A veteran astrophotographer examines what smart telescopes can - and can’t - do, and explains how they’re quietly reshaping amateur astronomy.

Author: Richard Harris

Author BIO:

Meet Richard Harris. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of ScopeTrader, with over 30 years of experience in astronomy and astrophotography. He serves as the director of the Ozark Hills Observatory, where his research and imagery have been featured at NASA's INTUITIVE Planetarium, scientific textbooks, academic publications, and educational media. Among his theoretical contributions is a cosmological proposition known as The Harris Paradox, which explores deep-field observational symmetry and time-invariant structures in cosmic evolution. A committed citizen scientist, Harris is actively involved with the Springfield Astronomical Society, the Amateur Astronomers Association, the Astronomical League, and the International Dark-Sky Association. He is a strong advocate for reducing light pollution and enhancing public understanding of the cosmos. In 2001, Harris developed the German Equatorial HyperTune - a precision mechanical enhancement for equatorial telescope mounts that has since become a global standard among amateur and professional astronomers seeking improved tracking and imaging performance. Driven by both scientific curiosity and creative innovation, Harris continues to blend the frontiers of astronomy and technology, inspiring others to explore the universe and rethink the possibilities within it. When he's not taking photos of our universe, you can find him with family, playing guitar, or traveling.

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This article is for two kinds of readers:

– Experienced im

agers who are skeptical about smart telescopes, and

– Beginners wondering if these devices are “real astronomy” or just toys.

Over the past 30 years I’ve poured more into telescopes and cameras th

an I’d care to admit. So when I saw a “smart” telescope on the market for a few hundred dollars promising gorgeous cosmic photos with the tap of an app, I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. A tiny telescope the size of a thermos competing with a dedicated imaging rig that costs ten or twenty times more?

On the surface, that sounds ridiculous - you simply can’t cheat the laws of physics or economics. A small 50 mm aperture scope is not going to outperform a high-end setup built around a hefty mirror, precision optics, and a professional-grade camera.

Yet despite this obvious reality, I’ve come to appreciate that these little astro-gadgets are not a scam or a toy. In fact, they pull off a brilliant head fake (a head fake is when something appears to offer one benefit, but its real value is something unexpected and deeper.): they draw people in with the hope of easy astrophotography, but their real triumph is making astronomy affordable and approachable like never before. They sell a simplified stargazing experience, but actually deliver a gateway to a lifelong passion for the night sky.

In a roundabout way, they can even help with our growing light pollution problem - tiny technological evangelists for the cosmos, quietly recruiting the next generation of skywatchers. In my journey from skepticism to genuine respect for smart telescopes, I’ve run into just about every myth and misconception imaginable.

And I get it - coming from someone who regularly works with top-tier gear like my Takahashi FSQ-106-EDX4, the TEC 180FL, a Celestron 11" RASA, and a rotating arsenal of flagship ZWO cameras from the ASI2600MM to the ASI6200MM paired with Chroma narrowband and broadband filters, you might assume I’d dismiss smart scopes outright.

But that’s exactly why this conversation matters.

With thousands of hours behind traditional rigs and some of the best optics available, I’ve also spent meaningful time hands-on with devices like the ZWO Seestar S30 and S50. And after fielding questions from skeptics, newcomers, and seasoned imagers alike, I’ve heard it all.

So let’s clear the air.

It’s time to debunk the most persistent myths about smart telescopes, separate fact from fiction, and take an honest look at what these systems can really do - and why even an old-school, high-performance astrophotographer like me has learned to tip his hat to them.

Myth 1: “Smart Telescopes Are Just Toys”

Why this myth exists: When people first see a smart telescope, they often dismiss it as a gimmicky toy. It’s easy to understand why: the device might look like a futuristic gadget, it’s compact and covered in plastic, and you control it with your phone.

To a veteran used to hefty aluminum mounts and bulky optical tubes, a self-contained telescope that talks to your smartphone can feel like a child’s plaything. I’ll admit, I had the same gut reaction initially. I thought, “There’s no way this little thing can be a real telescope.”

Reality Check: Smart telescopes may be fun and user-friendly, but they are far from toys. Under the hood of units like the Seestar S50 and S30 is serious technology derived from the same advances that power professional astronomy gear. For example, the S50 uses a triplet apochromatic lens (yes, an APO triplet, the kind of high-end lens design found in expensive refractors) to give crisp, color-accurate images.

These optics aren’t what you’d find in a department store toy telescope – they’re designed to minimize aberrations and deliver a sharp view of the stars. The S50’s glass might only be 50 mm in aperture, but it’s high-quality glass. The S30’s main lens is 30 mm, but also a triplet APO and even includes extra-low dispersion elements. This level of optical quality is the hallmark of serious instruments, not just playthings.

Also, consider the camera sensors and electronics inside. The Seestar telescopes use Sony’s highly sensitive STARVIS imaging sensors – the kind of sensors developed for low-light security and scientific cameras. The S50, for instance, carries a Sony IMX462 sensor, and the S30 uses a Sony IMX662. These sensors have a 1920×1080 resolution (about 2 megapixels) and exceptional light sensitivity, including the near-infrared range.

In plain language: they can pick up faint starlight and even some details our eyes can’t see, thanks to advanced sensor tech. A toy wouldn’t bother with things like high dynamic range or low read noise, but these sensors are starlight-grade. The devices also feature things like autofocus motors, motorized mounts with GoTo, and on-board image processing computers.

