Review: Unistellar's New Odyssey Pro Smart Telescope

Odyssey Pro
Odyssey Pro. Credit: Unistellar

Unistellar’s new Odyssey Pro telescope offers access to deep-sky astrophotography in a small portable package.

Access to the night sky has never been simpler. The last half-decade has seen a revolution in backyard astronomy as ‘smartscopes’—telescopes controlled by smartphone applications—have come to the fore. These offer an easy entry into basic deep-sky astrophotography even from bright urban skies, albeit at a higher price point versus traditional telescopes on the market. We’ve reviewed units from Vaonis and Unistellar before, and written commentary on the rise of the whole smartscope movement. Now, Unistellar has a new entry on the market in 2024: the Odyssey Pro.

Specifications for the Odyssey Pro

The telescope at the heart of the system is an 85mm aperture reflector with an f/3.9 320mm focal length. The image sensor (in place of where the secondary mirror would be on a traditional telescope) is a 4.2 megapixel camera. The turret on the side of the tube houses an electronic eyepiece incorporating Nikon's Eyepiece Technology, providing an enhanced view. The addition of the eyepiece turret is the key difference between the Odyssey and Odyssey Pro.

Operational Features

Smartscopes find and aim at targets using a method known as ‘plate-solving’ in tandem with satellite GPS. This involves looking at segments of the sky and comparing the star pattern with a known database. You can see this in action as the scope slews from one part of the sky to the next on startup. Unlike Vaonis’s Stellina, Unistellar’s telescopes give you a live view during the slewing process and allow users to manually slew around the sky in a virtual joystick mode, a nice, hands-on touch.

Application Interface

The new app interface for Unistellar has also been updated. Many users will be happy to learn that old eVscope images can be found in the cloud memory. The unit is USB-C charged and offers about five hours of use in the field, featuring 64Gb of internal storage memory for capturing deep-sky astrophotos.

Odyssey Pro Versus the eVScope

The Odyssey Pro is smaller (85mm aperture vs. 112mm) than the eVScope but operates similarly. The Odyssey features auto-focus technology, eliminating the need for manual focusing that was necessary with the eVscope. In practice, we also tried out a smart solar filter for this unit. The filter clicks magnetically in place at the front of the telescope, making it easy to attach and detach. However, it requires some caution during public observing as curious hands could easily snag or pull the filter off during observation. Although there’s no danger of blinding a viewer, a few seconds of unfiltered sunlight could be damaging to the telescope.

Odyssey Pro easily finds and slews to the Sun, focusing and color correcting the image effortlessly.

Performance Assessment

Strengths

  • Ease of Setup: Like the Unistellar eVScope, the Odyssey Pro just works as advertised: set it down, power it up, and you’re slewing to targets within minutes.
  • User-Friendly Experience: The enhanced app features and manual control options provide an engaging and interactive experience.

Weaknesses

  • App Glitches: The newer app occasionally exhibits bugs; a cold boot may be necessary during sessions.
  • Sensitivity to Vibration: During the enhanced imaging mode, the telescope is quite sensitive to vibrations even on solid concrete.

Enhanced Vision Technology

But the real magic happens when you engage the enhanced vision mode. This initiates a process where the scope starts to observe a target, stacking and cleaning up the image. The longer it runs, the brighter and sharper the image becomes. Unistellar’s new method, known as ‘Vivid Vision’, refines images based on user database visualizations to validate what the telescope captures. Color correction for stars and validation also uses Gaia’s latest DR3 catalog.

First Night Out Experience

During our first night out with the Odyssey Pro, we showcased about a dozen deep-sky objects to a small group under the bright lights of downtown Bristol, Tennessee. While you can view the Moon and planets, the broader field of view really shines when examining deep-sky nebulae and clusters.

Deep sky images
Four deep-sky images of three different star clusters, taken with the Odyssey Pro in an urban environment.

The Bottom Line

Are smartscopes worth the price? I’d say the Odyssey Pro (or any smartscope) possesses three key advantages:

  • Finding Objects Quickly: The plate-solving method eliminates the need for time-consuming star-hopping and studying star charts; the Odyssey Pro can simply slews to the target and centers it in the field of view.
  • Imaging from Urban Areas: The Odyssey Pro makes dimmer celestial objects accessible to those in urban environments.
  • Public Outreach Utility: At star parties, attendees can gather to watch the visuals emerge. No more queuing for the eyepiece or constant refocusing; this allows more time for discussions about space and what we are seeing.

Unistellar also stands out as being uniquely involved in building a community surrounding their worldwide network of smartscopes. Users are now tracking asteroids, following comets, and even generating exoplanet light curves and more, all while significantly contributing to scientific inquiries right from their backyards.

Conclusion

Be sure to give the Odyssey Pro a try as it presents a compelling introduction to smartscope astronomy.

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