Unisteller's latest telescopes make stargazing as easy as flipping through your phone

Winter nights may be long, but they don't have to be boring, even for people with small apartments and no space for a very large telescope. Unistellar's newest telescope, the Odyssey, is half the size and less than half the weight of the company's last big release from 2023. However, with a few taps on your phone, it still makes it easier than ever to zoom in on your favorite planet, star or nebula Or a galaxy far, far away.

Unistellar model last year, Equinox 2It also has one long telescope that connects to users' phones. However, it is The biggest selling point was the light pollution filters It was supposed to make it a little easier to see beyond the empty night sky in suburban or semi-urban environments. This model was also geared toward beginners, and it fared well in that regard during Gizmodo's own tests, but Unistellar is touting this latest telescope as being better than before at helping amateur astronomers get started with stargazing.

You see, where the company's previous telescope was a digital reflector telescope, the $2,500 Odyssey telescope uses mirror optics jointly developed with lens maker Nikon that still uses the company's same autofocus capabilities to find planets and stars by typing in The desired celestial body in the Unistellar application. Mirror telescopes usually require re-adjustment after use. However, Laurent Marvisi, co-founder and CEO of Unistellar, told Gizmodo that the Odyssey changes that by having closed mirrors that don't lose their optimization.

The eQuinox was designed in such a way that exotic objects, such as distant galaxies or nebulae, were visible, while nearby objects, such as planets, were slightly out of focus, Marvisi said. The great motive behind the Odyssey was to make things far and near come with the same degree of clarity. The company calls this technology “Multi-Depth Technology,” but it automatically turns on different light sensitivity and pixel resolution settings depending on the object you're trying to view. The autofocus should make it a hands-off experience, as you get the best focus settings whether the telescope is focusing on Mars or the Dumbbell Nebula.

The other big update this year is the Unistellar app itself. The company has modified it to provide more context and history about the moon, planet or star they are looking at, the Unistellar CEO said.

The $2,500 Odyssey doesn't have an eyepiece, so you'll need to connect your tablet or phone in order to look at those distant celestial objects. If you want something you can view with your own eyes, you'll have to shell out $4,000 for the Odyssey Pro, which has Nikon's digital lens for those portrait optics.

If you're really hungry for something special, the Fire Engine Red Edition of the Odyssey Pro will set you back $4,500. It should be available starting Sunday on Unistellar's website or other online retailers.

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