ZWO Smart Telescope AP 50/260 Seestar S50 Pro

At a Glance

• Built-in GoTo - automatic object positioning and tracking
•  1/1.2"-sensor with 2.9-µm pixels paired with a 260-mm focal length lens for high magnification of small objects
•  1/2"-sensor with 1.6-µm pixels paired with a 6-mm focal length lens for spectacular 63° wide-field images
•  4-element APO lens with excellent field correction
•  Large photographic field of view of 2.6° x 1.5° in the sky
•  Built-in 3-filter system (dark filter, UV/IR blocking filter, and light pollution filter H-alpha / [O III])
•  Comes with a clip-on solar filter
•  Active anti-dew system
•  ASCOM Alpaca-compatible
•  NFC, WiFi and Bluetooth control via smartphone or tablet app
•  Remote operation
•  Four shooting modes: deep sky objects, solar system, Milky Way, landscape/animals
•  Autofocus ensures the best possible sharpness
•  AI support
•  Electronic reduction of image noise while maintaining sharpness

Description

The new Seestar S50 Pro is the successor to the hugely popular Seestar S50 Smart Telescope. The Seestar is a fully automatic GoTo telescope for nature and astrophotography, featuring two built-in cameras. It is controlled via a Smartphone or tablet using ZWO’s tried-and-tested Seestar app. Connection to the smart device can be made via either Wi-Fi or NFC.

Astrophotography has never been easier:

The professional apochromatic quadruplet optics deliver razor-sharp images of the night sky to the camera sensor, with excellent control of chromatic aberration. The high-quality coating also helps to reduce light loss. Thanks to the sensor’s high sensitivity, image noise is minimised even during long-exposure deep-sky photography. An integrated dual-line filter suppresses distracting light, such as that from artificial light sources. This makes the Seestar particularly appealing even to city dwellers and effectively makes it the only telescope with which galaxies and galactic nebulae can be viewed from a city balcony. Image processing within the app provides a further electronic reduction in image noise whilst preserving the details of the celestial object. You can also customise the style of your image to suit your taste and share your impressive shots with others straight away.

Images can be downloaded in JPEG or FITS format, whilst videos are available in MP4 or AVI format. The internal 128 GB storage ensures secure transfer.

Using the built-in sensors and star charts, in combination with your Smartphone’s GPS sensor, the Seestar automatically aligns itself with the night sky and carries out calibration. The Seestar is incredibly simple to use and easy to learn. You don’t need to be an astronomy expert to achieve great photographic results! With the autofocus, even focusing is no longer a problem. The Seestar’s autofocus ensures that your images are always sharp and crisp – even in landscape photography!

The Best of the Night

Finding a worthwhile celestial object is simple: select the object in the app on your mobile (“Tonight’s Best”) and the Seestar will automatically align itself with the target and begin tracking. Turn your Smartphone or tablet into a telescope controller: with just a few clicks, you’ll have access to the star and deep-sky catalogue featuring over 4,000 objects and receive detailed information about your chosen celestial target. With its built-in sensors, star charts and innovative sky atlas, the instrument helps you plan your evening observations.

The best bit of the day: the solar filter included in the pack can be securely attached in front of the objective using a magnetic mounting. This transforms the Seestar into a telescope for photographing sunspots!

4K dual camera system with wide-angle optics:

The S50 Pro is equipped with the Sony IMX585 1/1.2" (8.3 MP) colour sensor, which covers a 2.8° field of view. It is lit by a lens with a quadruplet lens design. Both the sensor and the multi-element lens represent a significant improvement over the classic Seestar S 50. Incidentally, an integrated anti-fog heater ensures that the lens does not mist up.

But the Pro version offers even more: a Sony IMX585 colour sensor (8.3 MP) for 63° wide-angle shots! The sensor is ideal for landscape and nightscape photography. The latter refers to atmospheric images of the night sky with terrestrial objects in the foreground. The Seestar S50 Pro thus combines deep-sky and wide-angle photography in a single instrument! This also applies to nature photography during the day: use the Seestar S50 Pro to capture individual animals or entire landscapes!

Milky Way panorama shooting mode: The mode known as ‘milky-way-mode’ by ZWO is ideal for capturing the Milky Way across a wide angular range. But it can do even more: this mode enables star trail and mosaic images: the telescope takes separate images of neighbouring regions and combines them to create a single large image. The mosaic stitching engine, which has been improved for the Seestar Pro, converts 4K images into 8K composites.

Astronomical photometry: The Seestar Pro supports calibrated photometric measurements, enabling the observation of variable stars and facilitating potential nova discoveries.

With the included tripod, the Seestar operates in azimuth mode by default. However, with the appropriate accessories from the recommended list, it can also be set up in equatorial mode. This allows for longer exposure times.

The built-in battery, with a capacity of 10,000 mAh, allows the Seestar to operate for approximately 9 hours (tested under laboratory conditions at ZWO). An external power bank can also be connected via USB-C.

Who is the telescope intended for?

Do you have little time or patience but still want to take beautiful astrophotographs?

You don't want to do everything yourself, but want to use new technology?

Are you a visual observer, but fascinated by individual images?

Do you have limited space in your luggage but want a telescope for your travels?

Do you want to achieve results without having to deal with complex image processing?

With this intelligent telescope, you can take fascinating astrophotographs at the touch of a button.

Quick guide/user manual

Specification