Smart telescopes are revolutionizing the way people approach astronomy. Thanks to the integration of advanced technologies and automated systems, they make it possible to observe and photograph the night sky in a simple and intuitive way, even without previous experience in astrophotography.

They are therefore particularly suitable for those taking their first steps into astronomy, while also offering an interesting solution for more experienced amateur astronomers looking for a fully digital observing experience.

Smart telescopes are all-in-one systems that combine several essential components within a single instrument: optics, digital sensor, motorized mount, and software. In most cases, they can be controlled directly from a smartphone or tablet using a dedicated app.

Thanks to these technologies, the telescope can automatically locate celestial objects and capture images of a wide range of deep-sky objects, including galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters.

One of the main advantages of smart telescopes is their ease of use. They are generally compact, easy to set up, and simple to transport; some of the models we will present also come with a practical carrying case.

Another important advantage is the possibility of capturing images of the sky even from locations affected by a certain level of light pollution. Some smart telescopes feature dedicated filters and image-processing systems capable of automatically combining and processing the different exposures captured during an observing session.

In this way, details of nebulae, galaxies, and other celestial objects can gradually appear on the screen, even when they would be much more difficult to distinguish through visual observation alone.

For these reasons, smart telescopes are an excellent way to start observing the night sky, learn to recognize celestial objects, and approach astrophotography without immediately having to rely on a setup made up of numerous instruments and accessories.

 

ENTRY LEVEL

 

ZWO – Seestar S50 Pro

The Seestar S50 Pro is ZWO’s new all-in-one smart telescope. Compared with the previous Seestar S50, it introduces a dual 4K camera system, longer battery life, new features dedicated to the Milky Way, and advanced image-processing tools.

The telescope retains a 50 mm aperture, while adopting a new 4 element apochromatic optical design with ED glass, a 260 mm focal length, and an f/5.2 focal ratio.

The main camera uses a 1/1.2" OmniVision OS08B10 sensor with 8.3 megapixels, a resolution of 2160 × 3840 pixels, and a 2.8° field of view. It is designed primarily for imaging deep-sky objects and for capturing greater detail in relatively small targets.

Alongside it is a wide-angle camera featuring a Sony IMX586 8.3-megapixel sensor, a 6 mm focal length, and a wide 63° field of view. This second camera makes it possible to capture wide-field images of the sky, the Milky Way, star trails, and night landscapes, offering significantly greater versatility than the previous S50.

The Starry Sky mode can automatically create Milky Way panoramas and arches, while the stitching system combines multiple images to produce compositions with resolutions of up to 8K. The “Freeze the Ground” function is also available, designed to keep the terrestrial landscape sharp while the telescope tracks the movement of the stars.

The telephoto camera can also create mosaics: the DSO Mosaic Stitching function expands the field of view while preserving the level of detail of the main camera and can generate images up to 8K.

Like the other models in the Seestar range, the S50 Pro is controlled through the dedicated app.

The new AI Assistant makes interaction with the telescope even more immediate: it can help select objects, provide astronomical information, and automatically start pointing and imaging the chosen target.

With the Smart Enhancement function, images can be improved automatically, while the editing tools allow users to adjust star reduction, star removal, brightness, contrast, saturation, and noise reduction.

The Seestar S50 Pro integrates a UV/IR Cut filter on both the telephoto and wide-angle cameras. The telephoto system also includes a dual-band light-pollution filter, with dedicated 30 nm OIII and 20 nm Hα bands, particularly useful for imaging emission nebulae. A Dark Frame filter is also included for image calibration.

The package also includes a magnetic solar filter, allowing the telescope to be used for observing and photographing the Sun while following the safety procedures specified by the manufacturer.

Seestar S50 Pro

ZWO – Seestar S30 Pro

The Seestar S30 Pro is ZWO’s smart telescope designed to expand on the capabilities of the Seestar S30, making astrophotography simpler and more immediate.

Compact and lightweight, at just 1.65 kg, it combines a telescope, astronomical camera, wide-angle camera, electronic focuser, Alt-Az mount, filters, and controller in a single system. Everything is managed through the Seestar app, with GoTo functionality and automatic tracking of celestial objects.

Among its main new features is the dual 4K lens system, consisting of a telephoto camera with a Sony IMX585 sensor and a wide-angle camera with a Sony IMX586 sensor. This setup makes it possible to photograph both deep-sky objects, such as galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters, and wider subjects including the Milky Way, starry skies, and night landscapes. It also offers features such as automatic Milky Way mosaics up to 8K, constellation recognition, planning mode, and support for equatorial mode.

