Vaonis Hestia Smartphone Telescope

Hestia: A 25x Optical Engine for Your Smartphone

Hestia is designed to pair the camera in your pocket with a high-quality telephoto optical system built for the sky. It is not a standalone telescope; rather, it is a powerful optical amplifier that multiplies your phone's native imaging capabilities by 25 times. This allows you to resolve details like lunar craters, sunspots, and the structure of bright galaxies that a phone's wide-angle lens cannot capture on its own.

Because Hestia contains no electronics, firmware or internal battery, there is nothing in it to charge or update: its function is purely optical. This makes it an ideal instrument for anyone curious about astronomy, from families looking for an accessible way to explore the sky to travelers who need a portable solution for capturing eclipses or dark-sky vistas.

The 6-Lens, 30mm System with a 1.8° Field of View

At the core of Hestia is a patented optical design featuring 6 lenses arranged in 3 groups, complete with prisms to direct the light path into your smartphone's camera sensor. This sophisticated layout, combined with a 30mm (1.2 in) objective lens, provides the magnification needed for celestial targets; it gives a fivefold resolution boost over the smartphone alone.

The system delivers a wide 1.8° field of view, which is more than three times the diameter of the full Moon. This generous field makes it easy to find and frame targets, from the Pleiades star cluster (M45) to the whole Moon. With a limiting magnitude of 7 to 8, Hestia can reveal stars and deep-sky objects fainter than what is visible to the naked eye.

Magnetic Mounting and iPhone 8+ Compatibility

Hestia integrates with your smartphone through a simple and secure mechanical interface. You place your phone over the Hestia's eyepiece, and a set of included magnets holds it firmly in place. The Gravity by Vaonis app provides an on-screen guide to help you perfectly align your phone's main camera with the eyepiece, ensuring a sharp, fully illuminated image circle.

Vaonis has defined clear compatibility to ensure a reliable user experience, primarily centered on Apple's iPhone lineup.

• Sun & Moon Mode: Compatible with iPhone 8 and newer models, provided they are running iOS 16 or later.
• Deep-Sky Mode: Compatible with iPhone 13 and above.
• Android Compatibility: Varies by phone model and the intended observation mode. The Gravity app includes a built-in test to let Android users check their device's compatibility before heading out.

The Gravity by Vaonis App: Guided Alignment for 3 Observation Modes

The Gravity by Vaonis app is the brain of the Hestia system, turning a purely optical device into a smart telescope. After a one-time authentication by scanning a unique QR code on the instrument, the app's "Space Center" becomes your mission control, displaying ephemeris data for your location and providing access to Hestia's different imaging modes.

The app guides you through every step, from initial setup to finding and photographing celestial objects. It offers several distinct modes tailored for different targets:

• Solar and Lunar Mode: Optimized for capturing the brightest objects in the sky. It helps you track the evolution of sunspots (with the solar filter) or explore the fine details of lunar craters and maria.
• Deep Sky Mode: Designed for imaging the brightest galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. The app guides you to your target and uses image stacking technology to reveal faint details over time.
• Landscape/Scenery Mode: Turns Hestia into a powerful telephoto lens for daytime use, allowing you to photograph distant landscapes and wildlife.

Focusing System: A Mechanical Ring with a 20m Minimum Distance

Hestia uses a simple and reliable manual focusing system. A large mechanical ring adjusts the internal optics to achieve a sharp image, whether you're targeting a distant mountain or the Moon. The system has a minimum focus distance of 20 meters, making it suitable for terrestrial photography as well as astronomical use.

To aid in achieving perfect focus, especially on faint stars, the Gravity app includes a Focus Assistant. This tool captures a series of images while you make adjustments, allowing you to zoom in and select the frame where stars are the tightest and sharpest. This process removes the guesswork from focusing and is critical for getting the most detail out of your deep-sky images.

Imaging Control: Manual ISO and Exposure Time in the Gravity App

The Gravity app gives you manual control over your phone camera's most important settings for astrophotography: ISO and exposure time. This is essential for adapting to different targets and sky conditions.

