First Light with Seestar S50 Pro | S50 Comparison in MO & TX | 9/4/26

My new Seestar S50 Pro arrived today, and tonight I am putting it to the test for the first time in Columbia, Missouri. I will be conducting simultaneous comparisons with my Seestar S50 in Columbia and another Seestar S50 operating remotely at Starfront Observatories in Rockwood, Texas. Using Plan Mode on all three telescopes, I will image NGC 6960 (the Western Veil Nebula) during the first half of the night and M45 (the Pleiades) during the second half. NGC 6960 should provide an especially interesting test. The faint filamentary structure of the Western Veil can be challenging for the S50, particularly from my Bortle 7 skies in Columbia. By imaging the same target simultaneously with the new S50 Pro and the S50 under identical sky conditions, I should get a good indication of how the two telescopes compare. At the same time, the S50 at Starfront Observatories will image the same target under Bortle 1 skies, providing an opportunity to see just how much difference extremely dark skies can make. For the second half of the night, all three telescopes will move to M45, the Pleiades. This should provide a different type of challenge, particularly when it comes to capturing the faint reflection nebulosity surrounding the cluster's bright blue stars. The Moon is approximately 46% illuminated tonight, adding another variable to the comparison. This should make for an interesting first night with the S50 Pro and a useful three-way comparison between the S50 Pro and S50 under Bortle 7 skies and an S50 under Bortle 1 skies.