Vaonis Vespera Pro - Advanced Smart Telescope

Smart!

The “smart telescope” is a wifi-controlled, tripod-mounted digital camera with 12.5 megapixel, 250 GB storage, 1.6 degree field of vision (which amounts to about 1,200mm for a full-frame camera) and about 11 hours of battery life. “Smart” refers to the built-in software which is controlled with Vaonis’ “Singularity” app from iOS and Android devices. Given a GPS location (or an address) the telescope takes care of alignment, positioning to an object selected from a large database, tracking, autofocus, and real-time stacking of acquired images, i.e., it automates all the chores facing the hobby astronomer. Observations can be spread out over several nights and a “mosaic” mode can combine images into a larger viewing window. The instrument is very portable (and is delivered in a sturdy suitcase), i.e., it is easy to get away from too much ambient light. Wifi control elegantly avoids the problem that walking near the telescope can introduce unwanted vibrations. Once the telescope has been initialized at least once, and with a separately available solar filter, one can observe sun spots and the granular appearance and cratered edge of the sun. Here, alignment merely requires to manually turn the instrument until the shadow shows a small crack of sunlight next to the optical arm — the rest is taken care of by the “smart” software.

Vespera Pro

Waited to use for a couple weeks before reviewing. Started with no filters in bortle 7ish conditions, from my driveway inside city lights, and got fairly good results. Love the accurate tracking. When using the filters, couldn't believe the impact on capturing the details. Would definitely buy this again.