Vaonis Vespera Wants to Help You Reconnect with the Stars

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Vespera, conceived as the perfect combination of a telescope and a camera, aims to make astronomy and astrophotography accessible to everyone. Telescopes can be heavy, cumbersome, and difficult to use; Vespera removes the telescope’s eyepiece and uses your mobile device as the viewfinder, in conjunction with their app. With the app, you can capture photos of galaxies, planets, nebulae, and more.

Vaonis Vespera CES 2021

Vespera weighs ten pounds and is 15″ tall; it’s portable enough to stow in your backpack, and it is designed to be easy to use. After setting Vespera up on its tripod, which has adjustable legs, the app calibrates your precise location with the GPS on your mobile device. Using their app, you’ll see a menu of stellar objects that you can observe; all you have to do is select the one you’d like to see, and Vespera will point and track it, compensating for the earth’s rotation.

Included in the box are:

  • Vespera observation station
  • Short tripod
  • USB wall charger
  • USB magnetic cable
  • Free mobile app

Vespera is designed so that you can share space observations with your loved ones in real-time.

Vaonis Vespera Is Designed to Be Easy to Use, Even If You Are New to Astronomy and Astrophotography

Vespera is equipped with a state-of-the-art quadruplet apochromatic refractor, a powerful and accurate design with zero distortion. Using a Sony IMX462 sensor with Starvis technology made for low light, you’ll capture images that will blow your mind.

Vaonis Vespera CES 2021

Vespera’s team of engineers and software experts has developed the most autonomous, patented imaging algorithm so that you can get amazing photographs every time. When photographing, Vespera keeps only the best pictures and stacks them on top of each other, revealing the brightest and sharpest images possible. To guide you, they’ve developed an incredibly user-friendly app that gives you personalized recommendations on what to explore according to your geolocation and the astronomical calendar.

You can choose your destination from their catalog of astronomical subjects, and you can learn along the way with their educational content. You’ll be able to capture your discoveries and share them with the world.

Vaonis Vespera CES 2021

Vespera is endorsed by Terry Birch, former NASA astronaut and captain of the International Space Station, who says it is much easier to bring out than a traditional telescope. He says that Vespera “gives you an endless amount of thing to look at. Where with a telescope, you’ve got the moon, a couple of planets, and then you are out of things to watch” (assuming that you don’t know what to look for), he thinks that Vespera “is something that’s going to revolutionize the way you see the night sky.

Scott Kelly, a former NASA astronaut, says that ever since his first mission to repair the Hubble space telescope, he’s been fascinated with what Hubble shows us “about our place in the universe.” He hopes that “with Vespera, having your own exploration station that you can take with you, wherever you go, can maybe inspire you and inspire your children to go further. To challenge themselves to reach their dreams.”

Vespera invites you to be part of space exploration history and to write the next chapters together. Somewhere in the vast darkness of space, a new journey awaits.

I can’t tell you how much I want one of these!

The Vaonis Vespera will sell for $1499, and you can preorder one here; delivery will be in spring 2022.

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About the Author

Judie Lipsett Stanford
Judie is the co-owner and Editor-in-Chief of Gear Diary, which she founded in September 2006. She started in 1999 writing software reviews at the now-defunct smaller.com; from mid-2000 through 2006, she wrote hardware reviews for and co-edited at The Gadgeteer. A recipient of the Sigma Kappa Colby Award for Technology, Judie is best known for her device-agnostic approach, deep-dive reviews, and enjoyment of exploring the latest tech, gadgets, and gear.