26 minutes ago, TheBomber656 said:

Vaonis is overpriced. If you want astrophotography, there really isn’t another option unless you build a custom rig yourself, but those aren’t portable and require a bunch of cables to run. Realistically, the built-in AI imaging isn’t that good unless you use a free program like Siril to process the images, which isn’t hard to learn. The Seestar S50 Pro is supposed to come out this year if you want to wait for the upgraded sensors, but Vaonis, the Seestar, and the Pro version all have the same 50mm aperture.

What do you think of the Unistellar smart scopes? Like the Odyssey Pro or Evscope 2? They have something like an eyepiece so I like that feature.

I have to buy it now, I can't wait unfortunately.

7 minutes ago, Analog1888 said:

Yup. Seeing big clouds popping off to the west

Hope we get a foot of rain

29 minutes ago, Sundog said:

What do you think of the Unistellar smart scopes? Like the Odyssey Pro or Evscope 2? They have something like an eyepiece so I like that feature.

I have to buy it now, I can't wait unfortunately.

Unistellar is a big NO for astrophotography as it is an EAA scope

If you have to buy it now go with Vaonis 3 and use the extra funds for the LP/DB filters

Seestar has both of those filters built in

4 minutes ago, TheBomber656 said:

Unistellar is a big NO for astrophotography as it is an EAA scope

If you have to buy it now go with Vaonis 3 and use the extra funds for the LP/DB filters

Seestar has both of those filters built in

Is that the absolute best I can get for that much money?

And which one is the Vaonis 3? I see Vespera 3 come up.

I really wanted an eyepiece man lol

5 minutes ago, Sundog said:

Is that the absolute best I can get for that much money?

And which one is the Vaonis 3? I see Vespera 3 come up.

I really wanted an eyepiece man lol

Trust me. It's one or the other. Traditional telescope for eyepiece/larger aperture or astrophotography with no eyepiece.

And for the price, yes. Next option after that would be the Origin

4 minutes ago, TheBomber656 said:

Trust me. It's one or the other. Traditional telescope for eyepiece/larger aperture or astrophotography with no eyepiece.

And for the price, yes. Next option after that would be the Origin

Even though it is more expensive than a custom rig, Vaonis is weather resistant. Having it rain or snow won’t kill it which is one thing other scopes don't have

2 minutes ago, TheBomber656 said:

Even though it is more expensive than a custom rig, Vaonis is weather resistant. Having it rain or snow briefly on it won’t kill it.

Ok so what is your final verdict? Up to 4500, remember I live in eastern Queens and I want to see planets and other stuff deeper into the universe.

2 minutes ago, Sundog said:

Ok so what is your final verdict? Up to 4500, remember I live in eastern Queens and I want to see planets and other stuff deeper into the universe.

Not all telescopes are created equal. Viewing planets requires a refractor, but refractors are horrible for deep-sky objects. You can view Jupiter on smart scopes, but you’ll need to adjust the contrast afterward to get a good image. There are tutorials for that everywhere.

Purchase either Vaonis product based on how much you want to spend, but you 100% need a light pollution filter for galaxies and a dual-band filter for nebulas for Queens.

8 minutes ago, TheBomber656 said:

Not all telescopes are created equal. Viewing planets requires a refractor, but refractors are horrible for deep-sky objects. You can view Jupiter on smart scopes, but you’ll need to adjust the contrast afterward to get a good image. There are tutorials for that everywhere.

Purchase either Vaonis product based on how much you want to spend, but you 100% need a light pollution filter for galaxies and a dual-band filter for nebulas for Queens.

Isn't part of the experience to look through the eyepiece? I was setting up my sister in laws Celestron 6 inch and saw Saturn by chance and I was blown away.

2 minutes ago, Sundog said:

Isn't part of the experience to look through the eyepiece? I was setting up my sister in laws Celestron 6 inch and saw Saturn by chance and I was blown away.

Not for astrophotography. You can't use the eyepiece in a custom rig as well while it's capturing. You 100% can see the moons though.

