Exploring the World of Smart Telescopes - 6 October 2026
Smart Telescope Today… Smarter Telescope Tomorrow: How do you choose?
Following on from last year’s well-attended Smart Telescopes Masterclass, this year’s event, partly an introduction to smart telescopes, was also an opportunity for owners to talk about their experiences with their “smart scopes”.
The evening started with a film show of astro-images taken by the owners with their smart telescopes, demonstrating the ability of these scopes to capture amazing images of the night sky.
Mike Meynell then started his talk by describing how, over the past five years that he has owned a smart telescope, the associated technology has advanced rapidly and the cost of ownership has reduced significantly. He described the basic components of a smart telescope as an onboard computer controlled by a smart app running on either a smartphone or tablet. The computer controls a motorised mount, a focusing system, dew heaters and the selection of optical filters. Software on this computer allows the smart telescope to carry out such functions as telescope alignment, finding objects in the sky, automatic tracking and live image capture and stacking to produce a final stacked image. A user can then see the image as it builds, either displayed in the app on a smartphone or tablet or, in some designs, at the telescope through an electronic eyepiece. Enabling these setup and capture functions to be controlled automatically saves a lot of setup time on imaging nights.
Mike Meynell introduces the Smart Telescope Masterclass. Pictures by Tony Milon and Clive Inglis.
Being compact with short focal lengths, smart telescopes tend to be “fast” (f/4 to f/5) optical systems and are best suited to imaging expansive deep-sky objects such as nebulae and some galaxies, as well as the Sun and Moon. These require relatively low magnification and, in the case of faint deep-sky objects, the smart telescope’s ability to stack a large number of short exposures in real time allows these objects to be captured even in light-polluted skies.
Using the smart telescope in the simplest alt-az setup mode limits exposure times to no more than 30 seconds due to image rotation. However, operating the scope in equatorial mode using a wedge or adjustable tripod head and carrying out a simple polar alignment enables exposures to be extended to a minute or longer.
Following on from Mike’s introductory talk, owners of smart telescopes then shared their experiences.
John Harries - ZWO Seestar S50 (no longer manufactured, ~£350 second-hand)
John started his talk by saying from the outset that he was going to focus on some of the snags he had encountered in using his S50.
Plug and Play? - He found that use of his smart telescope hadn’t always been “plug and play”. This was due to Wi-Fi connection issues between the scope and what he admitted was quite an old smartphone. He commented that buying a “state-of-the-art smart telescope” might result in having to buy a new smartphone.
Short Tripod - The very short tripod supplied with his scope meant that the scope was very low to the ground and therefore vulnerable to being kicked or tripped over during outreach sessions.
Difficult to level the device - More experience or some sort of levelling device would help.
Image processing - John was quite happy with the images produced by the S50 and, for him, there was no need to invest in the time and expense involved with subsequent image processing.
System Updates - Frustratingly, sometimes these have occurred during imaging sessions.
John Harries talks about the Seestar S50. Pictures by Tony Milon and Clive Inglis.
Sara Clark - Seestar S30 Pro (~£650)
Sara talked about how she initially owned a Seestar S50 but has since upgraded to an S30 Pro. She has travelled with her Seestars, taking the S50 to Wales, discovering its amazing ability to capture the Milky Way, and her S30 Pro to Spain for the 2026 total eclipse. She showed a beautiful total eclipse time-lapse captured with her S30 Pro.
Sara loves her S30 Pro and would recommend it to anyone thinking about buying one. The only problem she has found with it is that not all objects she wanted to capture were in its catalogue. Imaging these required some knowledge of the night sky to find a catalogued object nearby, go to that object, then “drive” the smart telescope to her target.
Sara Clark and her images from the Seestar S30 Pro. Pictures by Tony Milon and Clive Inglis.
Mike Meynell - Seestar S50 Pro (~£1,000)
Mike returned to talk about his new S50 Pro, which is performing well. This is the latest release from Seestar, an upgrade to the original S50 with improved tracking, which was an issue with the earlier version. The S50 Pro has a change of sensor from the Sony IMX462 to the OmniVision OS08B10, possibly due to supply issues with the Sony sensor.
Adrian Challinor - Vaonis Vespera Pro II (~£2,500)
Whereas the Seestar smart telescopes discussed so far are manufactured by the Chinese company ZWO, the Vespera Pro II owned by Adrian is manufactured by the French company Vaonis. The Vespera Pro II is at the more expensive end of the market and is larger and heavier than the smart scopes mentioned so far.