It uses a 4 element apochromatic optical system with ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass, designed to reduce chromatic aberration. The telephoto system has a 30 mm aperture, a 160 mm focal length, and an f/5.3 focal ratio, while the wide-angle camera provides a much broader field of view.

It can also be used to photograph the Moon, Sun, eclipses, birds, animals, and landscapes, thanks to photo, video, and time-lapse modes, as well as automatic subject tracking.

Seestar S30 Pro

DWARF MINI

The DWARF Mini is an extremely compact smart telescope, weighing just 840 g. Thanks to its dedicated app, it can automatically locate celestial objects, allowing users to start observing and photographing galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and the Moon right away.

Equipped with a telephoto lens and a Sony IMX662 sensor, the DWARF Mini can capture images in Full HD, with exposure times of up to 90 seconds. Files can be saved in several formats, including JPG, MP4, FITS, and TIFF.

The telescope also features a system of integrated filters, including:

• Dark frame filter, useful for reducing noise, hot pixels, and thermal artifacts.
• Broadband astro filter (430–690 nm), designed to provide improved contrast when photographing galaxies and star clusters.
• Dual narrowband Hα and O III filter, ideal for photographing nebulae even in the presence of light pollution or moonlight.

The dedicated app also includes the Stellar Studio function, which automatically combines multiple exposures into a single final image through stacking, improving the signal-to-noise ratio and the definition of fine details. The MegaStack mode can instead combine images captured during different sessions, helping to produce even cleaner and more detailed results.

The automatic GoTo system eliminates the need for manual alignment, making observing and astrophotography more immediate and intuitive.

The 64 GB of internal storage allows for extended imaging sessions without the need for external storage devices. Data can be transferred via Wi-Fi or through a USB-C connection.

The integrated 7000 mAh battery provides up to 4 hours of operating time and can be fully recharged in approximately 100 minutes.

Dwarf Mini

 

Here is a comparison chart of the four models:

Model	Seestar S50 Pro	Seestar S30 Pro	DWARF Mini
Weight	2.8 kg	1.65 kg	840 g
Telephoto aperture	50 mm	30 mm	30 mm
Main sensor	OmniVision OS08B10, 1/1.2", 2.9 μm pixels (telephoto) / Sony IMX586, 1/2", 1.6 μm pixels (wide-angle)	Sony IMX585 (telephoto) / Sony IMX586 (wide-angle)	Sony IMX662, 1/2.8" (telephoto) / OmniVision OS02K10, 1/2.8" (wide-angle)
Telephoto resolution	2160 × 3840 px – 8.3 MP, 4K	8.3 MP / 4K	Full HD / 2 MP
Maximum exposure	Up to 60 s in EQ mode	Up to 60 s in EQ mode	Up to 90 s in EQ mode (telephoto and wide-angle)
Built-in astronomy filters	UV/IR Cut on both cameras; Dual Band OIII 30 nm / Hα 20 nm and Dark Frame on the telephoto camera	UV/IR Cut, OIII/Hα, Dark Field	Dark, Astro, Dual Narrowband
Solar filter included	Yes	Yes, magnetic	Yes
Tripod included	Yes	Yes, tabletop tripod	No
Carrying case included	Yes, protective case	Yes	No
Storage	128 GB	128 GB	64 GB
Battery	10,000 mAh	6,000 mAh	7,000 mAh
GoTo / Tracking	Yes	Yes	Yes
Equatorial mode	Yes	Yes	Yes

 

ADVANCED RANGE

We now move into a more advanced category of smart telescopes, designed for users with a higher budget and some previous experience with astrophotography.

DWARF DRACO (Standard and SHO versions)

The DWARF DRACO is an advanced smart telescope designed for users looking for performance closer to that of a dedicated astrophotography setup, while retaining the automation typical of smart telescopes. It features a 90 mm aperture, 340 mm focal length telephoto system, paired with a second wide-angle camera offering an 85.74° field of view.

Both cameras use 50.33 MP sensors, while for deep-sky imaging the system uses 2×2 binning, producing images of around 12 MP with larger effective pixels and an improved signal-to-noise ratio. The main sensor also features active cooling, helping to reduce thermal noise during long imaging sessions.

DRACO automatically manages autofocus, calibration, pointing, tracking, and stacking, and supports exposures of up to 300 seconds, also thanks to its integrated guiding system. It can be used to photograph galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, the Moon, planets, the Sun, the Milky Way, star trails, and astronomical panoramas.

It is available in two versions: Standard and SHO. The SHO version adds an S II + O III filter to the Hα + O III system, allowing narrowband data acquisition suitable for creating images in the Hubble palette.

