Recent advances in affordable smart telescope technologies make imaging deep-sky objects quite routine for everyone. One no longer needs experience using a telescope, or astroimaging courses and software to create color photos of some of the most spectacular nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters in the night sky. All you need is a smartphone/tablet to run the telescope's app and post-process your image (if desired) using their built-in photo editing tools. There are no eyepieces, finder scopes and cameras to buy.
Here are some examples of smart telescopes tested by Sky & Telescope (S&T) and Astronomy magazines.
- DwarfLab's Dwarf 3, Astronomy Volume 53(8), August 2025, pp. 48-49.
- The ZWO Seestar S30 Telescope, S&T Volume 149(6), June 2025, pp. 68-72.
- Celestron Origin, S&T Volume 149(1), January 2025, pp. 66-69.
- ZWO Seestar S50, Astronomy Volume 53(1), January 2025, pp. 44-45.
- DwarfLab Dwarf II, Astronomy Volume 52(8), August 2024, pp. 44-45.
- DwarfLab Dwarf II, S&T Volume 148(1), July 2024, pp. 66-71.
- Unistellar eQuinox 2, Astronomy Volume 52(5), May 2024, pp. 46-47.
- Unistellar eQuinox 2, S&T Volume 147(4), April 2024, pp. 66-70.
- ZWO Seestar S50, S&T Volume 147(3), March 2024, pp. 66-71.
- Vaonis VE50 Vespera, Astronomy Volume 52(2), February 2024, pp. 48-49.
- Vaonis VE50 Vespera, S&T Volume 145(6), June 2023, pp. 66-70.
- Vaonis Stellina, Astronomy Volume 48(8), August 2020, pp. 60-61.
- Vaonis Stellina, S&T Volume 139(3), March 2020, pp. 68-71.
