What is your “technological age?” Now that you are scratching your head in confusion, let me explain. Being born in 1973, I’m enjoying my first year of “the 50’s.” For the most part, so far so good. There are a few new aches and pains, but nothing too earth shattering. One aspect of the 50’s that is showing me my age is technology. I once was known as the “techie priest,” being able to both build and repair the best of Pentium 90 computers that ran Windows 95. It was my job to “figure out” the computer in front of me. Now I worry if the computer in front of me is trying to figure me out! In short, I’m seeing signs that my “technological age” is beginning to rapidly speed up in a bad way.
Now, I have yet to completely enter the “Get off my front lawn” stage of life (for those who don’t understand, this phrase is a joke Americans use to poke fun at grumpy old people). However, the warning signs are emerging by way of “when I was young” stories. I fear I’m approaching the “grumpy old priest” phase of ministry. Part of that awaking is by way of the rapid advancement of technology in hobby astronomy.
A while back, I was gifted a “Vespera Smart Telescope.” As another iteration of the emergence of somewhat compact, somewhat affordable astro-cameras, the Vespera promises high quality images of the night sky with little to no headache. In the past, the “little to no headache” part of smart telescopes always seemed a bit disingenuous. I’ve tried a number of “no headache” telescope and camera setups that still make me grab the ibuprofen. I’ve even heard astrophotographers jokingly proclaim that dealing with the headaches of “Dr. Frankensteining” a telescope, camera, tracking mount and a computer with a bird’s nest of wires was a type of right of passage to show you were really dedicated to the hobby. They scoff at the idea of a “no headache” rig, thinking that somehow wanting to take a sledgehammer to expensive gear meant to bring astronomical “joy” builds character. Personally, it often leads to creating a good reason to go to Confession and makes me feel like serious hobbyists are telling me to “get off their astronomical lawn.”
So, does the Vespera deliver a headache free experience? Well, similar the Dwarf II I own, yes! Here are some of the images I’ve been able to achieve with the Vespera.
What do you think? Even though these aren’t going to be winning any astrophotography awards, these images amaze me because of how they are created. The camera sensor used to take these images is the Sony FSM-IMX462 Starvis sensor. The resolution of the sensor is only 2.1 megapixels – That’s about 1/6 of the resolving power of a standard cellphone sensor and 1/12 the resolving power of my Canon R8. The physical size of the sensor is 1/2.8 inches. So how does it create such good images?
You may notice with each picture above there is an “exp” number. That number is how many individual images were used to create the image. Therefore, the Andromeda image is a sack and stitch of 345 exposures. However, the Vespera took over 1,100 images when I open the file folder. Why weren’t all 1,100 images used to make the one picture?
Vespera uses a technique to create images called “lucky imaging.” The concept of lucky imaging has been around for a while, but Vespera has refined the technique. In short, when you take multiple, short exposure images of a night sky object, you struggle with atmospheric distortion. The easiest way to see an example of this is to watch the Moon ascend on the horizon. Its odd color and wavy appearance is due to atmospheric distortion.
When you image an object higher in the night sky, there will be brief moments when the atmosphere will stabilize and you can see clearly with no distortion. The problem is that, depending on your humidity levels, those moments of clarity are not the same from night to night. In the “old school” approach to lucky editing, the astrophotographer would painstakingly go through each frame and reject the distorted images before stacking the composite image. The magic of Vespera is that it rejects the bad images for you…. that is a big reduction in my headache level!
As with everything these days, the technology on these smart telescopes is getting better and better. Some may feel that the ease of these new devices may have a negative impact of turning astrophotography into nothing more than a smartphone game. I may be accused of such a turn in my love of astronomy as I’m considering doing live streams with my Vespera to have a fun “Google Hang Out” night with Sacred Space Astronomy members to talk with you about your love of the night sky as we watch an image build. Let me know in the comments below if that would interest you!
Still, I’m finding these smart telescopes are doing two things that are good for me: 1. They are helping me better learn our “astronomical neighborhood” and 2. Given the long periods of time it takes for these these images to build, it’s motivating me to take my real telescope out more to do basic, “low tech” visual observation. So, are these tools good or bad? Each person may feel differently about this. For me, its been a blessing! Still, I respect those who feel a bit more negative and want my Vespera off their astronomical lawn.
Most days my “technological age” makes me feel like I’m falling behind. Just the other day I took a car for a test drive and couldn’t figure out how to start the motor without the 19 year-old car salesmen to show me what button to push – that was my “get off my lawn” moment this week… I want hand crank windows. However, I’m not there yet with the advancements in astronomy. In fact, I’d consider them a blessing since they make stargazing more accessible to the masses. This presumes that the tools will actually lead to startgazing and not simply screen watching.
What are your thoughts? What is your “technological age?” Are these advancements good or bad? Let me know in the comments below!
