Unveiling the Celestial Wonders: Unistellar’s Next-Generation Digital Telescopes Showcase Swift and Enhanced Focus on the Cosmos.
Impressed by Unistellar’s EVScope 2, a state-of-the-art digital telescope that autonomously directs itself toward celestial wonders based on your selections through the associated app, I find their latest offerings equally noteworthy. The newly introduced Odyssey and Odyssey Pro, revealed at CES Unveiled and currently available for purchase, alleviate a common challenge associated with stargazing: maintaining focus.
Unlike their predecessors, the Odyssey models utilize intelligent technology to automatically lock onto astronomical objects, eliminating the need for manual adjustments with a specialized screen. Franck Marchis, a SETI Institute astronomer and Unistellar’s chief scientific officer, lauds these models as the solution to the primary issues faced by the first generation.
While the price tags of $2,499 for the Odyssey and $3,999 for the Odyssey Pro may deter some casual buyers, they present a more affordable option compared to the $4,899 EVscope 2. Particularly appealing to astronomy enthusiasts and educators, these telescopes enhance accessibility to the wonders of the universe.
Unistellar’s telescopes analyze the star patterns to determine their orientation and, through the app, allow users to choose from an extensive list of astronomical objects. In contrast to traditional telescopes with intricate motors compensating for the Earth’s rotation, Unistellar telescopes track their observations and adjust accordingly.
Being digital cameras, these telescopes have the added capability of capturing photos. They employ a stacking technique for multiple images to enhance the final photo quality. Although not reaching the sophistication of the James Webb Space Telescope, even under suburban skies with light pollution, I managed to capture compelling photos, providing a sense of awe at distant galaxies millions of light years away.
The Odyssey and Odyssey Pro models address a significant inconvenience by introducing automatic autofocus, preventing soft focus issues encountered with the EVscope 2. These models are also more compact and lighter, weighing less than half of the nearly 20 pounds of the EVscope 2.
The Odyssey Pro, equipped with pixel binning technology named Multi-Depth, optimizes photos automatically for various situations. It delivers higher resolution for bright planets in our solar system and enhances low-light performance for dimmer, more distant objects. For solar system objects, it combines multiple shots taken at high shutter speeds to counteract atmospheric distortion.
Distinguishing itself, the Odyssey Pro features an optical viewfinder, unlike the Odyssey, where star observation occurs exclusively through the app. A specialized red version of the Odyssey Pro, priced at $4,499, is expected in April.
Despite the introduction of the new models, Unistellar plans to continue offering the EVscope 2, renowned for its superior performance in viewing dim objects due to its wider aperture for increased light gathering.
