Seestar S50 ASCOM control

[AndrewP]

Hi

There is a new ASCOM control feature for the Seestar S50 which introduces full integration with the ASCOM/Alpaca protocol, enabling advanced automation and compatibility with popular astrophotography software. I'm aware of people using NINA to control the Seestar now. Any chance AA9 could one day be used?

Regards
Andrew

[Dunmunro]

Hi

There is a new ASCOM control feature for the Seestar S50 which introduces full integration with the ASCOM/Alpaca protocol, enabling advanced automation and compatibility with popular astrophotography software. I'm aware of people using NINA to control the Seestar now. Any chance AA9 could one day be used?

Regards
Andrew

Do you own a Seestar S50? If you don't own AA9, you can download the free demo:

https://www.msb-astroart.com/down_en.htm

and test it out. The demo version allows for full ASCOM device control for 1 hour at a time (then a restart and another hour...).

[fabdev]

Hi I've read that the Seestar S50 now comes with a standard ASCOM/Alpace driver so, all software ASCOM-compatible should be able to control it, Astroart as well.

There could be only a possible problem: some new cameras now by default download images in color (i.e. with automatic debayering). This is bad of course (3X disk space, difficult flat field and dark frame correction, unknown algorithm used, imprecise photometry). Astroart does not support this mode from ASCOM cameras, but an update of the ASCOM driver (v. 2.80) will be released next week to allow it.
So, this upgrade will be required if there is not an option to download images in RAW format from the Seestar.
Fabio.

[AndrewP]

Thanks Fabio, yes it is possible to download the raw FITS images from the Seestar, they are not automatically debayered. Apologies, I'm not familiar with how AA9 could control the S50 via wifi. Is there a simple workflow available? I'd be interested to understand the settings to apply under Telescope and Camera control to suit the S50 and also the method by which you could construct an imaging plan to get to multiple targets over the course of the night.

[Dunmunro]

Thanks Fabio, yes it is possible to download the raw FITS images from the Seestar, they are not automatically debayered. Apologies, I'm not familiar with how AA9 could control the S50 via wifi. Is there a simple workflow available? I'd be interested to understand the settings to apply under Telescope and Camera control to suit the S50 and also the method by which you could construct an imaging plan to get to multiple targets over the course of the night.

See the scripting submenu and here's a script that I've co-wrote to allow for multiple automatic imaging of multiple targets:


viewtopic.php?f=5&t=725

[fabdev]

Hi, for multiple targets there will be a new window in SP4, in April. Meanwhile, the usual way is the command "Create script for sequencer", from the context menu:

Actually the generated script is quite intuitive, and everything can be tested indoor with the simulators.