Hestia is the first telescope to harness the power of your smartphone sensors to capture stellar images. Lighter, smaller, and more accessible than anything else currently on the market, the product is currently in the process of being delivered to successful Kickstarter campaign backers.
Reminiscent of the shape and weight of a book, the new Vaonis Hestia telescope is based on an optical system consisting of a 30 mm (1.18 in) lens and prisms, which collect and focus light directly into a smartphone's camera sensor.
Users position their smartphone on the device and align the phone's camera with Hestia's eyepiece. Thanks to a system of removable magnets, the instrument is designed to accommodate smartphones of all sizes.
Guided by the Gravity app by Vaonis, future astronomers can then point out celestial objects using an interactive sky map and observe the Sun, the Moon and deep sky objects on a phone screen, including the Orion nebula, the Andromeda galaxy, the Pleiades, and much more.