Vaonis – the next chapter

Ten years ago, Vaonis ushered in the era of smart telescopes – a new way of looking at the night sky. Since then, they have been constantly pushing the boundaries. And now they have announced that on 15 October they will be unveiling something truly exceptional…

There’s no need to introduce the Vaonis brand. For me, they’re the best smart telescopes on the market (see my article‘Why I think Vaonis smart telescopes are currently the most technologically advanced’). On 15 October, Vaonis will be announcing a new telescope, and as they haven’t released any further details yet, I couldn’t resist speculating a little with some excitement 😊

Judging by the only short video available so far, the Atlas won’t be another Vespera. Vaonis is launching a new, higher-end product range. After all, the revelations will be gradually unveiled across five chapters. It will likely be a telescope significantly more affordable than the upcoming Hyperia, which is beyond the means of 99.99 per cent of all amateur astronomers.

Vaonis currently has a huge gap to fill between the compact Vespera models and the extremely expensive Hyperia. The Atlas could therefore have a larger aperture, a longer focal length, a larger sensor and significantly better resolution than the Vespera Pro 2. Simply put, something even more robust, powerful and versatile.

Even more interesting would be the possibility that it represents a fundamentally new optical concept. (Which I hope is the case, judging by the video.) The Vespera is, in principle, still a small refractor on a fully automated azimuth mount. If Vaonis is truly serious about a ‘new era’, the Atlas could, for example, switch to a larger catadioptric or other compound optical system. This would open up the possibility of a significantly larger aperture without the instrument becoming enormous, and, above all, better observation of galaxies, planetary nebulae and other small objects, where today’s wide-angle smart telescopes have a natural limitation.

The second thing I’d be keeping a close eye on is the mount. A shift from the classic alt-azimuth design to a system enabling native equatorial tracking would truly be a generational change. Today, smart telescopes rely on image derotation and software. If Atlas were able to handle equatorial tracking automatically – perhaps via some integrated mechanism – this would allow for longer individual exposures and take the resulting image quality to the next level.

It also strikes me as quite likely that Vaonis will rely heavily on the new generation of computational astrophotography. Not just automatic stacking, but much more in-depth work with AI (I’m not exactly a fan of that) or advanced algorithms: automatic evaluation of the quality of individual sub-frames, adaptive exposure based on the subject and the sky, intelligent removal of satellites and aircraft, more precise reconstruction of details, or the combination of several different exposure times. Then the ‘new era’ would not be defined solely by the optics, but by the fact that the user would essentially just select the object, and the telescope would devise the entire photography strategy itself.

And then there is one bolder possibility. Atlas need not be just a telescope. The name Atlas would also suit a system that combines all-sky observation, an object catalogue and automatic planning. Something along the lines of a personal robotic observatory that, throughout the night, independently selects and photographs several objects based on their position, the weather, the Moon and the user’s priorities. For example, a user might enter “I want to photograph the 30 best galaxies this autumn”, and the system would decide for itself when and for how long to capture each object.

From a product perspective, therefore, something between the Vespera Pro 2 and the Hyperia seems to me the most logical approach. Significantly larger optics, higher resolution, a more advanced mount, and an even greater degree of automation. If the Atlas were merely a new 50–60mm refractor with a newer Sony sensor, the marketing claim “ten years ago we ushered in the era of the smart telescope; now we’re starting a new one” would be rather over the top. On the other hand, an 80–100mm automated telescope with a new optical system and significantly more advanced tracking would fit that slogan very well.

For the time being, Vaonis is only publicly releasing individual ‘chapters’ on 15, 22 and 29 September and 6 October, with the full reveal on 15 October 2026, so during the upcoming teasers I’d be keeping an eye on three things in particular: the shape of the optics, the method of movement/mounting, and anything that hints at the sensor size. These three clues will very quickly tell us whether this is an evolution of the Vesper or actually a completely different platform.

And by the way: Vaonis is already listing the Atlas right alongside the Vespera Pro 2, Vespera 3, Vespera II and Hyperia as a separate item in its product range. In my view, this rather supports the idea that it won’t just be a limited edition or an upgrade to the existing Vespera.

WX