This miniature “smart telescope” works with your smartphone and can be carried anywhere

In recent years, stargazing by the general public has also begun its digital revolution. Modern telescopes are thus equipped with automatic functions, sometimes based on the integration of AI, are connected to the Internet and sport futuristic looks that are light years away from the classic tube installed on its tripod. With its Hestia, the Vaonis company wanted to design a telescope easily transportable in a backpack. But it is also a total extension of your smartphone, one does not go without the other.

A telescope “the size of a book”

Vaonis is unknown neither in the world of astronomy nor in that of tech. In the past, the company has already presented several “smart telescopes”, as it presents them, including the Stellina and the Vespera, models benefiting from an automatic sighting system and overall much higher performance. But the Hestia seeks to appeal to a larger audience. Its manufacturer compares it to a book, whether in terms of weight (500 grams) or dimensions (17 x 24 x 5.5 cm). One unknown remains: its autonomy.

The Hestia is installed on a tripod, which can be purchased as an accessory, but the device is also compatible with conventional tripods on the market. The surface of the smart telescope is magnetic, allowing you to attach fasteners (supplied with) and your smartphone, the system seeming particularly reliable. The photographic lens of the mobile needs to be aligned with the optical input of the telescope for the magic to work. The Hestia then takes over with its optical system based on six lenses divided into three groups and making it possible to obtain a x25 zoom towards the celestial vault, always optically.

Guided by the Gravity by Vaonis application, budding astronomers can then point to celestial objects using an interactive sky map and observe the Sun, the Moon and the brightest objects in the deep sky from their phone screen: stars, clusters, the Orion nebula, the Andromeda galaxy… As you can imagine, the Hestia should have a more limited use than the company’s most efficient models.

Pre-orders open, launching in December 2023

“Our Stellina and Vespera smart telescopes have been worldwide successes since their launch. We are pushing the limits of miniaturization and this year offer a new innovation: Hestia. To reduce costs and offer a telescope truly accessible to everyone, we have relied on the most powerful and most adopted of the latest technologies: your smartphone”explains Cyril Dupuy, founder of Vaonis.

However, the Hestia is not yet available on the market. As often, Vaonis has launched a Kickstarter campaign for its funding, and €567,424 has already been collected at the writing of these lines. The brand centers its communication on the usefulness of the product to follow the total solar eclipse of 2024 in the United States, with deliveries estimated at December 2023. Finally, the price of the Hestia is 170 €. It will be supplied with a tripod and a carrying case.