Inventor: Hans Lippershey (also spelled Lipperhey)
Location: Netherlands
Type: Refracting telescope (used lenses to magnify distant objects)
Magnification: About 3Ă—
Lippershey applied for a patent for a device that “makes faraway objects appear closer,” though other Dutch opticians — Jacob Metius and Sacharias Janssen — were also working on similar lens combinations around the same time.
Although not the first inventor, Galileo Galilei improved the design dramatically a year later, boosting magnification to 20–30× and pointing it at the sky. His observations (e.g., moons of Jupiter, phases of Venus, craters on the Moon) marked the beginning of modern astronomy.
I Just ordered my Zwo Seestar S50 and I am looking forward to beginning my journey as an amateur astro-photographer. I have been increasingly interested in astronomy over the past year, and I hope this starter kit can help me grow my ambitions and skills in exploring this fascinating topic. I have for the past twenty years been an avid still photographer, so the concept of capturing astonishing moments and beautiful scenery is nothing new to me. <h2>How to use:</h2> Open the app → go to the main screen with observation modes, weather info, moon phase, etc. Choose a mode such as deep-sky, stargazing, Moon, or Sun (with proper filter). </br> Select an object in the app — the Seestar will automatically slew to it and track it using plate solving and its motorized mount. The camera captures a series of images that the software “stacks” to reduce noise and reveal faint details in nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies. Because the mount is alt-az, individual exposures are short (around 10 seconds), but stacking many frames produces high-quality results. You can also take daytime landscape images using the day-mode.