That’s right – there’s essentially a mini astrophotography computer inside that aligns the telescope, finds targets, tracks the sky, and stacks images in real time. This all-in-one design is built with purpose, not for gimmick.

From personal experience, the first time I powered on the S50 and saw it automatically focus on a star and slew to the Andromeda Galaxy on its own, I realized I wasn’t dealing with a toy. The process was effortless on my part, but the tech behind the scenes was sophisticated. The smart telescope performed plate-solving (taking a test image and identifying star patterns) to zero in on the target – a technique many “serious” astrophotographers use with dedicated software like NINA or The Sky X. Here it was happening inside a device that fits in my backpack. It’s a testament to good engineering.

Do smart telescopes make astronomy fun and accessible like a toy might? Absolutely – and that’s a feature, not a bug. They come in colorful, compact packages, and their companion apps have friendly interfaces. But calling them “toys” dismisses the real capabilities they have.

These instruments can capture the Orion Nebula, the rings of Saturn, or the craters on the Moon in detail that would have utterly astonished backyard astronomers a generation ago. A century ago, a 50 mm refractor was indeed a beginner’s toy by professional standards, but add in a sensitive digital sensor, computer control, and image stacking, and you’ve got a whole new beast.

To put it simply: smart telescopes are legitimate tools for exploring the night sky. They’re built to lower the barrier to entry, not to lower the quality of the experience. The fact that they’re fun and easy doesn’t make them toys – it makes them effective teachers. They invite anyone, from a curious child to a busy adult, to participate in astronomy without the intimidation. And from where I stand, anything that gets people looking up and saying “wow” at the universe is far more than a toy. It’s a gateway.

Myth 2: “They Can’t Do Serious Astrophotography”

The next myth I often hear is closely related: Sure, maybe they work, but you can’t take any serious astrophotos with a smart telescope.

Why this myth exists: People assume that the images from these devices are low-quality, noisy, and not worth much beyond a quick social media post. After all, how could a little automated telescope possibly match the jaw-dropping photos you see taken by advanced amateurs using expensive CCD cameras, large telescopes, and elaborate processing? If you define “serious astrophotography” purely by raw image fidelity or resolution, then indeed a smart scope has limits. But let’s unpack this myth, because there’s more nuance here than a simple yes or no.

Reality Check: It’s true that a smart telescope with a 2 MP sensor cannot produce the same level of detail as a high-end dedicated astro-camera with 20 or 50 MP attached to a 11-inch aperture telescope. Physics and sensor specs do matter. A higher-end rig can reveal finer details in a distant galaxy or pick up extremely faint nebulae in a way a 30–50 mm aperture simply won’t. Serious astro imagers often use monochrome cameras with filters, capturing separate exposures in red, green, blue, and maybe narrowband filters (h-alpha, OIII, etc.) to tease out structures invisible in broadband light. They also cool their cameras to reduce noise and may gather dozens of hours of exposure on a single target for a pristine image.

A smart telescope like the S50 doesn’t do all of that – it’s a one-shot-color camera (OSC), uncooled, with a small sensor, typically stacking perhaps minutes to an hour of total exposure on an object during a casual session. By these measures, its raw output is not going to win an APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) competition against top-tier equipment.

However, “serious” astrophotography is not only about maximum resolution or the absolute faintest magnitude you can capture. It’s also about capturing something real and beautiful in the night sky and doing it reliably. And in that regard, smart telescopes punch well above their weight. The images I’ve seen and taken with the Seestar S50 honestly amazed me for their quality relative to the effort and cost involved (the juice for the squeeze as I say). With the S50, I can get a pleasing photo of the Andromeda Galaxy or the Orion Nebula in just a few minutes of stacking exposures.

The details – the dust lanes in Andromeda, the pink nebulosity in Orion – clearly emerge. The images are vibrant, automatically enhanced by onboard processing, and free of the common defects that plagued my early attempts at astrophotography (like star trailing, poor focus, and field rotation).

 The smart scope handles those problems for you: it tracks the sky, focuses, adjusts exposure, and even subtracts dark frames or uses noise reduction algorithms to clean up the final picture. The result is that a complete beginner can produce a recognizable, impressive image of a deep-sky object on their first night out. In my book, that counts as a serious achievement.

Let’s talk specifics: The Seestar S50, as mentioned, captures at 1920×1080 resolution. That might sound small compared to, say, a 24-megapixel DSLR. But on a screen, a 1080p image can look crisp and detailed, especially when it’s of a wide object like a nebula. The limiting factor isn’t always the pixel count; it’s often the quality of data in each pixel. And those Sony sensors gather very clean data for their size, especially under dark skies.

In fact, because the sensor pixels are relatively large (to achieve high sensitivity in low light), they can record faint details with surprisingly low noise. I’ve zoomed in on stacked photos from the S50 and been impressed that the stars are round, the background is smooth, and the nebulae show structure without heavy grain. It reminds me of what was state-of-the-art CCD imaging in the early 2000s – only now it happens automatically in a tiny gadget.

Of course, if you pixel-peep or try to print these images in a large format, the differences from high-end gear become apparent. A larger scope with a 20-megapixel mono camera will reveal more: more stars in a cluster, finer texture in a galaxy’s spiral arms, subtler color gradients, and so on.