The sub is good at what you can expect object wise https://www.reddit.com/r/vaonis/

9 minutes ago, TheBomber656 said:

Not for astrophotography. You can't use the eyepiece in a custom rig as well while it's capturing. You 100% can see the moons though.

The sub is good at what you can expect object wise https://www.reddit.com/r/vaonis/

Can I see stuff like that from eastern Queens? Or do I need to be dark skies.

And what did you say I need to do exactly to see planets well if I go with the Vaonis?

5 minutes ago, Sundog said:

Can I see stuff like that from eastern Queens? Or do I need to be dark skies.

And what did you say I need to do exactly to see planets well if I go with the Vaonis?

People commonly use them in cities, but it will take a bit longer to stack images. Check out the Seestar sub and search for your Bortle level for a general idea along with the exposure time in description, since both use the same aperture on paper.

https://www.reddit.com/r/seestar/

13 minutes ago, TheBomber656 said:

People commonly use them in cities, but it will take a bit longer to stack images. Check out the Seestar sub and search for your Bortle level for a general idea along with the exposure time in description, since both use the same aperture on paper.

https://www.reddit.com/r/seestar/

I was on my tablet, so it was difficult for me to type. But looking at Bortle levels 8–9, people get a good image between 3–4 hours per target. Vaonis is likely a bit quicker maybe by 30 minutes or so because of its better sensors/lenses

2 minutes ago, TheBomber656 said:

I was on my tablet, so it was difficult for me to type. But looking at Bortle levels 8–9, people get a good image between 3–4 hours per target. Vaonis is likely a bit quicker maybe by 30 minutes or so because of its better sensors/lenses

Is there a way to calculate time needed and bortle scale level?

I'm right on the edge of dropping out of the 9 range but a 30 minute drive gets me into the 7s range

Just now, Sundog said:

Is there a way to calculate time needed and bortle scale level?

I'm right on the edge of dropping out of the 9 range but a 30 minute drive gets me into the 7s range

Not the answer you’re probably looking for, but in general, not really, but kind of, because each object has its own brightness/magnitude, size, and distance.

Based on what I've seen on the sub in Bortle 8:

Andromeda looks to be about a good 90 minutes at a magnitude of 3.4.

M81/M82 is around 2.3 hours at a magnitude of 6.7.

M51 1.6 hours at a mag of 8.4

So I would assume anything under 10 would be ideal for about a 2-3 hour session.

You can stack sessions as well using basic free software on PC, so you can save the raw files or just the TIFF files and combine them into one from multiple nights

21 minutes ago, TheBomber656 said:

Not the answer you’re probably looking for, but in general, not really, but kind of, because each object has its own brightness/magnitude, size, and distance.

Based on what I've seen on the sub in Bortle 8:

Andromeda looks to be about a good 90 minutes at a magnitude of 3.4.

M81/M82 is around 2.3 hours at a magnitude of 6.7.

M51 1.6 hours at a mag of 8.4

So I would assume anything under 10 would be ideal for about a 2-3 hour session.

You can stack sessions as well using basic free software on PC, so you can save the raw files or just the TIFF files and combine them into one from multiple nights

Thanks for the insight. One final thing. You mentioned something about planets. Do I need to do anything special or different to see them well with this scope?

2 minutes ago, Sundog said:

Thanks for the insight. One final thing. You mentioned something about planets. Do I need to do anything special or different to see them well with this scope?

Nope but anything outside of Jupiter will be difficult to see. Saturn may look like this

12 minutes ago, TheBomber656 said:

Nope but anything outside of Jupiter will be difficult to see. Saturn may look like this

Well that's disappointing.

I took this pic by holding my phone up to the eyepiece and mind you my phone had some distance from the lens since it couldn't get close to it so this is a zoomed in cropped phone pic taken through the eyepiece of the Celestron NexstarSe 6 inch. It looked a lot better viewing it through the actual eyepiece.

How come it can't do any better than what you posted?