Why choose a smart telescope?

Smart telescopes are mainly used in the field of astrophotography, but can also serve other purposes like amateur asteroid hunting and exoplanet detection. They take away the effort of processing images yourself because they have built in software with AI features that can process the images live. They are also an all in one package, so no need to worry about compatibility issues with different components like cameras, filters, dew heaters, eyepieces and automatic focusing. Setting up a smart telescope couldn’t be much easier; most smart telescopes are cleverly implemented with features to automatically align themselves and track the stars.

Which one is best for you?

If you are on a budget the Seestar S50 is an all around great choice. It produces exquisite images with very quick setup time, and for a very reasonable price. Its small size makes it perfect for traveling. 

If you are looking for something a bit larger, Vaonis has you covered. Both their Vespera II and Pro editions are great smart telescopes that have similar optics to the Seestar. The Vespera can support wider fields of view due a much larger camera sensor boasting 24 megapixels for the II and up to 50 for the Pro. Compare this to the Seestar’s 2 megapixel images and you'll see why the Vespera excels. 

Unistellar is another company making big moves in the smart telescope market. They were the pioneers with their eVscope line of smart telescopes featuring a unique technology of a digital eyepiece. This ‘eyepiece’ uses a screen inside the housing of the telescope to display what the camera is capturing to simulate the feeling of using a traditional telescope. Unistellar’s scopes don't produce images that are stunning in the same way that Vaonis’ scopes do–instead they take advantage of a wider aperture and focal length to give real scientific capabilities to the owner. eVscope has a unique ability to push amateur detections of asteroids and exoplanets to the extreme. Unistellar has partnered with NASA and SETI to ensure anyone with the scope can make their own detections!

Celestron is the most recent player in the smart telescope space with their release of the Origin 6” RASA smart telescope. The fast optics of the Rowe Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA) cause the colors of the night skies to appear on your screen faster than all the other smart scopes. The 6.4 megapixel sensor is not as large as some of the others, however the built in processing and fast light gathering speeds make up for it and produce some truly incredible images. The Origin is marketed as a ‘Home Observatory” because it is very large; at 4 feet tall and 48 pounds, this is not a scope built to travel.

Last (for now) but not least is the DWARF Lab Dwarf II telescope. This is the smallest and cheapest smart telescope on the market, and as such will produce less impressive results. When compared to the Seestar of similar price point, it is clear that the Seestar creates visually more impressive images and has the ability to see fainter and smaller objects. However the Dwarf II is small enough to easily fit in a backpack and be carried to the top of a mountain (or even in a pants pocket if you have big pockets). Its ultra-light and ultra-portable design makes it perfect for night time adventurers looking to do a little stargazing without the hassle of carrying a camera or larger telescope with them.