But here’s the key: smart telescopes aren’t meant to replace high-end rigs, they complement them. They excel at one-shot color (OSC) imaging, which has its own set of benefits. Let’s list a few advantages of OSC cameras like those in smart scopes, compared to the elaborate mono+filters approach:

•    Simplicity and speed: With one-shot-color, you get a full-color image with every exposure. There’s no need to take separate images through red, green, and blue filters (or combine multiple narrowband channels). This means less time per target to get a color result. For a beginner or someone who just wants a nice photo, this is huge – you might capture a beautiful color nebula in half an hour total, rather than spending multiple nights on it.

•    Less equipment and setup: No filter wheel, no filter changes, no worries about aligning different color frames. An OSC (like the S50’s sensor) just needs itself. The smart telescope’s app handles white balance or applying an internal light pollution filter if needed. Fewer components mean fewer things to manage or go wrong in the field. When you’re starting out, not having to wrangle a bunch of gear is a blessing.

•    Immediate results: There’s nothing quite as gratifying as seeing the full-color result build up in real time. Smart telescopes use live stacking – each new frame is aligned and added to the stack, and you watch the image get better and better on your screen. You literally see the spirals of a galaxy brighten and the noise fade as minutes pass. This feedback loop is incredibly motivating for newcomers. With a mono camera, on the other hand, you might capture ten minutes of data and still see only a black-and-white image (through one filter) until you process everything later on a computer. The instant reward of OSC keeps people engaged and excited.

•    Modern OSC quality: It’s worth noting that one-shot-color cameras have come a long way. The old wisdom was that mono was the only way to get high-quality astrophotos, because color sensors (with their Bayer filters) were too inefficient and lost detail. But sensors like the IMX462/662 have high quantum efficiency and low read noise, narrowing the gap. Many advanced amateurs today use OSC cameras for convenience on certain projects, and they produce publication-worthy images with them. The smart telescopes benefit from these advancements. While you won’t capture narrowband emission nebulae in extreme detail with an S30 or S50 (they do include a built-in dual-band filter though, which helps capture hydrogen-alpha and oxygen-III nebula light!), you can still get a pleasing representation of those objects in a single take.

Another point to consider is equatorial mode. Originally, most smart telescopes like the Seestar operated in alt-azimuth mode only, meaning the mount turns in altitude and azimuth to track the sky. Alt-az tracking is simple but suffers from a phenomenon called field rotation during long exposures. Essentially, as the scope tracks an object, the field of view slowly rotates, leading to smeared stars at the edges if you expose too long or stack for too long.

Early on, this limited how “deep” a smart telescope could go on a single target – you might only stack short exposures for say 5–10 minutes before the edges of the image start to show rotation artifacts. Debunking the myth of “they can’t do long exposures”: ZWO addressed this by adding an Equatorial Mode via a firmware/app update in 2025.

Now, you can attach the S30 or S50 to a small wedge (tilted base) and align it with the North Celestial Pole, effectively turning it into an equatorially mounted system. I tried this with my Seestar S50 using a tripod wedge, and it was a game-changer. In EQ mode, I was able to take individual exposures longer than a minute without star trailing, and stack for much longer periods without any field rotation.

The result? Even deeper images with finer detail and less noise, because the system collected more light on the target. Suddenly, objects that were at the edge of what an alt-az smart scope could do became more attainable. Faint galaxies popped out after 30+ minutes of stacking. The smart telescope essentially graduated to serious imaging territory in terms of technique – it now mimics the methods used by advanced astrophotographers (polar alignment, long exposures, careful tracking), but with the heavy lifting done by the device and software.

Equatorial mode also opened the door to using the smart telescopes with external astrophotography software. In fact, here’s something that truly blurs the line between a “smart scope” and a regular rig: you can now control the Seestar S50 or S30 with common astro-imaging programs like NINA (Nighttime Imaging ‘N’ Astronomy) on a PC. The manufacturer enabled an ASCOM/Alpaca compatibility, meaning the smart telescope can be recognized by those programs as if it were a standard telescope/camera system. I’ve tested this out of curiosity – connecting the S50 to my laptop and using NINA to slew to targets, adjust exposure settings, and schedule a sequence of images. It worked! Imagine my delight (and surprise) to see my “app scope” being orchestrated by the same software I use for my big rig.

This clearly debunks any notion that the smart telescope is some closed, toy-like gadget. Underneath, it speaks the same language as professional gear when you want it to. You don’t have to use it this way – the whole point is you can run it from your phone with zero technical fiddling – but the mere fact it’s possible shows how capable and “serious” these devices have become.

In summary, can a smart telescope take serious astrophotos? If your definition is publishing in a professional journal or producing a 4K poster-print of a distant galaxy, then no, it has inherent limitations. But if “serious” means real astrophotography that reveals the universe’s wonders in detail, and can even utilize professional techniques like polar alignment and software control, then yes – smart telescopes absolutely can.

They democratize astrophotography. I’ve seen images taken with a $349 Seestar S30 that rival what I achieved with a far pricier DSLR setup when I was starting out. And the person capturing those images may not know the first thing about dark frame calibration or guiding – they simply pick an object and tap “Go”. The technology bridges the gap between casual and serious, allowing anyone to obtain results that a few years ago would mark them as a competent astrophotographer. That’s something to take seriously. And the old saying of “it isn’t what you got, it’s how you use it” comes to mind here too.

Myth 3: “They’re Too Limited – Small Scopes Can’t See Much”

Why this myth exists: Many astronomy enthusiasts hear the specs of a smart telescope and scoff, “30 mm aperture? 50 mm aperture? You won’t see anything with that except maybe the Moon and a couple of bright star clusters.” This is a common refrain because we’re taught that in telescopes, aperture is king.

