by Victor Abraham
The Seestar S50 is emerging as an excellent gateway into the world of astronomy for beginners, offering a blend of technology and simplicity that makes stargazing more accessible than ever. Unlike traditional telescopes that often require manual setup and alignment (granted a Dob is by far the easiest of the traditional scope for set up), the Seestar S50 is a smart telescope, integrating GPS, motorized mounts, and a user-friendly app interface. With just a few taps on your smartphone or tablet (which I highly recommend adding), and a few calibration adjustments, it can locate celestial objects automatically, allowing you to spend more time observing and less time setting up. Its portability and compact design also make it ideal for casual skywatchers or those with limited space.
To illustrate the ease of setup, just last night I took out the RASC Hamilton Centre – Amateur Astronomy Club’s Seestar, which happens to be ready to go on top of a tripod. Within minutes I set it on my driveway, powered it on, wirelessly connected the Centre’s Android tablet, completed the compass and levelling calibration, and I was ready to go in under 6 minutes!
A great thing about the technological pathway of this hobby is that you can combine multiple technologies to learn the night sky. While out observing the moon I wanted to see what else was, “in the neighbourhood?” So I used my cell phone and an app called Star Walk. It’s a planetarium app where one can search a vast database or scroll the sky for objects of interest. The app is a great alternative to a physical book with star maps. There are many great free and paid apps out there so spend some time exploring. The reason I mention all this is because traditionalists encourage a more academic way of learning about the sky, however last night I learned that there are other ways to get there 
.
While the Seestar was humming away observing the moon 
, I used Star Walk to quickly discover 5 objects of interest, all located in the same neighbourhood (M8 – Lagoon Nebula, M20 – Trifid Nebula, NGC 6537 – Red Spider Nebula, M17 – Omega Nebula, and M16 – Eagle Nebula). These are all objects I’ve seen on separate occasions, but only last night did connect the dots and realize how close they were together. It made me appreciate that there’s a place for technology in learning the night sky.
While learning the night sky is important, whether you do it through a book or technology, electronic telescopes like the Seestar S50 offer a different, equally valuable path for newcomers. By eliminating the frustration of finding objects, they allow beginners to immediately experience the awe of seeing celestial wonders. This can spark a deeper interest in the hobby, leading users to eventually learn the night sky at their own pace. The Seestar can be seen as a tool that reduces initial barriers, building confidence before moving on to more hands-on exploration. After all, even with its automation, users still have the opportunity to learn the layout of the sky as they explore different objects through the app and telescope in tandem.
