With smart telescopes from Unistellar, even laypeople can quickly achieve success in space observation. With the Unistellar Odyssey, a particularly versatile model is now appearing.
Planets, stars and galaxies: countless celestial bodies in space are waiting to be observed. However, this is not exactly easy for laypeople, as observing with conventional telescopes often requires prior knowledge and practice. It should be easier with automatic telescopes, such as those offered by Unistellar with the eVscope 2 and eQuinox 2. This means that even complete astronomy beginners can quickly achieve success – thanks to a smart app and automatic alignment. At CES 2024 (January 9th to 12th in Las Vegas, USA), the French manufacturer is now presenting the Unistellar Odyssey, a new flagship model that promises even greater convenience.
Reflector telescope without tricky adjustment
The new Unistellar Odyssey differs externally from its two previous models. Because with a weight of 4 kilograms and dimensions of around 43x20x13 centimeters, it is only half as heavy and only half as big as the eVscope 2 and eQuinox 2. Unistellar also wants to have improved the interior. The Unistellar Odyssey is said to be the first reflecting telescope that does not require regular manual readjustment of its mirrors. According to Unistellar, this is made possible by special optics developed in cooperation with Nikon, the Nikon High Precision Optics. Another advantage of the new Odyssey automatic telescope: Thanks to a new multi-depth technology and automatic focus, the Odyssey is intended to provide detailed images when observing nearby planets as well as distant galaxies and up to 150 million stars are visible make. This means that detailed images of Jupiter’s large red spot can be taken without changing the set-up, but the spiral arms of the vortex galaxy, 23 million light-years away, can also be observed. Thanks to a smart app, the celestial body to be discovered should always be just a few clicks away.
Into space via app
Because the free Unistellar app is the control center of the smart Unistellar telescopes. Users connect their smartphone or tablet to the Odyssey via a WiFi signal and activate the automatic alignment. Afterwards, countless celestial objects can be selected from a catalog and automatically controlled and focused by the telescope. The Unistellar star hunter determines where to point its lens based on the user’s GPS position and the current time. Using the app, users also observe the telescope’s current camera image and, if desired, take pictures of the observed celestial object and save them on the telescope’s device memory. The application also provides more detailed information about planets, stars and galaxies and suggests celestial objects to observe.
Price and availability
The Unistellar Odyssey is now available at a price of 2,499 euros. The smart space telescope is also available in a Pro version for 3,999 euros, which has an electronic eyepiece from Nikon. Stars and galaxies can therefore be observed not only via the tablet or smartphone, but also directly on the telescope. The Odyssey Pro will also soon be available in an eye-catching “Red Edition”. Its price is 4,499 euros.