A larger aperture gathers more light, which is crucial for seeing faint deep-sky objects. A 50 mm lens (about 2 inches in diameter) is tiny compared to, say, the 8-inch or 10-inch telescopes many amateurs use. So the myth here is that smart telescopes, due to their small size, are inherently too limited to be of any real use beyond the brightest showpiece objects. Why bother with something so small when larger (though admittedly more expensive and complex) telescopes are available?

Reality Check: It’s absolutely true that a 50 mm telescope collects far less light than a big dobsonian or a larger refractor. In fact, a 200 mm (8-inch) telescope has over 16 times the light-collecting area of a 50 mm scope. If you were doing traditional visual observing, the difference is night and day – literally, the 8-inch will show you hundreds of galaxies, whereas a 50 mm might show only a handful as faint smudges to your eye. But smart telescopes turn this conventional wisdom on its head by using technology to overcome physical limitations. They make up for small aperture with sensitive sensors, long exposures, and clever image processing.

Think of it this way: your eyes gather light in real time, and with a small lens (like a 50 mm), they’d be underwhelmed by most deep-sky objects. But a camera can collect light over time. Even a tiny lens, if you give it enough time to soak up photons, can reveal things far beyond what the eye can see in an instant. This is the core of astrophotography – and smart telescopes are astrophotography devices first, visual instruments second. They don’t rely on your eyeball at the eyepiece; they rely on the sensor. So while a traditional 50 mm spotting scope pointed at the Andromeda Galaxy might show a barely perceptible fuzzy blob to your eye, a Seestar S50 pointing at Andromeda will start showing its core and hints of its spiral arms after stacking a few dozen short exposures. Give it 10 or 20 minutes, and you have a pretty clear image of our neighboring galaxy, complete with the dark dust lanes and even its companion galaxies M32 and M110 visible. That’s with a 50 mm lens! I still find that remarkable, having spent years hauling out much bigger telescopes to do the same.

The smart telescopes also come equipped with filters and modes to maximize their reach. For example, my Seestar S30 has a built-in dual-band filter (a clever addition by ZWO) which isolates the common emission wavelengths of nebulae (the glowing hydrogen alpha and oxygen III lines). When I activate that filter from the app and point at a nebula like the Lagoon Nebula, the little 30 mm device is suddenly effectively acting like it has a narrowband eyepiece.

The background light pollution and moonlight drop away, and the nebula pops out in high contrast. It’s a trick even some larger telescopes could benefit from, but with a smart scope it’s just part of the package – you don’t even have to understand what a filter is; the app might just suggest “try nebula mode” and behind the scenes it slides in that filter. Similarly, there’s a UV/IR cut filter for capturing galaxies with true color, and a “dark frame” mode where the device will automatically take a dark calibration to subtract sensor noise. All of these things extend the capability of the small optics, allowing them to punch above their weight.

The range of targets you can capture with smart telescopes is actually quite broad, certainly much broader than most skeptics assume. In one summer, using the S50 from my moderately light-polluted backyard, I’ve imaged galaxies like M81 and M82 (Bode’s Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy) – they appear as tiny but distinct shapes, with M82’s cigar shape and central burst clearly there. I’ve captured nebulae such as the Eagle Nebula (yes, I could make out the Pillars of Creation region, albeit not with Hubble-like resolution of course), the Trifid Nebula (showing its dual red/blue nature thanks to the dual-band filter), the Ring Nebula as a small smoke-ring dot, and the Andromeda Galaxy as mentioned.

Star clusters like M13 in Hercules resolve into countless stars in the photo, much more than I can see visually through my 4-inch refractor. The Milky Way’s star clouds and wide swaths of sky are actually a forte of the smaller S30, which even includes a second wide-angle lens specifically for nightscape photography. The S30 can take wide-field shots of constellations, or act like an all-sky camera if you wanted to capture something like the Milky Way arching over the horizon or even a meteor shower timelapse.

This dual capability (telephoto and wide-angle) means the “little” telescope can do more than a big telescope that’s designed only for high magnification. I’ve used the wide lens on the S30 to shoot a quick panorama of the Summer Milky Way – something I’d normally need a DSLR on a tripod for – and then immediately switched to the telephoto lens to zoom in on the Lagoon Nebula region, all with one device, on one mount, controlled from my phone. It’s hard to call that limiting; in fact it’s liberating to cover both scales of the sky so easily.

Now, are there limits? Of course. You’re not going to discover a new dim galaxy with a 30 mm scope. There are targets that are simply too faint or too small to register well. Tiny planetary nebulae, for instance, might just appear as star-like points because the focal length and resolution aren’t sufficient to enlarge them.

Very faint galaxies beyond magnitude 12 or 13 probably won’t show up except maybe as ghostly smudges even with heavy stacking. And planets – this is important – smart telescopes are not designed for high-resolution planetary imaging. The myth that they’re limited sometimes comes from planetary observers: they’ll point out, “You can’t get a great photo of Jupiter or Saturn with that thing.” And that’s largely true; the focal length is short (250 mm on the S50, 150 mm on S30), which is like a telephoto lens, not nearly enough magnification to resolve planetary details. The sensors also have large pixels and only 2 MP total, so you’re not going to capture the intricate cloud belts of Jupiter or the Cassini Division in Saturn’s rings in high detail. In fact, ZWO’s own documentation notes that the Seestar isn’t really meant for serious planetary photography. I like to think of it as optimized for deep-sky and wide-field imaging, not for planets. Traditional telescopes with long focal lengths and specialized planetary cameras still reign supreme for getting those sharp planetary close-ups.

