Visual Observing vs. Smart Telescopes — Finding Harmony

I've been a dedicated visual observer since I was 11 years old. I relish observing the night sky with the naked eye or through a telescope. Photons racing across millions of light-years that find a home in the biology of my eye, brain, and consciousness make me feel that I'm physically interacting with the greater cosmos. The thrill of this is difficult to describe. But I keep trying.

Alongside visual observation I've also been involved in astrophotography from the start. By age 12 I was already looking for a camera capable of doing time exposures — my first camera from Walgreen's wasn't up to the task. Since that time, photography has been an integral part of exploring the night. I enjoy including local landscapes when imaging conjunctions, naked-eye comets, aurora, eclipses, and meteor showers.

During and since the pandemic, the members of our two regional astronomy clubs, the Arrowhead Astronomical Society and Chippewa Valley Astronomical Society, have met weekly on Zoom to share images and stories. Last year, one of the members brought up smart telescopes and the potential they could have to revolutionize amateur astronomy. It seemed everyone was buying one and posting amazing images on social-media sites. A smart telescope has a built-in camera that stacks successive short exposures of a selected target until it builds up a detailed image. The user operates it with a smartphone and photos are stored in the phone's photo library. No knowledge of the sky is required, and a beginner can be off and running in minutes.

My first reaction was mild despair. It seemed that more and more newcomers to the hobby were skipping the get-to-know-the-sky part in favor of flashy images taken with automated telescopes. At the same moment I realized this knee-jerk reaction was short-sighted. Proliferating light pollution along with the inherent challenges novices face finding astronomical objects have made visual astronomy increasingly difficult in recent years. Automated, budget-astrophotography offers yet another path to the stars, and the more choices there are, the more likely an individual will find something that fits.

Plus, let's be honest, most of us are buried in our phones. An astronomical activity that includes the device is likely to garner more interest than more traditional methods. Smart telescopes make surprisingly clear and deep images for their small apertures, and with the right software anyone can capture and display professional-looking photographs for personal enjoyment or sharing on social media. To see what all the excitement was about I dropped $499 on a Seestar S50 last winter. I also justified the expense as a quick and easy way to record my favorite transient phenomena such as supernovae and comets.

After some initial focusing and pointing issues I've had lots of great runs this spring and early summer photographing transients and, just for fun, a sprinkling of galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. "Blown away" exactly describes how I felt watching the photos coalesce on my smartphone screen in near-real time. It took me back to my old darkroom days of watching an image magically appear on a blank sheet of photo paper. In no time at all galaxies grow arms, comets shoot out tails, and faint nebulae reveal delicate hints of color. The experience is both magical and seductive.

While this particular smartscope camera lacks the resolution of a dedicated astro-imaging rig the results are detailed and impressive. Users can let the images stack for hours if needed. The unit even has a built-in dew heater for humid nights and nebular filter for enhancing emission nebulae. As soon as your exposure is finished the images upload to your phone. Later, I move them to my main computer to tweak in Photoshop, then use Visual Paradigm's free online image enhancer to remove graininess and noise. The end results are what you see here. Other users prefer more robust astrophotography software such as Siril (free) or PixInsight.

Smartscopes are hot and getting hotter. Beside the ZWO Seestar, companies such as Unistellar, Vaonis, Celestron, and DwarfLab sell a variety of models at different price levels. Presently, only Unistellar offers a direct pipeline for citizen scientists to share imagery and data with professional astronomers. Smart telescopes are well-suited for work in "exoplanet transits, asteroid occultations, and near-Earth object modeling," says Matthew Ryno, 39, vice president and acting president of the Milwaukee Astronomical Society. The club has two eVscopes that see constant use by members of all ages including some as young as 14.

"They (scopes) connect you directly to researchers to contribute science from your backyard," said Ryno. Unistellar partners with the SETI Institute to get the word out on what to target. Users upload their data to Unistellar's servers, which is tapped by SETI Institute scientists. Club members have participated "in more than 350 science missions," said Ryno, and have seen their names and data published in multiple papers.

"I post their light curves on the observatory wall," said Ryno.

With all the Seestars out there, fueled by a lively Facebook group, it would be great if ZWO were to step up and provide its army of users a similar citizen science option. Easy astrophotography paired with a dedicated data conduit would motivate many to make a scientific contribution.

I'm optimistic that novices whose first brush with astronomy is a smart telescope will find a path to cosmic discovery and enjoyment like others have in more traditional ways. Likewise, long-time observers who have never considered trying their hand at astrophotography or contributing to a scientific paper now have a wide-open door.