• ISO: This setting controls the camera sensor's sensitivity to light. A low ISO is used for bright objects like the Moon to produce clean, sharp images. A high ISO is necessary to capture faint light from deep-sky objects, though it may introduce more grain.
• Exposure Time: This determines how long the camera's sensor collects light for a single frame. A short exposure is used to freeze details on the Sun or Moon, while a long exposure is required to make faint nebulae visible.

In the Gravity app, manual control of ISO and exposure time are linked.

Solar and Eclipse Imaging: Safe Sun Observation with the Vaonis Solar Filter

Hestia can observe and photograph the Sun, provided the Vaonis solar filter is used. This filter, included in the Ultimate Pack, screws onto the front of the instrument and is CE-certified. It lets you safely observe and photograph features like sunspots and faculae on your phone's screen; never look at the Sun directly.

To make aiming at the Sun easy and safe, the Ultimate Pack also includes a solar pointer. This simple device attaches to Hestia and projects a shadow, allowing you to center the Sun in the field of view without ever looking at it directly. Thousands of Hestia users captured the solar corona, Baily's beads and the chromosphere during a total solar eclipse.

Deep-Sky Stacking (Beta): Capturing Galaxies with Star Field Reconnaissance

Hestia's deep-sky mode, currently in its beta phase, uses your smartphone's sensor to venture beyond the solar system. The process begins with the Gravity app performing a star field reconnaissance. By analyzing a wide patch of sky with at least six bright stars, the app can determine exactly where the telescope is pointing.

Once its position is known, the app provides on-screen instructions to guide you to your chosen target, such as the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) or the Orion Nebula (M42). After the object is centered, you begin the stacking process. Gravity captures and accumulates multiple long-exposure images, combining their data in real-time to build up the final picture. This technique reduces noise and allows the faint light of distant galaxies and nebulae to emerge from the background sky.

Tripod Requirements: A 3/8" Thread and Pan-Tilt Fluid Head

A stable platform is critical for sharp astrophotography, especially during long exposures. Hestia is designed to mount on a standard photographic tripod equipped with a 3/8" thread and a pan-and-tilt fluid head. This type of head allows for smooth, controlled movements both horizontally (azimuth) and vertically (altitude), which is essential for aiming the instrument.

Make sure the tripod is on firm, level ground and tighten all axes securely before placing a phone on Hestia. There is also an important warning: do not point the instrument higher than 80° above the horizon. Above that angle, your smartphone risks falling.

3 Hestia Kits: Essential, Standard, and Ultimate Packs

Hestia comes in three packages, allowing you to choose the kit that best fits your existing equipment and observing goals.

• Essential Pack: This includes the Hestia Smartphone Telescope and a protective dust cover. It suits users who already own a sturdy tripod with a compatible pan-and-tilt fluid head.
• Standard Pack: This kit bundles the Hestia instrument with a tripod, providing a complete, ready-to-use system for nighttime and daytime terrestrial observation.
• Ultimate Pack: It contains the Hestia instrument, the tripod, a hard carrying case, the solar filter and the solar pointer, adding everything needed for safe solar observing.

A 850g Go-Anywhere Design: No Electronics, No Batteries

Engineered for portability, the Vaonis Hestia weighs only 850 g (1.87 lb) and has a slim profile of 17 x 24 x 5.5 cm. This compact form factor allows it to slide easily into a backpack or carry-on luggage, making it an ideal companion for travel, hiking, and eclipse chasing. The robust materials resist impacts and temperature changes, and the design is resistant to rain and snow, though it should not be immersed in water.

Care for Hestia is straightforward. The plastic shell can be cleaned with a soft cloth and soapy water. The front lens is a precision optical surface and should only be cleaned with wipes specifically intended for optical lenses. As there are no user-serviceable parts, the instrument should never be opened or disassembled. With proper care, Hestia will provide a window to the cosmos for years to come.