However, even with that limitation, a smart telescope still allows a beginner to see the planets in a meaningful way. The app can plate-solve and align on Jupiter, and you’ll see Jupiter’s disk and its four Galilean moons as bright dots in a quick snapshot – something many small telescopes can do visually, but here you can also easily take a short video of it or capture an image to remember the moment.

For the Moon, the smart scopes do a lovely job; the full Moon fits in the field and the detail is comparable to a decent photograph from a DSLR with a telephoto lens. They even include a magnetic solar filter to observe the Sun safely – I tried it and could see sunspots on the solar disk with the S30, and even did a time-lapse of the Sun over an hour, which is a fun project I’d rarely attempt with my bigger scopes because of the setup hassle. So yes, they are limited by physics, but they’ve intelligently expanded the range of what’s possible within those limits.

In practical use, I found the limitations of the smart telescope actually taught me a lot about the night sky. With a smaller aperture, you prioritize the brighter objects – which naturally leads a newcomer through the best and most beautiful objects first. The app’s sky atlas highlights tonight’s “good targets” based on your location and sky conditions. That often means you’re going for the Messier objects, the showpiece nebulae and clusters.

As a beginner, that’s exactly what you should be looking at, because they’re the ones that will give you a satisfying result quickly. In contrast, I’ve seen beginners with an 8-inch manual telescope aim at something extremely challenging like a 14th magnitude galaxy, see nothing in the eyepiece, and get discouraged. The smart scope steers you to cosmic highlights that match its capabilities and your sky, ensuring you get a result that keeps you excited. In a way, its limitations are managed so that you hardly notice them – you’re too busy enjoying what it can do.

So, the myth that “you can’t see much” dissolves when you actually see the catalog of images someone can accumulate with a device like the Seestar. I have a folder full of smart telescope captures: dozens of nebulae, galaxies, clusters, and wide-field shots. If I showed this collection to my younger self who was struggling to get one decent astrophoto out of a homemade barn-door tracker, I would have been blown away.

The truth is, these little scopes unlock most of the major celestial sights for an average user. No, you won’t resolve the Einstein Cross or photograph a quasar’s host galaxy with it, but those aren’t the goals here. For making the wonders of the night sky accessible – from the Great Orion Nebula’s wispy clouds to the core of the Milky Way – a smart telescope is immensely capable despite (or rather, thanks to) its size.

Myth 4: “Smart Telescopes Are Only for Beginners, Not Useful for Experienced Astronomers”

Why this myth exists: This myth comes up often in discussions among hobbyists: the idea that smart telescopes are purely “beginner devices” and that once you learn the ropes, you’d have no use for such an automated gadget. Some seasoned astronomers even bristle at the thought of using one, as if it’s beneath their skill level. I’ve heard comments like, “If you’re serious and know what you’re doing, you’d use a real telescope and not rely on all that automation.” The perception is that smart scopes are like training wheels – fine for those just starting out, but something an experienced rider would toss aside. There’s also an implication that an expert couldn’t really benefit from a smart telescope because it wouldn’t add anything they can’t already do (and likely do better) with their advanced gear. As someone who proudly identifies as an experienced amateur astronomer and astrophotographer, I’d like to address this head on, because I’ve found smart telescopes can be valuable even when you do know what you’re doing.

Reality Check: Far from being useless to experts, smart telescopes can be fantastic complementary tools for seasoned observers and photographers. The key is to recognize what they offer that traditional setups often struggle with: speed, portability, and convenience. Let me paint a picture from my own routine. On a clear night at home, I often set up my main imaging rig like the FSQ-106-EDXIIII on an AM5, with a 6200MM cooled camera, guiding system (ahem 290MM), ASIAIR, cables everywhere.

That process easily takes 20 or so minutes to get polar aligned, target acquired, guiding calibrated, and imaging started. Once it’s running, I can let that setup for the rest of the night, capturing one object all night long. Now enter the smart telescope sitting quietly on the corner of my deck. In literally two minutes, I can power it on, open the app, and have it start a live-stack on a completely different target. While my big rig is methodically gathering photons of, say, M33 galaxy for hours, the smart scope can hop between multiple interesting targets in the same evening, giving me a tour of what else is out there right at that moment.

I’ve had nights where I’m imaging something serious with the main scope, but simultaneously using the smart scope to quickly check out the new supernova in a galaxy, or to observe a comet that’s passing by, or to show my family a colorful view of the Lagoon Nebula – all without interrupting my primary session. In effect, the smart telescope becomes my “second pair of eyes” on the sky, one that requires almost no effort or babysitting.

For outreach and education, even the most experienced astronomers will find a smart telescope invaluable. I’ve participated in star parties and public outreach events for years, and one challenge is always managing crowds around a telescope.

With a traditional scope, only one person can look through the eyepiece at a time, and you often have to refocus or adjust for each person. Faint objects might not even be visible to novice eyes or if light pollution is present, so people walk away not sure what they were supposed to see. Now consider using a smart telescope for outreach: you set it up, have it image a showpiece object (let’s say the Orion Nebula again, because it never fails to impress), and broadcast the view to a tablet or a screen. Suddenly you’ve got a roomful or a crowd of people all seeing the beautiful colored nebula at the same time.

