Smart telescopes – fad or function

Presenter(s): Des Janke

Affiliation(s): AAQ

Session details: Saturday, 2022-04-23 03:30:00, ONL

Abstract

Since 2017, telescopes have emerged that combine optics, imaging and computerisation. Although considered expensive, they promote portability, ease of use and extraordinary performance, revealing dark sky objects from suburban locations. Detractors maintain you can assemble your own for less cost, but at what requirement in technical know-how and setup.

Biography

Des Janke has been an amateur astronomer since his early childhood, building a telescope in high school. He has been a continuous AAQ member for 21 years in which time he’s had many stints on the AAQ Council. Since retiring as an IT professional, Des supports the USQ Centre for Astrophysics in public outreach and utilises USQ’s Unistellar eVscope to contribute citizen science observations for SETI.