Using my Astrophotography Rig to Image M27- A comparison to Smart Telescopes

I imaged M27 using my astrophotography rig (see the photo below) because I was interested in a comparison of a full blown rig imaging to smart telescope imaging. M27 gives pretty good images on all of my smart telescopes (Seestar S30 & S50, Dwarf 3, Celestron Origin and Unistellar Equinox 2). My video for the rig can be seen on YouTube and my video for the S50, Unistellar and Celestron can be seen at Smart Telescope Comparison .

My Rig has the following compenents: Apertura 90 mm Triplet telescope ZWO 30F4 Miniscope Zwo ASIAIR Plus Zwo EAF Zwo 174 ASI Guide Camera Zwo ASI 2600MC Pro Zwo AM5 with Tripod Wanderer Flat Panel Svbony SV241 power box Dew heaters.

The processed photos from the session from the rig shows considerable detail. The first photo is what the rig sees in its field of view. The second photo is zoomed into the nebula.

Wide field view of M27 using my Rig.

The zoomed in view of M27. The detail is much better than the smart scopes.

If you are interested in doing your own processing you can use this link up until June 17, 2026: https://we.tl/t-oIeN9rZ0OB

First Photos from my SeeStar S50 at Starfront Observatories from April 11, 2025

I started my observations at 4 am in order to catch M8. I also wanted to try to image C/2025 F2 (Swan) at about 6 am. I didn’t know what my view was above the eastern horizon. My SeeStar is in building 6. I discovered that my view starts above 17 degrees. There must be a building wall that the S50 has to clear. The S50 only cleared the building wall at 6:35 am but at that time the sunlight was too bright to image the comet. I didn’t get some good photos of M8 and M20. These were processed only with the SeeStar native software. My YouTube live broadcast link is https://www.youtube.com/live/RU2s3Zgof08?si=s7_-bNcnchZXV4AR

Amsterdam Publisher's Post on In the Time of Madmen's Award from the International Impact Book Awards

I recently shared the news that In the Time of Madmen was the winner of the International Impact Book Awards in the category of Historical Memoirs.

Newest Award

https://www.facebook.com/100063520121499/posts/pfbid02bg9WqPEex1uJdSq9bQ3uvyhVGGm6HwrSquKHyr5x9gno2kZS2bNHi5FFFekNkAECl/?