They can gasp and ask questions while looking at a clear picture instead of struggling to squint through an eyepiece. You, the expert, can point out features in the image - “see those dark lanes, that’s interstellar dust” -  and everyone is on the same page visually. It transforms outreach from a one-person-at-a-time experience to a communal one. As an experienced astronomer, I find that incredibly rewarding. The smart telescope essentially acts as a mini observatory with a live feed, making my job as an educator easier and more effective. It’s not about me proving I can star-hop to M42 in a manual scope; it’s about sharing the wonder with others, and the smart scope is superb for that.

Another angle to consider is that experienced hobbyists often travel to dark-sky sites or go on astrophotography trips. We tend to lug big equipment to capture the best images under dark skies. But there are times when you might be on a family vacation, or a work trip, or you simply don’t have the energy to bring the heavy gear – having a smart telescope means you always have a capable astro setup ready to go with minimal fuss. I’ve thrown the S30 in my carry-on bag on a flight to a remote location, something I’d never do with my heavy mounts. Under pristine dark skies, that little device showed me so much in just one evening. I treated it as a quick sky survey tool: set it down, do a one-tap alignment, and then, “What’s that over there? Let’s take a 2-minute exposure and see.”

It’s like having a scout or a digital binocular that can reveal deep-sky objects on demand. As an experienced observer, I know roughly what’s in the sky, but seeing it pop up on my screen in full color at a dark site – for example, the North America Nebula filling the frame – was still thrilling. In many ways it reminded me why I fell in love with the hobby in the first place. It strips away the labor and leaves the pure joy of discovery.

For research or citizen science, a smart telescope in the hands of an expert could be surprisingly useful too. While it’s not going to replace a professional observatory, you could, for instance, use one to monitor the brightness of a variable star or an exoplanet transit if the target is within its reach. The devices can save raw FITS images of each exposure if you enable that setting, meaning you can later perform photometry on the data.

An experienced user knows how to calibrate and analyze such data. So imagine having a network of smart telescope users globally – an expert could coordinate with them to monitor something like a supernova’s light curve or track an asteroid occultation. The simplicity means more eyes (or lenses) on the sky in more places. We’ve already seen some citizen science contributions from the smart scope community, especially when something transient occurs (e.g., a nova in Cassiopeia – dozens of Seestar users might capture it and share their images, which could help roughly estimate brightness or at least raise awareness).

An expert astronomer might leverage that ease and ubiquity to gather data that would be hard to get otherwise, purely because these scopes can be deployed so quickly.

Even on my home turf, I sometimes use the smart telescope as a smart finder scope. This might sound funny, but I’ve set it up next to my big scope to frame a target. The wide field view of the S30’s wide lens or even the S50’s modest focal length can act as a digital finder: I tell it to image the region I’m interested in, and it plate solves and shows me exactly what’s there, with object labels in the app.

That way I know my main scope is pointed correctly before I commit a whole night with the big camera. Could I do that with my main setup’s plate-solving? Yes, but that requires another interface and everything to be up and running. The smart scope is like firing up Google Maps on your phone versus unfolding a paper map – it’s just faster and easier for a quick check.

Finally, let’s address the notion of pride or authenticity that sometimes underpins this myth. Some experienced folks feel that using a smart telescope is “cheating” or robs you of the satisfaction of doing things manually. I understand that sentiment; I still take great satisfaction in star-hopping with my 24” Hubble Optics Dobsonian and finding a faint galaxy with just a finder and star chart app. There’s a romance to doing things the old-school way.

But using a smart telescope doesn’t cancel that experience – it’s a different experience altogether. It’s one that I can choose when I want a more casual night or when I want to multitask. My love for the sky doesn’t diminish because a robot helped me this time; if anything, I sometimes have more time to appreciate the sky because I’m not wrestling with equipment. I can sit back and actually look up while the smart scope is doing its thing. On many occasions I’ve found myself running the S50 on the patio while reclining in a chair with binoculars, scanning the Milky Way.

I’m enjoying the stars with my own eyes and getting a photo keepsake from the device at the same time. For an expert who’s often focused on the technical grind, that feels like rediscovering the simple pleasure of stargazing. The smart telescope can remind even a seasoned astronomer that at the end of the day, it’s about the wonder of the universe, not the complexity of the gear.

So no, smart telescopes are not just for beginners. They are for anyone who wants a hassle-free way to engage with the night sky. Experts may use them differently – perhaps as auxiliary instruments, outreach tools, travel companions, or quick-look devices – but the value is undeniably there.

The myth that an experienced astronomer has “no use” for a smart telescope fails to recognize how these innovative devices can enrich the hobby in ways traditional gear might not. From my perspective, if a piece of technology makes astronomy more enjoyable or more accessible, I don’t care whether you’re on day 1 or year 50 of your stargazing journey – it’s worth having in your toolkit. I’ll proudly stand next to a newcomer and enjoy the view on a tablet, even though I know how to star-hop and polar align with the best of them. There’s no ego in astronomy – or at least, there shouldn’t be. The sky humbles us all equally, and smart telescopes are just another way to connect with its wonders.

Myth 5: “Smart Telescopes Are Just Gimmicks – They’re Cheating, Not the ‘Real’ Thing, Aren’t the photos fake?”

