact reason, I admire them from afar.
I am good at watching hd photos on tv ok
I looked at their site but found a variety of products without an easy way to compare them.
This is the Odyssey Pro. The others have bigger mirrors and better sensors.
I wanna meet the person who can actually carry an 80 centimeter scope on their back .
Lol
Manley is my name.
I don't, at least not in the dark and if he has a bad temper.
I knew you MEANT 80mm lol .
0:34 What you can see through the eyepiece is never as good as the photos on the box.
Incredible. I did not know of this. And would be epic. Thank scott for the great idea
looks nice and all but I just like looking throuh the telescope with my own eye instead of my phone screen
Hence why the eyepiece is part of the magic.
@@scottmanley L'oculaire est digital (Nikon) donc ce n'est pas comme un son propre œil.
Ok, I just had a stroke seeing the price. Will report later. Or not.
You've never tried to take astro photos :)
@@scottmanley I did. For the money you can have "stupid" scope with double diameter. Triple if you go old school Newton. I even found 40cm Dobson for $3000. Sorry, all I can see is just pure pre-Christmass selling out. Kinda sad, rly.
Une autre publicité de la part de cette firme, on fait la même chose avec Astronogeek TH-camr français.
2:38 LoL! 😆
Hasn’t Starlink been pretty ruinous for amateur astronomy? Wouldn’t that make it a bit if a dying hobby to get into nowadays?
Not if the telescope is smart enough to remove satellite trails.
Not really, there's an entire hobby (not using these digital smart thingies) out there with fully computerized solutions for the same or a lower price (more frustration though so there's that) that actually make amazing images and with the proper software you can get rid of these trails quite easily.
Oh, so it's of no use without a smartphone.
Wherever will you find such a device.
Cool but it's app based, so it'll be a paperweight in less than a decade because the app won't work any more. Not to mention, just about anyone credible who seems to have reviewed this also seems to think it's rubbish.
2 likes for mentioning Orbital
One of my favorite bands of all time.
What should you buy, well, not a 3200 dollar scope that simply isn't the best you can buy. Sure it's easy, but very fast you want more and then you find out you need something completely different. Other solutions are a bit more difficult, but boy is the reward so much better. Try to stay with open solutions that are not tied to a company.
3000 dollars is not worth it
bravoo