Capturing deep space from my roof terrace in the middle of the Netherlands, one of the most light polluted countries in the world.
When Seestar contacted me to ask if I wanted to try their smart telescope, I was skeptical. I live in one of the most light polluted countries in the world, and I was sure something like this would never work from here.
But they told me that is exactly what it was made for. A few weeks later, every clear night I switch on my smart telescope to capture something up there. It's amazing to see everything that is right above us.
Extremely simple to set up. No technical knowledge needed, no hassle. Connect it to your smartphone, pick a deep space object, and the Seestar does the rest.
Put the Seestar on the ground or a tripod and open the app.
Choose a galaxy or nebula from the list. The Seestar finds it in the sky by itself.
It focuses, tracks and stacks the light while you watch the image appear on your phone.
A Seestar is a smart telescope: a telescope, a camera and a small computer in one compact device. It moves along with the rotation of the Earth, so it stays locked on the same spot in the sky for hours.
That is what makes it possible to expose the sky for an extremely long time. The Seestar takes hundreds of exposures of the same object and stacks them into one image, adding up to hours of light. That way you capture detail you would never see with your own eyes.
I started with the S30 Pro, which is honestly great. The S50 Pro gets closer and gives you more detail, so objects come out more detailed overall. But they are both great. If you want to take it travelling, I recommend the S30 Pro. If you have the money to spend and you shoot mostly from home, get the S50 Pro.
Every photo below was taken from my roof terrace, with the city lights all around. For each photo you can see how long I exposed it and how it was edited. Click a photo to see it large.
This is an ongoing hobby project. More and more photos will be added.
Everything on this page was captured with these two little smart telescopes, from a city roof. If you ever wanted to see what's up there, this is the easiest way to start.
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