Why this myth exists: This myth is a bit of a catch-all for the skepticism that surrounds smart telescopes. It goes something like: “Aren’t those smart telescopes just gimmicks? They do everything for you. It’s not real astrophotography or real astronomy. You’re not actually learning anything or doing anything – the device is doing it all. And it can’t match what you can do with proper equipment, so what’s the point? It’s a fad for people who want instant gratification.” I’ve had variations of this said to me directly, often by well-meaning fellow amateurs who are protective of the hard-earned skills that traditional astrophotography requires. I get it – when you’ve spent years mastering polar alignment, guiding, image processing, etc., it can be jarring to see someone push a button and get a decent astrophoto. It might even feel threatening, like it devalues the skill. So the “gimmick” label gets thrown at smart telescopes, implying they’re a passing novelty that can’t hold a candle to the established methods.

Reality Check: Smart telescopes are different from the traditional approach, but they are not cheating, nor are they a passing gimmick. They represent a natural evolution in technology – making complex tasks simpler, much like automatic transmissions in cars or calculators in math. Using one doesn’t mean you’re not a “real” astrophotographer or astronomer; it just means you’re leveraging modern tools to engage with the hobby. Let’s address the points in that skepticism.

Firstly, the idea that “the device is doing all the work” – well, yes, it’s automating tasks like finding objects, focusing, tracking, and stacking images. But those tasks have nothing to do with whether the astronomy is real. The stars and nebulae captured are very real indeed, and the data is genuine. If a smart telescope finds the Andromeda Galaxy for you and produces an image, you have still observed Andromeda, just by a different means.

In fact, you might notice more about it in the image (like its dust lanes or its two companion galaxies) than you would squinting through an eyepiece, especially if you’re inexperienced at visual observation. The learning is just different: instead of learning how to collimate a telescope or how to do a three-star alignment, you might be learning, through the app’s guidance, what objects are in the sky tonight, or what the significance of a particular nebula is. The “lesson” shifts from technical operation to astronomy itself. I’ve seen smart telescope apps pop up fun facts or encourage you to observe certain seasonal objects - effectively giving newcomers a mini tour of the universe. That educational aspect shouldn’t be dismissed. Many people have told in user groups that owning a smart telescope taught them more astronomy in a few months than years of owning a dust-gathering manual scope that they never quite learned to use. So rather than stunting learning, these devices can accelerate it by removing frustrating barriers.

Now, on the notion that it’s not the real thing because it’s too easy: This reminds me of debates in other fields. Think about photography – is using an DSLR in auto mode “cheating” compared to manual mode? Some old-school photographers might have said so when cameras first got auto-focus and auto-exposure. Yet, those features opened photography to millions and did not kill off creative, skilled photography. In fact, it led to an explosion of amazing photographs because more people could participate and then gradually learn the craft.

Similarly, a smart telescope is a bit like training wheels in that it keeps you balanced. But it doesn’t mean you can’t take the training wheels off later. A significant number of smart telescope users eventually get curious about doing more – perhaps they want to control the exposure settings manually to experiment, or they wonder what more they could capture with a bigger scope. I’ve encountered folks who started with an all-in-one device, got hooked, and then dove into building a more advanced setup as their interest deepened.

The smart scope was their onboarding ramp, so to speak. Far from killing the “real” hobby, I suspect smart telescopes are expanding the base of the astronomy pyramid – creating more stargazers, many of whom will indeed climb to more sophisticated levels over time.

Conversely, a lot of advanced amateurs, including myself, are actually delighted by the presence of these devices, not threatened. Why? Because we remember how hard it was to get started. If something like the Seestar had existed 30 years ago, you bet I might have started there! It would have saved me a lot of frustration polar aligning my first cheap equatorial mount or repeatedly focusing a film camera through trial and error. And even now, as I said earlier, I use these “gadgets” alongside my high-end gear because they offer convenience and speed that my main rig can’t.

 There’s nothing illegitimate about wanting quick results sometimes. Not every night has to be a grand production. Sometimes I just want to enjoy a clear sky for an hour after dinner, not spend that hour setting up. Smart telescopes fill that niche beautifully. They remove the excuses and obstacles that often stop us from observing at all. I think every astronomer has had that internal debate on a weeknight: “It’s clear…but do I really want to drag out all the gear?” Often, we pass and watch TV instead. With a smart scope, I no longer pass – I grab it, and within 5 minutes I’m looking at a real galaxy on my phone screen. That’s very real astronomy happening on a night I otherwise might have done none.

The “fad” argument is also worth addressing. Smart telescopes are a relatively new product category, but their popularity is rising fast, which indicates they are fulfilling a genuine need. It’s not just one company pushing them; multiple manufacturers have launched products in this arena, from the high-end (like Vaonis Stellina and Unistellar’s scopes) to the more affordable like ZWO’s Seestar series or others. The community around them is growing, with people sharing images online, discussing tips, and yes, identifying shortcomings and pushing for improvements.

We’ve already seen firmware updates unlocking new features (like the aforementioned equatorial mode and external software support). This is not what a dying fad looks like – it’s what a new segment of the hobby looks like as it matures. As the technology improves, we’ll likely see higher resolution sensors, maybe slightly larger apertures, better battery life, and more integration with other tools. Imagine a future smart telescope that’s perhaps 80 mm aperture, with a 20 MP sensor and still fully automated – that could be a game-changer even for some advanced work. The current models are just the beginning. So dismissing them as a gimmick is short-sighted. They’re part of the evolution of amateur astronomy.

What Smart Telescopes Still Cannot Do

Okay so we have debunked some myths but let us get real, there is a lot smart telescopes cannot do, at least today’s smart telescope.

