Hestia Smart Telescope - Setup & Solar Test!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- I was completely taken by surprise when Vaonis generously sent me their latest smart telescope. They didn't mention anything but I'm very grateful. So, a big thank you to Vaonis! Today, let's take a close look, and put it to the test by capturing some Solar activity.
First Light Optics (affiliate links)
Smart telescopes:
www.firstlight...
ZWO Cameras:
www.firstlight...
Beginner Telescopes:
www.firstlight...
Complete Range of Telescopes:
www.firstlight...
Mounts:
www.firstlight...
Eyepieces:
www.firstlight...
Filters:
www.firstlight...
Accessories:
www.firstlight...
Binoculars:
www.firstlight...
My Patreon: www.patreon.co...
Buy Me a Coffee: www.buymeacoff...
*Music Licensed from Story Blocks*
Serenity
Beautiful sound under the movies
Prismatic
Night Life
I have one coming in soon. For the price, though, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. But, from this, I think I am actually whelmed.
I think we will have fun with it…. And you gotta love that it will evolve and improve over time, literally should last a lifetime if you take care of it. Seems like a good purchase and will be like getting a new scope every time apple or android takes your money 😂
lol Brilliant! Whelmed should be used more often as a word.
Because I was able to get one of these for my brother, he and I will be able to do astronomy stuff together even though we’re a couple hundred miles apart. It actually looks pretty impressive. Thanks for sharing the video.
1st one ive seen in the wild
My Hestia Smart Telescope arrived yesterday, took some pretty cool pictures of the sun today with sun spots. Looking forward to taking some moon pics when the sky clears. 🖖
Thanks for the video. I think it’s the first video/unboxing. What is your opinion of it?
Early days yet but it seems quick to setup for capturing Sun spots. If I had to make a prediction I think it will be ok for revealing some craters on the Moon, but I'm feathering my expectations when it comes to deep sky captures with no tracking.
I got my Hestia two weeks ago and I've been waiting for a clear night to take moon photos. I struggle with the app, so please do more videos about that. At least you showed a few of the things it can do, no one else is doing that. The Hesitia pretty much just magnifies things. It's the app that does the work, so to speak. The tripod has issues. I wish it had a standard screw so I could use one of my other tripods. Looking forward to more videos from you about it.
You can get a screw adapter, but on my first attempt I noticed when I adjust it starts moving, almost flung my phone off when it did a spin around. I need to find something that locks
That's great! Please share a video on how to operate it and its functions and deep sky astrophotography
Looks great! Getting excited for mine. It's still on the boat somewhere!
nearly got one, pleased i didnt...no tracking..all manual..very shaky...ended up getting seestar s50
A tracker will be released for it this spring, shakiness will depend on your tripod and video head, but yeah the one provided may work best to keep it in retracted position and sit on the ground with it, some people may want to get in to robotics like you did, Hestia is not a robot… it’s simply a beginner scope with no electronics, I expect it to be fun to use though, I plan to mount mine on my manual refractor
If I’d gotten the seestar, I wouldn’t have been able to get one for my brother who lives 3+ hours away.
I think this works amazingly. No reason this can’t be set up in a stable manner. Shouldn’t be a problem unless you are trying to take photos in the middle of an earthquake.
Thanks for sharing. Doesn't look too bad.
Something for you to try that I have speculated might work, grab one of the eyepieces from your other scopes and turn it upside down and place it on the optics on hestia that you set your phone on. I think this may work to turn hestia in to a spotting scope, if it works I’m not sure what mm eyepiece would be best but plan to try them to see
These things are becoming popular.
Cool music but absolutely no dialogue that explains any of this.
We are drive ng (and adventuring along the way) from NV to TX for the eclipse. And of these smart telescopes be able to capture the diamond or beads? Please help? Thanks so much; in advance. 😊
Hi Patricia. In order to capture the diamond ring, beads, I think you would need to remove the solar filter once totality is reach then bracket your shots, in other words take lots of images with different exposures to account for the range of brightness/dynamic range. I think these smart telescopes will be better for capturing the lead up to totality as it might be a faff trying to unscrew the filter whilst maintaining focus in order to capture fine detail such as the beads and diamond ring. You might be better off with a DSLR/Mirrors camera, long lens and white light filter; it would be easier to remove the filter and DLSRs and Mirrorless cameras have settings for bracketing shots. This guide might help explain better: www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/photography/tips-and-solutions/how-to-photograph-a-solar-eclipse I know it goes without saying, but please be super careful with your eyesight and enjoy it! Clear skies from the UK.
Mine should be delivered mid March. Started planning trip to Ohio to get in the path of totality. Any suggested locations that isn't a big city?
Hi Corey. I've never visited the US so I'm probably not the best person to ask, but I hope you manage capture the eclipse ok.
I'll be going down to Wapakoneta from Michigan, should be a nice fun crowd there in front of the Neal Armstrong Air & Space Museum.
Thanks for sharing. What smartphone are you using?
Doh! I completely forgot to mention this! Samsung Galaxy s21 FE. I'm due an upgrade, had it nearly 3 years!
Mine came in today but I'm not home to check it out yet. Can't wait
Great review, I guess if you can’t say something good, then say nothing at all.
Review?
Is this a goto type or do you manually move the scope using the tripod?
You manually move it so I'm feathering my expectations for deep sky captures.
