This smart telescope knows how to find stars and beat light pollution
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If you look at the night sky, you might see some stars, even a bright planet and, of course, the moon. You won’t see galaxies and the billions of stars that share the universe with those brighter objects. That is because show studies (opens in new tab) 80% of the world’s population lives under slightly polluted air. At CES 2023, Unistellar is showing off a smart telescope that appears to bounce back light and reveal the wonders of the universe to all.
The new eQuinox 2 is a 400x telescope – upgraded from the original model with a better photo sensor and wider field of view – with no buttons or controls visible to the user. The gray slim optical device caught my eye at CES’ first press night. At about two feet long, it’s clearly a stargazer, but the lack of physical controls might leave you confused. It shouldn’t.
Unistellar showed me how to use the companion app (on a phone or tablet) to control the motorized telescope. On a tablet you can select the Orion Nebula and the smart telescope will use your phone’s GPS to know where it is on Earth and where to point the optics. I watched as they tapped a stellar object on the screen and the eQuinox 2 rotated toward the Nebula.
Since we were in a convention hall, Unistellar couldn’t demonstrate its secret sauce live, but they put me through a simulation.
I know this Unistellar Smart Telescope The eQuinox 2 with 400x (optical) is $2500 but I kinda want it. It uses a smartphone or iPad app to take all the guesswork out of astronomy and make the invisible visible. #CES2023 pic.twitter.com/OMnZcUZrRMJanuary 6, 2023
On an iPad screen, they selected the Whirlpool Galaxy (opens in new tab), and the telescope silently turned to the correct position. After a few moments I saw an image on the screen, but no galaxy. This is where things get interesting. Because of light pollution, unless you venture to the most remote areas, standard telescopes can struggle to see many astronomical objects.
eQuinox 2 uses Smart Light Pollution Reduction, an AI and algorithm based system that digitally corrects the images to remove the effects of light pollution. The Unistellar rep tapped a button, and then I watched the image dissolve on the screen until we could see the beautiful little swirling galaxy millions of miles away.
“It wasn’t that it wasn’t there, it was that we had to clean it up with an algorithm to make it accessible,” the Unistellar rep told me. He added that it was hidden because of the light pollution, but also because it is a faint object. What’s not entirely clear is how much of what eQuinox 2 shows you with the Smart Light Pollution Reduction is optical and what is a digital fabrication of the algorithm based on what it knows the galaxy looks like.
The app comes preloaded with 500 celestial bodies and suggestions for finding more, but you don’t have to manually adjust the telescope to find them. eQuinox 2 is 100% app driven. That probably makes it suitable for amateurs, but maybe not for semi-professional astronomers.
eQuinox 2 is available to pre-order now for $2,499 (€2,499 in Europe) and will ship in early 2023.
Check out our CES 2023 hub for all the latest from the show as it happens. We cover everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops and smart home gadgets, so stay with us for the big stories.