Presented by and showcasing CCAS members Dave Majors, Paul Wilson, Corrina Jones, Jon Iverson and Christopher Caruso.
Astrophotography used to require bulky equipment, technical know-how, and a lot of patience. But now, thanks to evolving technology, there’s an exciting new way to get started—smart telescopes.
These compact devices combine a telescope, digital camera, and automatic tracking system all in one. That means even beginners can capture stunning deep-sky images right from their backyard—often on their very first night. Best of all, smart telescopes are surprisingly affordable.
With prices starting in the few hundreds, you can dive into this amazing hobby without the steep cost or steep learning curve of traditional astrophotography. If you’ve ever wanted to take your own photos of galaxies, nebulae, or star clusters, this could be the perfect way to start!
Members Dave Majors and Paul Wilson will demonstrate their experience with one of these telescopes. They have both been using the ZWO Seestar S50, both for public outreach and for obtaining beautiful astronomy images. The surprising thing is that this device uses just a 50mm lens in conjunction with a highly sensitive CMOS sensor to produce high-quality, deep sky images using very short exposures.
Members Corrina Jones and Jon Iverson have been taking beautiful color astrophotos with their smart telescope, the Varonic Vespera II. A description of this scope, along with examples of their photography, will be presented next. The latest issue of Astronomy Magazine has reviewed another of these smart telescopes. This one is the Dwarf 3 smart telescope, which uses a 35mm lens and is extremely portable. All of these scopes can be placed on a table top or attached to a tripod where it will calibrate itself and track the object of interest automatically.
Finally, member Christopher Caruso will describe a small, compact CCD camera which can be attached to any telescope, in place of the eyepiece, to obtain high quality astro images. At prices of less than $200, this option opens the door to anyone with a telescope to create a viable astrophoto system. Some of these devices will be on display at the meeting so come and learn about these new advancements in our hobby.
Meeting Information
Time: 7PM on Thursday July 17th
Location:
United Methodist Church
Wesley Room
1515 Fredricks Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405
Directions:
When you pull into the first driveway for this address, stay to the right at the Y-intersection of the driveway and follow it down to the lower parking lot. You will see Astronomy signs and people directing you up a flight of stairs and into the room.
(If you get lost, circle around the buildings until you see the Astronomy signs for CCAS.)
This meeting is in-person only and will not be recorded or live-streamed.
Light refreshments will be available.
Please Contact Us if you have any questions, and I look forward to seeing you there!