What Can You See With a Smart Telescope? Realistic Expectations

A smart telescope doesn't show you a live view through glass. It takes many short exposures and stacks them, so faint objects build up on your screen over minutes, often showing more than your eye could through a much larger telescope. Here's what to expect for each kind of target, from the makers' guidance and independent reviews.

Nebulae: the best targets

Glowing gas clouds such as the Orion, Lagoon, Rosette and North America nebulae are where smart telescopes shine. Their red and teal colors appear within minutes, and built-in dual-band filters (on Seestar and Dwarflab models) let you image them from cities. ZWO's FAQ says the S30 Pro "performs very well under light-polluted suburban skies". T3 found bright nebulae like Orion "appear quickly".

Galaxies: good, with patience

The Andromeda Galaxy is easy; smaller galaxies such as M81, M101 and the Whirlpool show structure with longer stacking. They are harder from cities because light-pollution filters don't help them. Larger apertures (Celestron Origin, Dwarflab Draco, Unistellar) make the biggest difference here. See best for deep sky.

Star clusters

Open clusters such as the Pleiades and globular clusters such as M13 are bright and quick. AstroBackyard singled out a Pleiades image from the tiny DWARF mini as one of the best it had seen from a scope in its class.

The Moon

Every smart telescope shows craters and seas well; longer focal lengths fill more of the frame. T3 found the Seestar S30 Pro's Moon images "clear and detailed". Mosaic modes on several models can build a full-disk image.

The Sun (with a solar filter only)

With the supplied solar filter, Seestar and Dwarflab models show sunspots, and they're popular for eclipses. Dwarflab says to expect sunspots and perhaps faint granulation, but not prominences or flares. Always fit the filter before pointing at the Sun; ZWO warns that observing the Sun without it can permanently damage the camera.

Planets: small but recognizable

Jupiter shows its four large moons and Saturn its rings, but both are small. Dwarflab says the DWARF 3 shows them "as bright points or very small disks"; ZWO says the S30 Pro "is not a dedicated planetary photography system". Even the large Celestron Origin struggled: Space.com couldn't get it to focus on Saturn. See best for planets.

Comets

Bright comets make striking targets, and apps such as Seestar's update their comet lists online so the telescope can find them; ZWO says to make sure your phone has internet when you open the app so positions are current.

The Milky Way, star trails and landscapes

Models with a wide-angle camera, such as the Seestar S30 Pro and S50 Pro, add Milky Way, star-trail and time-lapse modes. ZWO says Milky Way images need dark skies. Daytime landscape and wildlife modes (on Seestar and Dwarflab models) use the telephoto lens like a super-telephoto camera.

What's not possible

• Tracking satellites or the ISS across the sky (ZWO). Transits across the Sun or Moon are possible to catch.
• Hubble-like detail. A 30–50 mm smart telescope has physical limits; a large dedicated rig shows more.
• Real-time viewing like an eyepiece, except on Unistellar's Odyssey Pro and eVscope 2.

Ready to choose? See the best smart telescopes or ask the smart telescope finder.