Observing and doing astrophotography with a telescope, is an acquired skill that undoubtedly rewards the amateur astronomer, but not everyone has the time, patience or long spells of clear skies to get to sufficiently learn these skills.
Smart telescopes take away that learning curve, and replace it with computer-aided, remote-controlled technology that will have you taking fabulous images of star clusters, nebulas and galaxies within minutes. But smart telescopes are not just useful to novices, because experienced observers can also take advantage of them, perhaps to image quickly in a break in the clouds, or see a faint object better than through a traditional eyepiece.
The French company Vaonis is one of the leading manufacturers of smart telescopes, and the Vespera Pro is their premium model. Our review copy came with three additional filters – a solar filter for observing the sun, a light-pollution filter for night-time observing from urban areas, and a dual-band filter for better observing nebulas.
We were delighted to find that it is all very straightforward to use, controlled from your smartphone or tablet via Vaonis’ “Singularity” app, which not only controls the telescope, but gives you weather and object information, provides somewhere to store your images and connects you to other Vespera users. The images were fantastic, and it is a thrill to watch star clusters and galaxies appear on your smartphone screen. Unfortunately, this does all come at a cost — a pretty big one, so you’ll need deep pockets to join in on the fun of the Vespera Pro.
Vaonis Vespera Pro smart telescope review
Vaonis Vespera Pro: Design
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Portable with carry case
- Simple and quick set-up
- Quiet operation
The Vespera Pro joins the original Vespera, which was released in 2018, as well as its successor, the Vespera II, in Vaonis’ line of smart telescopes. All are equipped with 2-inch (50 mm) apertures, and the Vespera II and the Pro model, reviewed here, have longer focal lengths of 250mm compared to the original Vespera, giving a focal ratio of f/5.
Vaonis’ telescopes look different from other telescopes, and the Vespera Pro is no different. Removed from its carry case, it looks like a white egg and you wonder how this can possibly be a telescope. Once its telescopic arm rotates out, it does look a bit more like a telescope, albeit a futuristic one.
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The tabletop tripod comes disassembled, but all that is required is to screw in the legs into the central mount, which then screws onto the base of the Vespera Pro. This can be done by yourself but it is easier if you have one person holding the telescope while you screw the tripod in. The Vespera Pro can be attached to a taller tripod if the user wishes and already owns such a tripod. While it functions perfectly fine placed on the floor, this can make it difficult to see targets closer to the horizon. If you use a taller tripod, the setup may be less stable, so be careful during operation.
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Specifications
Optical design: Quadruplet apochromatic refractor
Aperture: 50 mm (2-inch)
Focal length: 250 mm (10 inch)
Focal ratio: f/5
Field of view: 1.6-degrees x 1.6-degrees
Limiting magnitude: 16
Angular resolution: 1.6 arcseconds
Imaging sensor: IMX676 with STARVIS 2 technology
Image resolution: 12MP
Battery life: 11 hours
The Vespera Pro arrives in a heavy shipping box, inside which the telescope is well-protected in a smart, foam-lined metal case. Inside the case is the telescope wrapped in a protective sheath, the tripod legs and the mount. The tripod is only a small table-top support for the telescope – if you want to image something close to the horizon, you’re probably going to need to position it somewhere high, which then brings increased risk of it being knocked over. Fortunately, we found that most of the time, placing the Vespera Pro on stable ground, such as a patio or decking, or on a firm table, is quite sufficient.
The Vespera Pro is expensive. Although the quality of images from it is higher, it is debatable whether they are sufficiently better to justify such a higher price. That said, it’s very quick and easy to set up and there’s not much more to be said – it’s the ultimate get-up-and-go telescope.
Vaonis Vespera Pro: Performance
★ ★ ★ ★
- Quick deep-sky imaging
- High-resolution images of star clusters and galaxies
- Wide field of view
Our first run of observations took place in the evening, more than an hour after sunset. Despite light pollution to the north and a last-quarter moon, the Vespera Pro was able to cut through the conditions like a knife through butter. By incrementally adding 10-second exposures (you can vary the length of exposure up to 30 seconds), the image builds up on the screen of your tablet or smartphone.