DWARF DRACO

Unistellar Odyssey and Odyssey Pro

The Unistellar Odyssey and Odyssey Pro are high-end smart telescopes designed to offer an observing experience that feels closer to that of a traditional telescope.

Their operation is still typical of a smart telescope. Both models are controlled through the Unistellar app for iOS and Android, which allows users to select a celestial object and let the motorized GoTo system locate and track it automatically. The Smart Star Finder technology can also suggest the best objects to observe based on your location and the time of night.

A particularly interesting feature is Stellar AutoFocus: Odyssey and Odyssey Pro do not require manual focusing during use. Their optics are also designed to avoid the usual collimation procedures, making setup much easier than with a traditional astronomical telescope.

During observation, the telescope does more than simply capture images. Unistellar’s algorithms process and combine short exposures in real time, progressively increasing the signal of celestial objects. Deep Dark technology is designed to reduce the effects of light pollution, making deep-sky observation possible even from urban or suburban areas.

From a technical point of view, Odyssey and Odyssey Pro share essentially the same specifications: an 85 mm aperture, a 320 mm focal length, an f/3.9 focal ratio, a motorized Alt-Az mount, 64 GB of storage, and a battery life of approximately 5 hours.

The main difference between the two models lies in the technology they use.

Feature	Unistellar Odyssey	Unistellar Odyssey Pro
Nikon Eyepiece Technology	No	Yes
Stellar AutoFocus	Yes	Yes
High-Precision Nikon Optics	Yes	Yes
Multi-Depth Technology	Yes	Yes
Dynamic Signal Amplification	Yes	Yes
Enhanced Resolution	Yes	Yes
Deep Dark Technology	Yes	Yes
Smart Star Finder	Yes	Yes

 

The standard Odyssey is mainly used through a smartphone or tablet: the image processed by the telescope is displayed directly on the device screen.

The Odyssey Pro, on the other hand, adds Nikon Eyepiece Technology, developed in collaboration with Nikon. This is not a traditional optical eyepiece: it uses an OLED microdisplay and a dedicated lens system to show the digitally processed image directly through the eyepiece. The system virtually projects the image at infinity and also includes diopter adjustment.

Odyssey and Odyssey Pro

Celestron Origin Mark II

The Celestron Origin Mark II is equipped with the Sony IMX678 sensor, a next-generation upgrade based on the latest Sony STARVIS 2 CMOS technology. With a resolution of 8.4 megapixels, 2.0 μm² square pixels, and a 16:9 aspect ratio, this sensor offers higher resolution and greater sensitivity than the first-generation Celestron Origin. Paired with the 152 mm (6") f/2.2 RASA optics, the 678C camera is capable of capturing the fine structure of galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters.

At the heart of the Celestron Origin Mark II smart telescope is a 6" Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph (RASA). In the RASA design, the image sensor is positioned at the front of the telescope tube rather than at the rear. This configuration creates a fast f/2.2 system, characterized by a particularly wide field of view and sharp images all the way to the edges.

The Celestron Origin Mark II also integrates artificial intelligence algorithms designed to automate several stages of astrophotography. During data acquisition, these algorithms automatically perform stacking and real-time processing of each frame. The result is a detailed representation of celestial objects, with vivid colors and a high level of detail.

Setting up the Celestron Origin Mark II is simple thanks to its automatic initialization process based on StarSense technology. Simply place the Origin Mark II outdoors, switch it on, and connect to the app. In less than two minutes, the telescope automatically focuses, scans the night sky, and completes the alignment process by comparing the detected star patterns with its internal database.

The Celestron Origin app provides an intuitive interface for exploring the night sky. Through the planetarium view, users can activate Compass Mode, point their device toward the sky, and directly select the object they want to observe. Alternatively, the “Tonight’s Best” section suggests the most interesting objects visible based on the user’s location and observing time, including galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and other celestial targets.

Once a target has been selected, the Celestron Origin Mark II automatically centers it in the field of view. By switching to the camera view and selecting “Start Imaging”, the telescope begins capturing 10-second exposures. The results can be viewed in real time as the image progressively reveals more detail.

Celestron Origin Mark II Smart Telescope

The smart telescope sector is evolving rapidly, and in the coming years we will certainly see the arrival of increasingly advanced, high-performance, and user-friendly instruments. Whether you are a beginner amateur astronomer looking for your first smart telescope or an experienced amateur astronomer who wants to expand their equipment, choosing the model that best suits your needs can make a real difference.

Still unsure about which smart telescope to choose? Don’t hesitate to contact us: our technical team is available to advise you and help you find the instrument that best matches your observing needs.

Tel. +39 0432 652609
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