ZWO Seestar S50 Pro All-in-One Smart APO Telescope

The Seestar S50 Pro brings the main components of a modern astrophotography setup together in a single compact instrument. The optical system, cameras, motorised mount, computer, filters and rechargeable battery are all integrated, while operation is handled through the Seestar app on a smartphone or tablet.

The main optical system uses a 50mm four-element apochromatic lens incorporating ED glass, with a 260mm focal length and f/5.2 focal ratio. The telephoto camera uses an OmniVision OS08B10 colour sensor measuring 1/1.2 inches, with 2.9μm pixels and 8.3MP resolution. This combination provides a 2.8° field of view and is intended primarily for deep-sky imaging.

A second camera adds a much wider perspective. Its Sony IMX586 colour sensor measures 1/2 inch and also provides 8.3MP resolution, but is paired with a 6mm f/1.75 lens to produce a 63° field of view. This camera is particularly useful for Milky Way photography, star trails, nightscapes and wider landscape scenes.

The S50 Pro is designed to handle the complicated parts of astrophotography automatically. Select a target in the app and the telescope can locate it, begin tracking and start capturing images. Automatic image stacking builds up detail over multiple exposures, while the built-in processing tools provide functions such as noise reduction, star reduction and star removal.

The telescope incorporates several filters. The telephoto camera has a UV/IR-cut filter, a dual-band light-pollution filter with 30nm OIII and 20nm H-alpha passbands, and a dark-frame filter. A magnetic solar filter is supplied for safe solar imaging. The manufacturer specifically warns that the solar filter must be installed before pointing the telescope at the Sun.

The S50 Pro also supports Equatorial Mode, which offsets the effects of Earth’s rotation and allows longer exposures than the normal alt-azimuth configuration. The manufacturer states that 60-second exposures are supported in Equatorial Mode when accurate polar alignment is achieved.

For wider subjects, the S50 Pro can automatically create mosaics by combining multiple images. The manufacturer specifies output of up to 8K for its mosaic functions. The wide-angle camera also supports Milky Way arch imaging, star trails and time-lapse photography.

A built-in 10,000mAh battery provides up to 9 hours of runtime under the manufacturer’s stated test conditions. Internal storage is 128GB, of which approximately 100GB is available to the user. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB-C, with the system supporting both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi.

The S50 Pro is supplied with a two-section carbon-fibre tripod. The telescope itself weighs approximately 2.8kg, while the folded main unit measures 140 × 149 × 268mm.