Adrian described his experience with the Vespera, finding that, like most smart scopes, it is good for deep-sky imaging but not good for planetary imaging. It does not have a separate, built-in lens system for Milky Way imaging, unlike most Seestars. Images captured during imaging can be downloaded in raw format for processing in PixInsight, Siril, etc. He mentioned that the onboard Truecolors image processing software is good at reproducing the natural colours of stars and nebulae.
One useful function that Adrian has found is the scope’s multi-night mode, which allows an imaging session of the same object to be continued over many nights from different locations.
Adrian Challinor and the Vespera Pro. Pictures by Tony Milon and Clive Inglis.
Mike Meynell - Unistellar eVscope 2 (~£4,000)
This smart telescope is owned by Richard, who couldn’t be present on the evening, so Mike kindly described it on his behalf.
The eVscope 2 is unique amongst the smart telescopes discussed so far: it has an electronic eyepiece to view the night sky in colour rather than displaying the image on a smartphone or tablet. The telescope is a fast f/4 reflector with a focal length of 450 mm and a 114 mm mirror and is therefore larger and heavier than the Seestar and Dwarf discussed.
Mike commented that he is unsure about the future of the Unistellar product range, as they do not appear to be announcing any new products.
Mike Meynell - Pegasus SmartEye Smart Eyepiece (~£1,800)
Something different from the smart telescope systems presented so far, Mike talked about his SmartEye electronic eyepiece, which replaces the normal eyepiece in a telescope’s focuser and electronically enhances the image. After some initial teething problems, solved by software upgrades, it is now producing some great images. Compared to a normal optical eyepiece, it is expensive and requires a large battery pack to power the SmartEye’s Peltier cooler. However, its 9-megapixel images can be stored for subsequent image processing.
Mike Meynell - Celestron Origin Mark II (~£4,000)
Mike has owned his Origin Mark II smart scope for some time. With f/2 optics, it enables very short imaging times. It has an 8.3-megapixel sensor and a built-in filter drawer that accepts 1.25-inch and 2-inch filters. Unlike other smart telescopes, it offers possible upgrade paths for its sensor and filters.
However, in Mike’s opinion, it’s not portable, it has a short internal battery life and it is expensive compared to the smart telescopes presented.
Frederik Botha - DwarfLab Dwarf 3 (~£450)
Great for imaging the Sun, deep space and panoramas. This was Frederik’s opinion of his Dwarf 3. As an example of its ability to produce amazingly detailed panoramas, he showed a 360° daylight panorama shot from the top of Severndroog Castle, Castlewood. He was able to zoom into the panorama and show local and distant landmarks, even a distant Windsor Castle. He described how software supplied with the Dwarf 3 assists in the planning and capture of these panoramas.
All images captured by the Dwarf 3 can be exported as URLs and in the usual industry-standard image formats.
Alex - DwarfLab Dwarf Mini (~£400)
New to astrophotography, Alex found it easy to use the Dwarf Mini and great for taking images from his balcony at home. However, he would prefer to be able to use a laptop to control the Dwarf Mini rather than a smartphone or tablet. (This can be done, but it requires a workaround, as there is no official native PC software for the telescope.)
Alex and the Dwarf Mini. Pictures by Tony Milon and Clive Inglis.
Alec Knox - DwarfLab Dwarf Mini (~£400)
An experienced Dwarf Mini user, Alec showed his setup for capturing this year’s total solar eclipse from Spain, which included his tripod-mounted Dwarf Mini and Lumix camera. Alec arranged the images he captured during the eclipse to produce a spectacular photomontage showing the passage of the eclipse. He also showed an image captured with the Mini of the recent partial lunar eclipse. Both instances demonstrated the Dwarf Mini’s automatic exposure compensation.
Alec Knox talks about the Dwarf Mini. Pictures by Tony Milon and Clive Inglis.
Question and Answer session
During the Q&A, the following were discussed:
Difficulties in using smart scopes in daylight.
Discounts that might be possible on future purchases.
How to deal with Starlink trails in processing.
What to buy, Seestar or Dwarf? Pros and cons depending on user requirements.
Mike closed the evening with a brief mention of new smart scopes to be released soon or in the near future:
DwarfLab DRACO - available for pre-order, shipping starting in November, ~£1,400 depending on version.
Vaonis Atlas - to be revealed in October, no current pricing.
Skywatcher Orbis - announced in October, no current pricing.
Many thanks to Mike for his excellent presentation and to Adrian, Alec, Alex, Frederik, John and Sara for bringing along their smart scopes and passing on their invaluable experience. Thanks also to Simon Hurst and the RMG staff for their IT support.
Pictures by Tony Milon
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