Smart Telescopes in 2024 - with Oct update

If you're interested only in astro imaging, the ZWO Seestar S50  might be your best option for an affordable Smart Telescope.  It comes in a sturdy foam carry case, a table top tripod, internal filters and an external Solar photo for taking photos of the Sun and its sunspots.

While it's now 18 months old, ZWO have offered multiple upgrades to the Seestar S50 via app updates with more on the way. For example, a "mosaic" feature is currently in beta testing. This lets you take multiple images from a larger region of the sky and assemble them into a single image.

DWARF Lab 

Our friends at DWARF Lab have been busy over the last 12 months!

They produced and shipped the very popular DWARF II Smart Telescope.  This was smaller and even more portable than the ZWO Seestar S50  and while it didn't produce as detailed images as the S50, it could capture a wider field. It also found a home among bird watchers and nature photographers.

The new DWARF 3 which has just started shipping brings a swag of new features.

The DWARF 3 (left) compared to the DWARF II (right) - a smidge bigger but far more powerful

Without a major increase in overall size, the DWARF 3 now has a 35mm vs 24mm main lens, more than doubling the telescope's light collecting ability compared to the DWARF II. The camera has also received a major upgrade to a Sony IMX678 sensor, a better battery and more.

The DWARF 3 has also seen major software updates and capabilities including extended exposure time in EQ mode, image mosaics and improved automatic object tracking - useful for birds, planes, shootings stars and even maybe the odd UFO or two.... You can now also use the widefield camera for astronomy photos and this combined with the mosaic mode could see the DWARF 3 as an affordable yet capable alternative to the traditional DSRL and star tracker methods for photographing the Milky Way.

Probably the best part of the upgrade to the DWARF 3 is they've kept the price pretty much the same as the DWARF II. We haven't seen too many telescope where the manufacturer increases the diameter of a model's optics by 40%, upgrades just about every feature of the outgoing model AND keeps the price the same.

ZWO Seestar S50 or DWARF 3?

This is now much harder to answer.  If you're only interested in astro imaging, the slightly larger ZWO Seestar S50 still has an edge compared to the DWARF 3 for closer up and more detailed images. The arrival of mosaic features will blunt the advantage of the wider field of the DWARF 3.  However, the addition of astro features to the wide angle camera on the DWARF 3 for even larger panorama shots might be of interest to you. Plus even the slightly larger DWARF 3 is still much smaller than the ZWO Seestar S50 and this could be a factor for portability and travelling.

If you're unsure or just want to toss up a few ideas, please give BINTEL a call. We'll be more than happy to discuss both of these entry level Smart Telescopes in detail.

Either way, there's simply no other other way for less than $900 to obtain the deep-sky astro photos that these two cool little devices can produce.

UPDATE: 1st Oct 2024 - ZWO Seestar S30

As I originally mentioned at the end of this article,  Smart Telescope makers are going to introduce new products and here's a new one - the ZWO Seestar S30.

This is smaller and more portable than the original ZWO Seestar S50.

At this point, we don't have full details and specifications. The Seestar S30 is due for release soon and pre-orders will commence on the 1st November 2024.  As you can see, it's much smaller than the already-compact Seestar S50.

ZWO Seestar S30 soon at BINTEL

We think the ZWO Seestar S30 will appeal to folks who would like a Smart Telescope that's easy to transport but fully featured. More soon!

Vespera II and Vespera Pro

French company Vaonis produced one of the first Smart Telescopes, the Stellina which was followed up in 2023 by the original Vaonis Vespera.

This device was larger than a ZWO Seestar S50,  oozed style and character and offered a significantly better optics and electronics. The Vaonis app and user interface is both more powerful and easier to use than offering offerings.

In 2024, Vaonis has upgraded the Vespera to the Vespera 2, as well as introducing the new Vespera Pro model.

The Vaonis Vespera lineup for 2024

Cameras were a large part of the upgrades to the Vespera model for 2024. The Vespera II has a four-fold increase in megapixel size compare to the original Vespera and the new Vespera Pro has a further 50% bump on top of that. This has seen a large increase in the size of the images that can be produced.

This has also brought the resolution or sampling down considerably allowing much finer details to be imaged.  The Vespera Pro can capture image details as small as 1.6 arc seconds.

While versions of various mosaic or image stitching abilities are due to appear at some point on the the sub $1000 Smart Telescopes, the Vaonis CovalENS multi-imaging system is mature and fully featured.  This allows you to frame exactly the region you'd like to photograph and watch the large panorama build in real-time. For example, the Vespera II using CovalENS can photograph a patch of the night sky more than six Full Moons wide.

