Vaonis

The problem

Traditional astrophotography means an equatorial mount, polar alignment, a dedicated camera and hours of image processing, which puts most newcomers off. Cyril Dupuy says people at public stargazing nights mainly wanted to take pictures of what they saw. Museums and planetariums, meanwhile, lack tools to stream the live sky to large audiences.

The solution

Vaonis builds automated telescope-cameras run from a phone app. The Vespera line (50 mm aperture, under 5 kg) targets consumers. Hestia, the size of a book, is a purely optical eyepiece with no electronics that relies on the smartphone's own sensor. Hyperia (150 mm, about 75 kg) is a robotic observatory for institutions.

How it works

1. The telescope sits on its tripod, connects to the phone over Wi-Fi and calibrates itself on the sky within minutes, with no manual polar alignment.
2. The user picks a target in the app; the onboard computer slews and tracks while a Sony sensor (8.5 MP IMX585 on Vespera III, 12.5 MP IMX676 on Vespera Pro 2) records successive exposures.
3. Frames are stacked live so the nebula or galaxy builds up on screen, and a multi-user mode shares the view with up to five phones.
4. Hestia uses a 30 mm lens and prisms to feed light into the phone camera (versus roughly 3 mm optics on a phone), giving up to 25x zoom and one stacked frame per second in the Gravity app.
5. Hyperia pairs a 150 mm f/4, 17-element optic designed with Canon with a 45 MP sensor, running automated multi-night sessions and live streams to auditoriums.

Value proposition

A deep-sky image in minutes from a balcony, with no tuning or processing software, and up to 11 hours of battery on Vespera III according to the company. With Hestia, Vaonis pitches an optic that clips onto the phone the user already owns, with nothing to charge.

Technology edge

Vaonis says it created the smart telescope category with Stellina in 2018. In consumer gear it sits at the premium end (Vespera III at $2,490, Vespera Pro 2 at $2,990), leaning on award-winning design and French manufacturing claims. Hyperia uses optics designed with Canon (Air Sphere Coating anti-reflection), mirroring rival Unistellar's tie-up with Nikon.

Business model

Consumer hardware sales, direct on vaonis.com and through retailers (Amazon, Best Buy, B&H Photo, High Point Scientific), plus accessories (solar, dual-band and light pollution filters). List prices: Vespera III $2,490, Vespera Pro 2 $2,990. B2B sales to institutions for Hyperia, from $99,000 (EUR 89,000), now on preorder.

Market

SkyQuest (2025 report) sizes the global telescope market at about $1.23B in 2024, growing an estimated 1.4% a year through 2033. No reliable figure exists for the smart telescope segment alone. The US matters most: about 70% of Hestia preorders came from there (2023).

Competitors and alternatives

ZWO's Seestar line pushed prices down: the Seestar S50 Pro lists at $999 (October 2026), less than half a Vespera III. Dwarflab sells the Dwarf 3 (35 mm, 1.35 kg) for around $549. French rival Unistellar partnered with Nikon on optics, the same playbook as Vaonis with Canon. Celestron, the legacy brand, is also named as a competitor by Space.com (May 2026).

Use cases

• An urban hobbyist captures the Orion Nebula from a balcony in minutes with a Vespera and an optional light pollution filter.
• A family shares a stargazing session across five smartphones at once with Vespera's multi-user mode.
• A smartphone owner shoots the Moon or the Sun (with filter) by placing the phone on Hestia, with no motorized mount.
• Paris's Palais de la Découverte (Universcience) picked Vaonis in October 2024 to build the telescope for its connected rooftop observatory, streaming images to the planetarium and lecture hall.

Traction and proof points

Stellina: CES Innovation Award 2018, Red Dot 2019, MoMA Design Store pick 2018. Vespera: CES 2021 Best of Innovation and a $2.56M Kickstarter (2020). Hestia: about 14,000 Kickstarter preorders and a first run of 15,000 units (2023), CES 2024 Best of Innovation (Digital Imaging & Photography). Hyperia: CES 2026 Honoree (Imaging). Universcience deal for the Palais de la Découverte (October 2024). Vespera III and Vespera Pro 2 launched in April 2026, followed by the reveal of a new product, Atlas, on October 15, 2026. Revenue was expected at EUR 1.5M in 2020 (ESA); nothing more recent published. Exhibited at CES 2018, 2022, 2024 and 2026.

What remains to be proven

Vaonis discloses neither recent revenue nor cumulative units sold, so it is hard to gauge how it holds up against Chinese rivals priced two to four times lower. Hyperia was announced in 2021 at EUR 45,000 with a 12 to 18 month lead time; it now lists around EUR 89,000 with deliveries in 2027, and the Palais de la Découverte observatory has slipped. With no sizable equity round on record, Kickstarter money and grants must fund four product lines.