Many years ago, my workplace offered a catalog to choose a 5-year anniversary present. I picked a telescope. My son and I had our first target - the moon’s crater. However, as soon as we aligned the moon in the eyepiece, it drifted away. The Earth’s rotation can be clearly felt with a 30X magnification power. I learned that a real astronomical telescope requires at minimum an equatorial mount and an automatic tracking system. Recently, a smart astronomical telescope has appeared on the market, which can be networked with mobile phones, featuring GPS and automatic star finding functions, and, best of all, it is very affordable. The whole unit weighs only 3 kilograms and is very easy use. All you need to do is set up the tripod and tap a celestial body on the mobile app, and the S50 will automatically find it for you. It can take photos and videos and can be used for 6 hours after a full charge. It comes with a sun filter and is packed in a suitcase for conveniently pickup and go.

Using an astronomical telescope is a learning process. Common sense, such as avoiding cloudy and rainy days, is reinforced here. Keep updated on weather forecasts. Certain stars may be hidden in the Eastern or Southern Hemisphere on the night you go out. Patience will pay off. Additionally, light pollution in cities interferes with finding and observing celestial bodies. It's best to drive to the suburbs in darkness to see the beauty of the starry sky. Prior to 1920, humans still believed that the Milky Way was the universe, indicating how far away and dim other galaxies are. I tested the Seestar S50 for shots of the sun, moon, Spiral Galaxy M51, Needle Galaxy NGC4565, Whale Galaxy NGC4631, and Pinwheel Galaxy M101. The Whirlpool Galaxy has two galactic cores and is 31 million light-years away from Earth. Galaxies are so faint that repeated exposures are needed to see their shapes. I was in a hurry, exposing each galaxy for ten minutes only. Some later images were even shortened by passing clouds. Nevertheless, I am still satisfied with the outcomes of the galaxy photos. Exposing for a full hour would make them even prettier.

The only drawback I’ve experienced was an overheating issue when taking a solar photo. In about 20 minutes, the black case became hot. The unit lost connectivity with the iPhone App. I had to hold the button on the unit to shut it down three times. Eventually, it resumed normal function likely after cooling off in the shade. The local temperature was 19-31 degrees Celsius. I wish there was a white color model to choose from.

As a product that claims to take pictures of the sun, moon and distant objects such as galaxies and nebulae, it does exactly that at an affordable price and with the relative ease of use that gets a newbie like me up and running. The main reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 has to do with the instructions of how to use the app that is on my mobile device. The small leaflet does not give much. The downloaded manual also is spartan. I got most of my instruction by looking at YouTube videos made by others setting up and using the telescope (ie not SeeStar) and then it was quite easy to follow. Absolutely delighted with the actual telescope now that I know how to use it.

Seestar S50 All-in-One Smart Telescope

Very fast delivery from China to Germany within 6 days. Love it and a real breakthrough device for that money. Looking forward to many evenings of cosmic exploration. First results very impressive, Moon, Sun, some Galaxies (M51 is crazy) and all from my terrace in a city surrounding. Really cool...that is the device, I dreamt of as a little boy 30 years ago!

Seestar S50 All-in-One Smart Telescope