Exploring the planets and distant nebulae with a telescope is great fun – but it can be hard work for the beginner. And it can be a freezing experience in the middle of winter too! A new breed of smart telescopes is changing all this – and the price of them is falling fast, particulaly if you take advantage of this hot deal we have spotted in the two-day Amazon sale.
Instead of looking through an eyepiece, a camera in the telescope beams the image to your phone or tablet - so you can stay in the warm, whilst you leave the telescope outside tracking the stars. And you can control the position of the tripod remotely - using the app to guide you automatically to the most interesting things in the night sky.
The Dwarflab Dwarf Mini is one of our favorite smart telescopes – and particularly if you want something that is portable, and doesn't take up lots of space when not in use.. It shrinks smart astrophotography down to a size that easily fits into your camera bag – and its sculptural looks will make a stylish addition to your bookshelf or mantelpiece.
Weighing just 840g (1.8 lbs), this ultra-portable refractor telescope relies on a compact 30mm aperture, a 150mm focal length (f/5), and a 2-megapixel 1/2.8in Sony IMX662 sensor.
Like most smart scopes, it pairs seamlessly with your phone to handle alignment, tracking, and image stacking automatically. What sets the Mini apart is its built-in filter wheel and included solar filter, letting you shoot the Sun, Moon, and deep sky straight out of the box. Its motorized alt-azimuth mount even supports an EQ mode, allowing long exposures up to 90 seconds.
You get about 4 hours of battery life from its 7,000mAh pack.
The 2MP resolution means you won't get ultra-sharp deep-space prints – but it brings space exploration to the masses. Be warned, you will need to a tripod to get the most out of this space-age device.