UPDATE:2nd Oct 2024 - CovelENS gets an upgrade. Vaonis have released information on major updates to the software. Of interest to astrophotographers how like to produce images of faint objects  with intricate details will the new multi-night observation mode. This lets you shutdown your imaging session for the night and seamlessly re-commence photographing the object on the following or later night. There's also major updates to their mosaic image composition system and features to plan you  what you photograph during your imaging sessions. More on the Vaonis website here.

Apart from the more powerful camera, extra features of the Vespera Pro compared to the Vespera II include larger internal storage, a longer life battery, a complete range of Vaonis accessories and even an anti-theft system.

What advantages does do the Vespera Smart Telescopes have over lower cost options?

The main advantage is the quality of the images produced by both Vespera models is significantly higher than those produced by DWARF or Seestar S50.  The Vespera is larger and heavier, however it's still extremely portable and easy to set up, especially in the dark. The Vaonis  app, Singularity, will make take astro photos much easier even for complete beginners while having advanced features for those with more experience. Finally, the Vespera is a  elegant device and we have more than a few users even have them as part of their home decor.

Celestron joins the party. The Origin Intelligent Home Observatory

None of the current suppliers of Smart Telescopes have any real history of making telescopes of any kind - with the exception of Celestron.

Based in California, Celestron have been the world's largest supplier of telescopes and associated gear for decades.  They also have a long history of introducing computerised mounts and telescopes for amatuer astronomers. It's no surprise their first Smart Telescope, the Celestron Origin, immediately become the most powerful and fully featured Smart Telescope on its release in January 2024 at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas.

Unlike all other current Smart Telescopes,  the Celestron Origin is somewhat modular and based around a number of technologies that Celestron has been perfecting in other models for some years.  For example, the telescope itself is a style of reflector called a  RASA.  This has an extremely fast focal ratio of f/2.2 that provides an extremely wide field of view and can capture deep-sky details in a much shorter time compared to other devices.

The aperture of the Celestron Origin at 150mm (6") is much larger than other other Smart Telescope, meaning it has the ability to image fainter targets and product finer details on brighter astro objects.  Unlike other Smart Telescopes, which are limited to upgrades only via software, some of the Celestron Origin's hardware can be improved via hardware updates and add-ons. Celestron have stated that camera upgrades are on roadmap as well as wedges and autoguiders for more accurate and longer exposures.

Apart from being the most expensive Smart Telescope available today, the Celestron Origin is larger and set up and transport is similar to traditional astrophotography setup.

Is there anything you can't photograph well with Smart Telescopes?

Yes. They all have relatively short focal lengths. This makes them well suited to deep-space astro objects such as star clusters, nebulae and even galaxies beyond our own Milky Way. Solar System planets take up a small amount of space in the sky and typically need a long focal length telescope to view or capture them.

Are Smart Telescopes replacing more traditional astrophotography platforms?

The short answer is no, however there's a little bit more to it.

We don't know of any of our customer who are seriously into astrophotography who now use a Smart Telescope instead of their existing astro imaging rig because they produce better astro photos.  Smart Telescope photos are not as good as the very best obtained conventional telescopes, astronomy cameras and mounts along with a decent amount of experience. In fact, I think it's going to be a long time before that happens.

Our experience with Smart Telescopes of different types over the last few years is that while a large proportion are ending up in the hands of newbies just starting out in astronomy, a significant chunk are being purchased by experienced astronomer who want an astro system that can be produce decent images with little hassle,  are easy to set up and even fun to use.

Can the images produced by Smart Telescopes be further improved?

Yes.

The data collected by all Smart Telescopes is processed in software to reveal as much detail as possible. Their apps can produce some quite amazing result and all models now allow you to download the "raw" data for processing on your device or even using an external program such as Siril or PixInsight.

Finally - are there new models due soon? Should I buy a Smart Telescope now or wait?

Of course there's new models and features on the horizon. Smart Telescopes have been a success for telescope makes but they need to keep up. They're facing new products from existing suppliers and possibly even emerging players. Like other "hot" areas of tech, their engineers and designers hard at work on the next generation of their products.

If you say "I'll wait for whatever is coming next" you might put off for quite a long time the start of your astro journey. Sure, there's new gear that will be launched in the future, but the current generation of Smart Telescopes are the easiest and most effective way that have ever existed to get seriously into astronomy and start discovering the Universe.

For ever the most seasoned astronomers, that's a truly wonderful thing to have happening around them.

Cheers,

Earl White

BINTEL

18th September 2024