If you've ever pointed your smartphone's camera skyward on a full moon, chances are you were pretty disappointed with the result. French smart telescope maker Vaonis is aiming to get you closer to the celestial action with Hestia, a book-sized telescope "that uses the power of your smartphone sensor to photograph the stars."
"The Stellina and Vespera smart telescopes have been worldwide successes since their launch," said company founder, Cyril Dupuy. "This year, we are pushing back the limits of miniaturization with a new innovation: Hestia. To reduce costs and offer a telescope that is truly accessible to all, we have relied on the most powerful and widely adopted technology: your smartphone."
Like the Vespera smart telescope from Vaonis, the Hestia is seeking production funding on Kickstarter. The unit measures a backpack-friendly 17 x 25 x 5.5 cm (6.7 x 9.5 x 2.2 in), and weighs in at 500 g (just over a pound), and features 30-mm optics comprising six lenses in three groups.
Light entering the system is routed by prisms to focus up toward the camera array on the rear of a recent smartphone, with removable magnets helping the user to line up the main camera so that it rests on Hestia's eyepiece.
Specs such as sensor size and image definition will depend on the smartphone used with the telescope, but up to 25x magnification is possible and the setup works alongside a companion mobile app that uses proprietary processing algorithms to combine numerous short-exposure images to form a single enhanced view of the night sky through the lens.
The app also makes an interactive map of the sky available to the user, which assists in locating interesting targets as well as unit positioning for best results. For those who want to learn more about what's being imaged, a library of astronomical information is just a tap away, offering an easy way in for folks new to stargazing or those curious about what's out there.
The Hestia can also be had with a solar filter to make sunspots visible, and "help you understand the Sun's behavior, its influence on space weather, and its impact on our planet."
Early bird Kickstarter pledges start at US$149, though you'll need to stump up extra for the adjustable tripod, solar filter and hard case bundles.
The usual crowdfunding cautions apply, but if all goes to plan with the already funded campaign shipping is estimated to start from December – which will allow skygazers plenty of time to prepare for the April 2024 total solar eclipse that's expected to be visible to over 80% of folks in the US. The video below has more.
Source: Vaonis
