The whole universe. The Night of the Stars this summer, the Blue Moon on the night of August 30 to 31… the celestial news has been rich in recent weeks and has prompted us to raise our heads more than usual to the sky. 20 minutes had the opportunity to test during the summer one of the connected telescopes, from Unistellar, special equipment for astronomy fans.
Dust off astronomy
Let’s face it right away. We haven’t seen any Little Green Man using Unistellar’s eVescope ‘smart’ telescope! But by connecting its tool for observing the celestial vault to our smartphones, we have to admit that the French start-up has succeeded in dusting off astronomy somewhat. Consider a connected telescope, operating using an application.
On its robust tripod with a spirit level, the device which weighs 9 kg has found its place on the terrace of a small village house in the heart of the Drôme Provençale, under a perfectly clear sky. As night falls more and more rapidly in August, our various tests began shortly before 10 p.m. Recharged (autonomy: up to 10 hours), the eVscope works on battery. Once running, it creates its Wifi network to which it is enough to pair. The smartphone/telescope tandem in operation, all that remains is to let their curiosity express itself.
No black stars, but white ones, blue ones…
Among the advantages of this coupling, the fact that it is geolocated. Thus the application offers in a vast catalog the planets, stars, nebulae, galaxies, comets and other asteroids that you will be able to observe. If, alas, the Dark Star of Star Wars does not appear in this colossal catalog, there are dozens of others whose names, laymen that we are, we discover…
La Superba; Elgafar… up to the unpronounceable Zubenelhakrabi! It remains to choose the one on which we want to focus, click on the smartphone screen to select it, then on “Pointer”. A discreet motor noise coming from the telescope testifies to the fact that the device is positioning itself, slowly but surely, towards its target to reveal it to us. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for its 114 mm diameter mirror (with 450 mm focal length) to find its exact position. The time to taste in moderation the little Genepi of rigor in our latitudes…
Point, and observe!
The “wow” effect is not yet for now. Sometimes it takes a little time for the telescope to focus as finely as possible. Therefore, two options: observe the star on which we pointed from the screen of our smartphone (interesting, because information concerning it is indicated, such as its elevation, its azimuth, the duration during which it is visible), or from the Nikon focuser onto the camera’s large optical tube.
For laymen? Not so sure…
Okay, let’s be clear. The images offered obviously bear no resemblance to those that fall from the sky and amaze us thanks to the Hubble or James Webb telescopes. Here, more or less large white dots or spots, sometimes blue, clouds… which can impress. Or not. Young people in their twenties present by our side quickly turned away from our observations, preferring to scrutinize the latest offers from Netflix to, in the absence of stars, make a canvas to end the evening.
Concerning us, we regretted that the designers of Unistellar had not thought of offering the “Dummies in astronomy” of which we are a part a kind of “beginner’s course”. Just to invite us to point their telescope at certain parts of the sky, rather than letting us take off towards infinity and beyond, without any particular destination, a bit at random.
Otherwise, it is the concept, the simplicity of use of the Unistellar telescope that seduces. It is available from 2,500 euros (ten times more expensive than a classic amateur telescope!). Impossible to recommend it to a beginner in astronomy. But its catalog of galaxies, nebulae and other constellations won us over. The open door to the invisible. The fact, also, of stopping the course of time and taking that, so rare and precious, necessary to observe. By becoming aware of this infinity that surrounds us.