Unistellar’s eVscope, the next generation of telescope – Astronomy Now

Sometimes, a great idea comes along at just the right time, when a confluence of technologies makes it possible. Conceived in January 2015 and first exhibited at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas exactly two years later, the eVscope is one such example, the brainchild of three scientists and one industrial engineer. Together, they founded Unistellar in Marseille, France, to realise their dream of a portable, self-contained and easy-to-use instrument for astronomers that they say is “100 times more powerful than a classical telescope.” 

Unistellar entered into partnership with the SETI Institute in July 2017 and later that same year started a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Evidently a lot of people are looking for a product like this, because 2,144 backers pledged $2,209,270 to turn the eVscope into reality. To date, Unistellar has delivered over 1,000 eVscopes in Europe, North America, Australia, Japan and elsewhere worldwide, with pre-orders for a further 2,000 units.

What is an eVscope?

Unistellar’s debut product is very different to a traditional optical telescope. The instrument uses an extremely sensitive electronic sensor at the focus of a 450mm focal length f/4 mirror on a self-aligning computerised alt-az mount. As it tracks its target, an onboard computer automatically applies intelligent image processing, delivering a near-real-time, full-colour image displayed on a miniature, extremely high contrast colour OLED (organic LED) screen that you view through an eyepiece on the side of the instrument, or on a separate smart device connected via Wi-Fi.

An eVscope delivers richly detailed images of nebulae and galaxies that you wouldn’t be able to see in any other way, except photographically and with far greater effort. Unistellar’s triumph lies in managing to distill a telescope on a self-aligning, computerised mount with an in-built camera and sophisticated image processing, into a portable, cable-free and easy-to-use product that runs off an internal battery for an entire night.

Since the eVscope is a wirelessly connected instrument, the Unistellar App running on your smartphone or tablet enables you to automatically locate and track any one of 5,200-plus objects (at the time of writing) in its database, or direct it towards specific coordinates in right ascension/declination, or altitude/azimuth. Thereafter, you can save and share so-called Enhanced Vision images. 

Furthermore, the connected nature of the eVscope allows you to participate in ‘Citizen Science’ activities. By activating their device’s Observation Campaign Mode, users can obtain coordinates of newly discovered objects, gather data for researchers, and upload this information to Unistellar’s servers. Thus you can make a real contribution to science by observing comets, supernovae, near-Earth asteroids or occultations of stars by asteroids, which is a unique and rather exciting feature of the instrument.

First impressions

The eVscope arrives in a box whose inner lid confidently tells you to ‘Prepare To Be Amazed’. Assembly is extremely straightforward, as you merely need to open and extend the tripod legs to the required height, ensuring that its head is level according to the built-in spirit level. The integrated tube assembly and mount then slides into position and is secured by two thumbwheels. 

At first glance, the eVscope looks rather like a conventional reflecting telescope with a two-tone matte silver and black tube, 55 centimetres long and 14.5 centimetres in diameter, attached to an L-shaped alt-azimuth mount. The instrument’s three-section aluminium tripod has photographic-style locking levers for easy adjustment, even with gloved hands. The eyepiece port lies on the side of the tube close to the intersection of the altitude and azimuth axes – a particularly ergonomic viewing configuration since its position remains largely constant wherever the telescope is pointed in the sky. At the tripod’s lowest, midway and fully extended positions, the average eyepiece heights are 84, 117 and 153 centimetres, respectively.

Contemplating the assembled eVscope for the first time, I was immediately struck by how ‘Apple-like’ it feels. If the tech giant ever made a telescope, an iScope if you will, this is exactly how I imagine it would look. The overall impression is minimalist – there’s no computerised hand controller or keypad, just a single illuminated power button in the fork arm – yet stylishly eye-catching.