Vaonis, a graduate of ESA`s Business Incubation Center (ESA BIC) located in south France, has designed a very compact, user friendly and affordable entry level priced telescope, for that he already raised huge amount of 2.5 million dollar.
During the times of COVID -19, his telescope got massive surge in sales as peoples are spending more time at home, and the telescope is almost first of its kind, Vaonis a start-up that specializes in the production of astronomical instruments, has seen orders of its flagship telescope Stellina (Italian for ‘little star’) more than double since the beginning of the first national lockdowns early in 2020.
Vespera – is already being used by hundreds of space lovers in the world. The Vespera telescope uses a smartphone or tablet as its ‘eyepiece’ and controller, letting users choose what they want to view via mobile application. It also offers educational content and personalized recommendations based on the user’s location and the astronomical calendar.
The app presents a list of cosmic points of interest to point the telescope towards, like the birth of a star, and the motors and GPS aboard the telescope point the lens in the right direction. From there you can watch the view live, take stacks of photos to reveal more detail and share what you’re seeing with friends.
You can even schedule observations if you want to capture something while you’re asleep. Right now you’ll have to wait til 2022 to get your hands on a ‘scope, but it’s bigger sibling, the Stellina, is on sale now.
Vespera weight is less than 5 kg and size of around 40x20x9 cm, Vespera combines high precision optics, electronics and mechanics, plus a patented autonomous image processing algorithm. It is designed to cater for newcomers to stargazing, thanks to its ease of use and mobile app. Once the telescope is set up, users can observe the night sky’s hidden gems, including galaxies and nebulae, on their smartphone screens and then share their photos on social media.
