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This smartphone telescope brought tears to my eyes with stunning photos - how it works

The Vaonis Hestia works with your smartphone to capture stunning photos of the night sky.

The telescope I got was a $300 tabletop device, and while it's great for seeing the craters on the moon or even Saturn's faint rings with your own eyes, taking a photo using it is less than ideal. A six-lens optical design featuring a 30mm objective and 25x magnification allows you to see the planets and stars through the lens of your smartphone (you can check out the list of compatible phones on the company's website), making the sky accessible to anyone. This well-designed app shows you a map of the sky, allowing you to pick a planet or a star cluster, and uses your phone's GPS to guide you where to aim the device so you can capture a photo.

Get the Android app