Our first target was Messier 13 (M13), the Great Globular Cluster in the constellation of Hercules. Through an eyepiece on a traditional telescope, M13 looks like a fuzzy blob. Within seconds, the Vespera Pro was resolving individual stars in this cluster that is home to hundreds of thousands of stars. Chains of stars radiating from the dense core could be seen, and stars could be resolved all the way into the core. It is a stunning sight, and the Vespera Pro was also able to capture the small magnitude 11.6 spiral galaxy NGC 6207, which appears close to M13 in the sky. The bright bulge of NGC 6207 and its fuzzy disk could be clearly seen. However, in an exposure lasting 5 minutes and 30 stacked exposures, the Vespera Pro did not show another small galaxy, IC 4617, that shines at magnitude 15, close to M13.
Speaking of galaxies, one of the others that we targeted with the Vespera Pro was the popular targets of Messier 81 (M81) and Messier 82 (M82) in the constellation of Ursa Major. M81 is a spiral galaxy tilted at a shallow angle towards us, showing off much of its spiral disk. M82, on the other hand, is seen edge-on, is very dusty and has an active core. It was able to capture both galaxies, which are 31 arcminutes apart — the same as the angular diameter of the full Moon – in the same field of view, M82 at the center, and M81 at the top of the frame. Exposure time was 7 minutes 30 seconds, containing 45 stacked images.
The dark dust lanes in M82 that cut across perpendicular to its edge-on disk were visible, although details in these dust lanes could not be resolved. M81 appeared larger, but its lower surface brightness meant that its disk was less defined, although its core was bright. The spiral structure in the disk was hinted at, and a longer exposure might accentuate its spiral structure better, particularly if using Vaonis’ dual-band or light-pollution filters, which are available separately (priced $399 and $229, respectively).
The Vespera Pro is more suited for imaging mainly large or closer deep-sky objects, as well as the sun and the moon. Because of the wide field of view, planets, planetary nebulas and distant galaxies are too small and can be a struggle to make out in detail. The Vespera Pro really proves its mettle with large objects – the Great Cluster of Hercules, Messier 13, which spans over 15 arcseconds in angular diameter on the sky, stood out well. Large emission nebulas, such as the Orion Nebula or the North America Nebula in Cygnus, fill the field of view nicely and the Vespera Pro offers a view you can never have through an eyepiece. It’s a wonderful experience to watch a star-forming nebula or a faraway galaxy gradually emerge out of the darkness. You can also take full-disc images of the Moon, or if you have Vaonis’ solar filter (at an additional cost of $179), images of the sun.
We did take the Vespera Pro to a very dark site (Bortle class 2) but had difficulty acquiring targets and we had to input new coordinates for the telescope to plate solve and target accurately – by which time the clouds rolled in. So it is important to remember that the entire setup has to be done from the beginning when observing from a new location.
Each of the three models makes use of Sony IMX color imaging sensors, but the Pro has the best of the bunch, the IMX 676 chip with 12MP (3536 x 3536 pixels) – just what you would expect from a telescope described as ‘pro’. The image quality is therefore superior to the other models – it has greater resolution (down to 1.6 arcseconds – test this on some tight double stars), a field of view of 1.6 square degrees that’s larger than the original Vespera but not as wide as the Vespera II, so objects don’t appear quite so lost in the frame.
Vaonis Vespera Pro: Functionality
★ ★ ★ ★
- Free Singularity app can be downloaded easily
- App is very intuitive to use, and offers many observing modes and imaging targets
- Ability to store or share all of your images using the app
The Vaonis Vespera Pro is a smart telescope, which means that it’s a little different to an ordinary telescope. For one thing, there is no eyepiece! This isn’t a telescope that you look through. Instead, the onboard computer takes the images and wirelessly transfers it to your phone or tablet.
The interface is Vaonis’ Singularity app, available to download for free from the App Store or Google Play store. There’s a QR code that takes you straight to the download page. Once you’ve downloaded it, you then need to set up the Wi-Fi connection between your device and the telescope. You do this by touching the round power button on the side of the Vespera. The button flashes with either a blue or red light three times (your choice of color, but red preserves night vision) as it powers up and then turns a solid red to indicate that it is now operational.
You can then go to the Wi-Fi connection set-up on your phone or tablet and you should then see the Vespera listed as an available Wi-Fi network that you can select and join. What’s neat is that up to eight people can join and see what the telescope is imaging, although only one user is designated as the controller. This makes it ideal for outreach work with small groups.
The Singularity app will then give you the opportunity to name your telescope and select its location, before you click the Initialize button. The telescope’s arm slowly swings out and it begins ‘plate solving’ to determine where it is pointing in the sky. Plate solving involves imaging parts of the sky and then matching them up with maps of the sky stored in its computer. Then it focuses, and you’re ready to begin. It takes about five minutes for this setup process, but it feels longer as you eagerly await its completion.
