Smart double barrel telescope allows you to swap optics like camera lenses

Exploring the night sky usually means first learning how to use a telescope. French company Vaonis makes smart telescopes that skip the learning curve. You choose a target from your phone and the headset’s built-in brains find and track it. Now it’s launching Atlas, a modular unit that lets you swap out optics as your stargazing ambitions grow.

Atlas is controlled through an app called Gaia. You choose a target from a live view of the sky, the mount is rotated toward it, and the telescope begins collecting images. According to the company, it can photograph deep sky objects, the Moon, the Sun and, in future iterations, even planets in our Solar System.

Vaonis says three patented systems make the concept work. The SkyDock docking system allows you to swap imaging modules in seconds, with no tools required. SkyTwin points two identical modules at the same target, doubling the light so that finer details appear sooner. SkyGuard is an all-sky camera integrated into the mount. It overlays what’s actually visible from your backyard into augmented reality and can turn the entire night into a time lapse.

The company compares Atlas to an interchangeable lens camera. Each module works as a stand-alone lens with its own camera sensor and attaches to the main body in seconds. Users can employ a single module configuration or mount two identical tubes side by side, depending on what they want to observe.

The Atlas 80 is the first imaging module available for the system and Vaonis says more sizes are on the way. Inside its tubular housing are four lenses and an 80mm aperture to capture light. Those lenses are arranged (the technical term is apochromatic) so that each of the red, green, and blue wavelengths lands in the same place, preventing the stars from sprouting rainbow streaks. Each module has a 360mm focal length (about how zoomed in/out the view is), a rating of f/4.5 (a lower number means the telescope collects light more quickly, so images accumulate faster), and its own 8.3-megapixel Sony IMX585 sensor. Combine two modules and Vaonis says the focal ratio improves to f/3.2.

With a module and a cylindrical body, Atlas measures 41 cm (16.1 in) tall and weighs 6.5 kg (14.3 lb) without its tripod; aluminum tripod adds 1.9 kg (4.2 lb). Optional filters can be placed on each module (when available) to suppress city lighting, adjust solar imaging, and cater for different wavelengths. Battery life for this single module configuration is up to 6 hours per charge. The unit is IP64 rated against dust and splashes of water, and operates from -20°C to +40°C (-4°F to 104°F), according to Vaonis, so it should survive a light rain or two, as well as deployment under cool winter skies or warm summer nights.

However, some of the modular promises remain a wish list. It is not yet possible to mix different optics and filters in dual sight mode. Neither are the planned backpack, filters, equatorial wedge (a tilted base that helps the telescope follow the sky more smoothly), additional module sizes, or a planetary module.

Pre-orders for the Atlas open today, with the first units expected to ship starting in March 2027. During pre-sale, which runs through November 15, the single configuration (body/mount plus an Atlas 80 module) is priced at $3,990 and the dual-module configuration is $5,490. Once the pre-sale ends, prices rise to $4,990 and $6,990, respectively. The support has a 10-year warranty and each module has a five-year warranty.

Atlas sits at the top end of the Vaonis range, but well below the roughly $99,000 Hyperia observatory, which the company introduced earlier this year. This model combines Canon optics with an aperture of 150 mm. The line began with Stellina in 2018, which Vaonis calls the world’s first smart telescope, followed by the book-sized Hestia and the compact Vespera II.

“Stellina changed the way we look at the sky,” said Cyril Dupuy, founder of Vaonis. “Atlas changes what a telescope can be. Until now, you were limited by the physical and technical capabilities of the telescope you owned. With Atlas, your telescope can evolve as your interests and experience grow.”

Source: Vaonis