They cannot image in monochrome. This single fact puts them at a disadvantage before they even start because monochrome sensors gather more light and record finer detail. When all your data comes through a color filter array, every faint wisp of structure has to fight a little harder to make itself known.

They cannot take very long exposures. With a dedicated rig I often shoot single sub exposures of five or even ten minutes. A smart telescope tops out around ten to sixty seconds. The sensors are usually noisier and the gain structure does not reward stretching the exposure time. Since they do not auto guide, the stars begin to drift, so the device stacks many short exposures instead of building depth in fewer long ones.

They cannot image very quickly. Most are built around optics that sit around F 5. Anyone who has spent time with a RASA or a reduced refractor at F 3 knows how much faster truly bright optics can be. The difference shows up in the time it takes to collect enough light to make a target sing.

They cannot do planetary imaging well. The apertures are small and the focal lengths are short. That combination limits the resolution and sampling that planets require. You can take a snapshot of Jupiter, but you will not get the belts and storms that larger systems can reveal.

They cannot be upgraded. With a traditional setup you can swap cameras, add filters, change the reducer or flattener, or even rebuild the entire optical train over time. A smart telescope is a sealed ecosystem. If you want something different you usually have to replace the whole instrument.

They cannot capture full frame astrophotography. The sensors are deliberately small to keep costs low and the gear portable. That helps avoid vignetting but it also limits the field of view. Expansive nebulae and wide star fields simply need more sensor real estate than a smart telescope provides.

They cannot do anything without a smartphone. Every function from alignment to acquisition to viewing lives inside an app. If your phone dies, loses its connection, or decides to update itself at the worst possible moment, the telescope becomes a quiet sculpture in the grass.

They cannot show you where they are pointed in the sky. There are no built in green lasers or pointing aids to help you visualize where the instrument is aimed. For newcomers this can be a surprise because the telescope moves silently and you have to trust the app to tell you what is in the field.

They cannot carry additional weight. There is no piggybacking a camera or mounting accessories. The structure is engineered for the load it ships with and little more.

They cannot offer the experience of looking through an eyepiece. Everything you see is delivered on a screen. That changes the relationship between you and the night sky. It is not better or worse, only different, and it is worth telling beginners this plainly so they know what to expect.

These limitations do not diminish the value of smart telescopes. They simply describe their place in the broader landscape of astronomy. For many people they are an invitation to explore. For those of us who have spent years out under the stars, they are another tool in a long tradition of curiosity. As long as we understand what they can and cannot do, there is room for both the convenience of automation and the joy of hands on astrophotography.

Finally, I want to speak to the spirit of the hobby. There’s a famous quote in astronomy circles: “The best telescope is the one you use the most.” I firmly believe that. For some people, the best telescope might be a traditional Dobsonian that they use every clear night because they love star-hopping. For others, the best might be a high-end refractor on a mount because they love fine astrophotography. And for many, the best telescope might just be a smart telescope because it’s the one that fits into their life and gets them under the stars frequently.

There is no single “real” way to enjoy astronomy. Gimmick implies trickery or a lack of substance. But when I see someone’s genuine excitement at capturing their first galaxy with a smart scope, there’s nothing hollow about that. The substance is the connection being made between a human mind and the cosmos, facilitated by some clever tech. Whether you star-hopped to that galaxy or tapped on a screen is irrelevant to the awe you feel when you see it. Smart telescopes, far from cheapening that awe, have amplified it by making it accessible to anyone, regardless of skill or background.

I recall a friend asking me not long ago, “Aren’t those smart telescopes just gimmicks? I heard they can’t match what you do with your expensive setup.” I grinned because I knew where he was coming from – he’s seen me produce high-res images with my big scope and was skeptical of the little newcomers. I replied to him with total honesty: “You’re absolutely right – they can’t match the raw output of my big telescope. But guess what? They’re not supposed to.

What they can do is something arguably even more important: make astronomy so easy that anybody can do it. And in doing so, they light a fire of curiosity that might lead to even greater things.”That’s the headfake I mentioned earlier – selling a simplified astrophotography experience, but actually delivering a gateway to a lifelong passion. From where I sit, under a tapestry of stars that I’ve come to know and love, I can’t help but tip my hat to these smart telescopes. They might be small in size and modest in power, but their impact on making the cosmos accessible is immense. The universe, after all, is for all of us to explore – and any tool that helps more people explore it is anything but a gimmick in my book.

Conclusion:

In debunking these myths, we find the truth is a lot more exciting than the misconceptions. Smart telescopes are not toys; they are ingenious tools that package serious tech into a friendly form. They might not dethrone large observatory-class setups in raw performance, but they’re not meant to – instead, they broaden the reach of astronomy, raise awareness of light pollution, inviting newcomers and assisting veterans alike. Yes, they automate the hard parts, but that lowers the wall that kept many from ever attempting astrophotography. We’ve entered an era where a beginner can capture the beauty of a nebula on their first night out, and where an expert can enjoy a hassle-free tour of the sky on a whim. That’s something to celebrate. These devices have proven they’re not a gimmick or a fad, but a complementary branch of the hobby – one that’s here to stay. So next time you or someone you know raises an eyebrow at a smart telescope, remember what we’ve discussed. Behind the marketing gloss are real stars, real photons, and real experiences being had. Whether you’re a curious newbie or a grizzled astro-veteran, there’s something to appreciate in this smart telescope revolution. It’s making the night sky more reachable, one tap at a time, and in doing so, it just might inspire the next generation of explorers. From my seasoned perspective under the stars, that is a very smart thing indeed.