What can you see with a smart telescope?
Smart telescopes excel at nebulae, galaxies and star clusters, show the Moon and Sun well, and render planets small. What fits depends on one number: the telephoto field of view. Here is every current model against eight common targets, drawn to scale.
Object-by-object matrix
| Object | S30 Pro | DWARF 3 | Vespera II | Vespera 3 | S50 Pro | Vespera Pro 2 | S30 | DWARF mini | Origin Mark II | S50 | eQuinox 2 | eVscope 2 | Odyssey | Odyssey Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ≈ | ≈ |
| Andromeda Galaxy (M31) | ✔ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ |
| Orion Nebula (M42) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ |
| Pleiades (M45) | ✔ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ |
| North America Nebula | ✔ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ | ▦ |
| Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) | · | · | · | · | · | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Ring Nebula (M57) | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · |
| Jupiter | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · |
✔ fits with margin · ≈ just fits · ▦ needs a mosaic · · fits but small (hover for pixel size). Fields are the native telephoto frame; mosaic modes on Seestar, DWARF and Vaonis models extend them.
Fields of view drawn to scale
Full Moon
About 31 arcminutes wide; the Sun is the same size (solar filter required).
Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
About 3° long including the faint outer disc.
Orion Nebula (M42)
About 65 × 60 arcminutes including the outer wings.
Pleiades (M45)
About 110 arcminutes across.
Planets: set expectations
Jupiter is about 45 arcseconds across at its best. At 2–4″ per pixel (Seestar, DWARF, Vaonis) that is 11–23 pixels: you will see the disc, the two main belts and the Galilean moons. The Unistellar Odyssey (0.93″/px) and eQuinox 2 (1.33″/px) double that. See best smart telescope for planets.
Galaxies and nebulae
Large nebulae (Orion, Lagoon, North America, Rosette) suit wide fields such as the Seestar S30 Pro's. Small galaxies (Whirlpool, Sombrero, Pinwheel core) need aperture and a fine image scale: the Celestron Origin Mark II, Unistellar models and 50 mm Seestars and Vesperas do better. Try your own pairings in the field of view comparator.
Frequently asked questions
Can a smart telescope see planets?
Only partly. Their short focal lengths give 1–4 arcseconds per pixel, so Jupiter covers roughly 8–50 pixels. Unistellar's Odyssey and eQuinox/eVscope models do best; Seestars and DWARFs are deep-sky instruments.
Which smart telescope fits the whole Andromeda Galaxy?
None of the current models frames all ~3.2° of Andromeda natively. The Seestar S30 Pro (3.99° × 2.24°) comes closest; the DWARF 3, Seestar S50 Pro and the Vespera mosaic modes get most of it.
Which smart telescopes fit the full Moon?
All current Seestar, DWARF and Vaonis models plus the Celestron Origin Mark II. The Unistellar Odyssey and eQuinox/eVscope fields (about 0.75° × 0.56°) are wider than the Moon's 0.52° but leave no margin in the short direction.