There are a number of options for selecting targets using the Singularity app. It offers up a selection of prominent targets that are available that night, or you can manually search for a target, for example via its Messier or NGC designation. Just select your target and the telescope will swivel and the arm will lower or raise to point at the target, autofocus, and then begin imaging in ten-second incremental exposures.
You see the image build up over time on your phone or tablet screen as more and more light is gathered, steadily improving the signal-to-noise ratio. Exposures can be as short or as long as you wish, though five minutes to fifty are probably enough depending upon how faint the target is. Once you’ve finished, you press the stop button and the image is automatically saved onto your device.
There are different modes that you can use. ‘Expert’ lets you customise the exposure times and other image settings, while ‘Plan My Night’ allows you to program the telescope to perform imaging on a sequence of chosen targets. As long as your phone or tablet is within five meters of the telescope it will keep working, so you can leave your device next to the telescope while you do something else.
It’s also got a much longer battery life, of 11 hours (this, of course, is subject to environmental conditions – it will drain faster in colder weather) compared to the eight hours of the original Vespera and the paltry four-hour battery life of the Vespera II.
There’s also a solar mode for imaging the sun, but it is important to note that you must use the separate Vaonis solar filter to prevent damaging your telescope’s electronics. Because during the day, no other stars are on show, the Vespera Pro cannot plate solve to find where the Sun is in the sky, so there is a different process that the Singularity app takes you through, safely aligning the telescope for solar observation.
Vaonis Vespera Pro: User reviews
On Amazon the Vaonis Vespera Pro meets with broad approval, with 3.8 out of 5 stars from 10 reviews. The positive reviews praise its ease-of-use and quality of imaging describing its “amazing sights”, but some negative reviews highlight poor after-sales support from Vaonis, its high price — “if you want a budget telescope, this isn’t it” and difficulty downloading files from it.
How we tested the Vaonis Vespera Pro
The Vaonis Vespera Pro was used from the patio of a south-facing garden in the United Kingdom, on the edge of a town with a Bortle scale of three to four. Observations took place in mid-April 2025, with a last-quarter Moon in the sky. Conditions were fair to good on the clearest of nights, with an average atmospheric pressure of approximately 30 Hg throughout our test run with no wind.
Should you buy the Vaonis Vespera Pro?
Buy it if:
✅ You have a large budget: The Vaonis Vespera Pro comes in at $2990 before additional filter purchases but is worth it for easy and premium astrophotography.
✅ You want easy images of nebulas and larger deep sky objects: The Vaonis Vespera Pro has a wide field-of-view and is good for capturing expansive nebulas, especially when combined with the Vaonis dual-band filter.
Don’t buy it if:
❌ You want to do planetary imaging: The wide-field of view on this telescope makes it unsuitable for imaging of smaller celestial objects such as planets, planetary nebulas and small galaxies.
❌ You prefer to look through an eyepiece: If you prefer observing through an eyepiece, you might be better off looking at a traditional telescope or a smart telescope with an eyepiece like the Unistellar Odyssey Pro or the Unistellar eVscope 2.
The Vaonis Vespera Pro is ideal for beginners or more experienced observers who want a way of imaging quickly. It is also useful for outreach, where up to eight people can join on Wi-Fi and have the images on their devices in real-time. The two-inch (50 mm) aperture is competitive amongst most of the other smart telescopes on the market and the big, bright deep-sky objects in particular image extremely well. Users who have never imaged before will be amazed by the ease with which they can produce pictures of galaxies, nebulas and star clusters.
However, if you are a dedicated astro-imager wanting the best, largest optics for mono-imaging with narrowband filters or if you are a planetary imager, then you might feel that the Vespera Pro does not fulfil your needs. In that sense, its imaging abilities are fairly limited, but it is the ultimate grab-and-go imaging device for the casual observer.
If the Vaonis Vespera Pro isn’t for you
Vaonis has two other smart telescopes, the original Vespera and the Vespera II. ZWO are also offering stiff competition with their high-quality but budget-friendly SeeStar S50 and Seestar S30. Celestron has also entered the smart telescope market with their Origin Intelligent Home Observatory, which is even more expensive than the Vespera Pro at $3999 but has a far larger aperture of 6-inches (152mm).
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