Feature: 'Introduction to Smart Telescopes - Featuring the ZWO Seestar S50'

Feature Presentation
Introduction to Smart Telescopes - Featuring the ZWO Seestar S50
By Dale Hollenbaugh
In the past few years, Smart Telescopes have come on the scene and are making astronomy and astrophotography easier than ever and are bringing more people into the hobby. In this presentation, Dale will discuss the history of smart telescopes, what makes a telescope "smart", compare the various makes and models of smart telescopes on the market, discuss their strengths and weaknesses and finally delve into more detail about his ZWO Seestar S50 telescope including some example photos taken with smart telescopes. There will be a free giveaway of 3D-printed accessories for the Seestar.
About the Speaker
Dale holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bucknell Univ. He is a Sr. Mechanical Engineer at BAE Systems and has one U.S. Patent. He is an avid photographer and astrophotographer and loves to travel with his wife. He has been a member of the W.A.S. since 2019 and has had numerous astro photos published in the W.A.S.P. and W.A.S. calendars.
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The views expressed in presentations are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent, and should not be attributed to, the Warren Astronomical Society.

[dalehollenbaugh]

Errata:
1. At 1:32:57, the DWARF II has a 2.99 arc-sec/pixel sampling resolution, not 5.97.
2. At 1:34:46 and 1:36:36, both the DWARF II and DWARF 3 models do include built-in dew heaters.
3. At 1:36:42, the DWARF 3 battery has a 10, 000 mAh capacity, not 10-hour runtime. Runtime estimate is 6-8 hours.
4. At 1:38:51, the ZWO Seestar S50 storage is 64GB, not 256GB.
5. At 1:39:50, I state the bandwidth of the Seestar S50 duo-narrowband filter has 30nm Ha / 20nm O3, but it is the inverse. O3 is 30nm and Ha is 20nm.
6. At 2:30:28, I answer a question about interpreting infrared in the imaging. I stated that the Sony IMX462 wasn't that sensitive in IR, but was thinking of the previous generation IMX290 sensor. The IMX462 is actually very sensitive in IR. I wasn't certain at the time, but the Seestar does have an integrated UV/IR-cut filter in place, as is typical for imaging DSOs to cut down on bloated stars.

[ChessQuizToday]

I just bought mine for $399 on Amazon. So do not kick yourself. I saw one for $499 with a shorter delivery date. And one for $399 for a 3 week delivery date. I bought the $399 delivery date and bought the 2 year protection plan on Amazon.