Can you let me know the size of the solar filter?
Standard 1.25" astronomy filters (28.5mm thread)
Thanks so much!@@Astrolavista - hope you're enjoying the Hestia. Can't wait to receive mine.
I've been using the Dwarf II astrophotography system since last May. It's great! I see things with it I can't see in my 10" scope. I use an NGC catalog with more than 7800 deep sky objects (DSOs). I can manually enter their coordinates. I didn't see any way of entering manual coordinates of DSOs with the Hestia. How many objects are in the Hestia database? Can you look at an object at your zenith without the phone falling off the Hesta? How are the settings for exposure time, gain and stacked frames? The video of the Sun was very shaky!
I have several robots, hestia is just a manual scope but should be fun, it initially will have a very small database but likely to expand monthly. You should be able to go almost vertical… it’s just gravity holding it in place, shakiness will depend on your tripod and head just like all manual scopes
Also notable, in 10 years Hestia will still be like a new scope that improves every time you upgrade your phone…. Unlike my robots that will surely have died by then
I own a Dwarf II also. I plan to use it as soon as I've finished replying to comments as it's clear tonight. I was surprised the thin tripod they include with the Hestia extends so high. That and having to tap and slide your finger on your phone to make adjustments whilst it's sat on the Hestia means it does shake, yes. I've only captured the Sun so far, but I did run through the data base on the screen during the video, it's on the left hand side of the screen, straight after I showed downloading the App.
The Hestia seems to fit a gap between just using a smart phone and a fully fledged smart telescope such as the Seestars or D2. It's basically a smart phone amplifier with some smart telescope features. I will test deep sky with the Hestia but my expectations are quite low without tracking. No clue how that would work at this stage. I used the Hestia for the first time yesterday and recorded it as I know there is limited information out there at the moment.
I wouldn't point it at zenith unless you want your phone take up base jumping!
My understanding is that some kind of track motor will be available sometime this year.
You are comparing a $178 item to a $650 one. Good for you, but unfair comparison don't you think? BTW, for those who suggest the Hestia's deficiency is a tracking unit, check the price difference. A "robot" scope is priced in four figures. The Hestia is just an affordable start point. You can add a tracking mount (i.e. Sky-Watcher AZ-GTi Mount) for $500 AND you now have tracking smart scope that is still under $1000. I already have one of those mounts, so the Hestia is ideal for me.
Nice for bird watching 😊
Once you have the upside down eyepiece in place, you may have to adjust optics on front of hestia for correct focus, I think you just rotate the lens assembly
Seems to be a few of this type of telescope about at the min , but I think the ones with tracking look better
Hey Tony for sure I agree :) I think the Hestia is aimed at being the middle ground between just a smart phone and a fully fledged smart scope like the Seestars or Dwarf II. If I had to describe it after admittedly very limited use, I would describe it as a smart phone amplifier :D
That’s a great way to describe it. I actually used almost those exact words to describe it to a friend recently.
Chris, I always like your videos, but the music in this one, arrgh! 😮
Hi Will, I'm sorry to hear that. I tend to down load around 20 tracks and drop them on the time line one at a time to see what fits rather than what I actually like. I pay £450 a year to Story Blocks for this privilege, and I've decided it's not worth it as I can spend hours listening to hundreds of tracks trying to find something that doesn't sound completely cheesy. I also keep on getting copy right strikes and many of my appeals are ignored, meaning the few £ I make from a video go to the musician. It's not the money as its not much, but the principle of it grates on me so I won't be renewing. I've just signed up to a monthly subscription with Invideo AI to play around with, so some of my videos may be a little different and the ones that are the same might be more silent.
completely whelmed
Arrived in time for eclipse. The device was a massive success. So glad I did the kickstarter. My pics were fantastic.
That's great 👍 👌
looks great but im still with ves[era
Seems super jittery.
How do you zoom in 💀
The optics have a fixed focal length so you would need to digitally zoom using your phone.
@@Astrolavista thanks for the reply man
Very annoying music.
Tried to order one, wasn’t impressed by the amount of comments from buyers who had gone months without receiving anything, and the comment from Vaonis, that they only have a prototype and not a working model? Good that you managed to get one, shame I’m going to be forced toward another manufacturer to fill the gap I have in my gear.
It was a startup product on Kickstarter. We all knew it could get delayed a month or two.
As someone else said it was a Kickstarter campaign that was way more successful than Vaonis could have imagined, and unfortunately they made the promise of getting a certain tier to backers in the USA in time for the eclipse which has meant everyone else's reward has been delayed somewhat, but looking how quickly you can get an image of the sun I can't wait for mine to arrive just to play with through the summer, it will compliment the Seestar nicely
The product is currently shipping. I'm unaware of anyone who has received it yet, but they are expected to arrive in a week or two. I have ordered one, but has not shipped yet. I'm disappointed.
It’s just a manual beginner scope, main advantage over other manual scopes is the gravity app will stack the images which should make what you can see through it better
Haywain it’s not something that you can order yet. It was a kickstarter and indiegogo thing. Right now, they’re fulfilling backers rewards. I wouldn’t expect to see it available at retail until at least summer.
It is too bad you could not talk with some explanation as to what you were doing. I just received the unit yesterday and the directions are pretty poor and I also don’t understand what it actually does. Is it just a magnifying glass?
Noticed Kesgrave. Ipswich?