Autumn 2026 is busy for smart telescopes. Within a few weeks, three brands announced a new model: Vaonis with the Atlas, Dwarflab with the Draco, and Sky-Watcher, which finally enters the market with the Orbis.
Let me say it right away: I am a very small player in this world, and I have no access to these instruments to test them. What follows comes from the manufacturers' announcements and the specialist press, cross-checked across several sources. I follow them with great interest, and I will write a fuller update once the first real images are published.
Vaonis Atlas: the modular smart telescope
This is the most original announcement. The Atlas is not a telescope, it is a mount onto which you clip one or two tubes, without tools. The idea is to swap optics the way you swap lenses on a camera.
- First module, the Atlas 80: 80 mm apochromatic refractor, 360 mm focal length (f/4.5), 4 lenses, Sony IMX585 sensor (8.3 MP, 2.9 µm pixels).
- Field of view: about 1.8° × 1.0°, and up to 3.5° × 2° in mosaic mode.
- Two tubes at once (Twin version): two identical modules side by side to collect twice as much light.
- All-sky camera on the mount: a 185° fisheye that shows the sky in augmented reality and records timelapses.
- Battery life: about 6 hours. Weather resistant (IP64), from -20 to +40 °C.
- Price: $3,990 in presale until 15 November, then $4,990. The Twin version goes from $5,490 to $6,990. In the UK, the single version is £3,399 on pre-order.
- Shipping: from March 2027.
Vaonis also announces a planetary module, filters, and an equatorial table for the second half of 2027.
My take: the concept is appealing, especially to upgrade your gear without buying everything again. But at this price, you are in the budget of a complete classic setup. The IMX585 sensor is the one in my ASI 585MC Pro camera, at a focal length close to my Askar 71F (490 mm). The comparison will be interesting.
I probably won't buy one: to me, the price is a deal-breaker for a smart telescope built around the IMX585. It is an excellent sensor, but still a mid-range one. Vaonis deliberately chose a high-end product designed in France, so I would have liked a higher-end sensor too. Apart from that, it looks like an excellent solution on paper, and I have no doubt it will find its audience.
Dwarflab Draco: a 90 mm with autoguiding
Dwarflab, maker of the Dwarf 3, moves upmarket with the Draco, announced on 9 September.
- Optics: 90 mm aperture, 340 mm focal length, f/3.8. The largest aperture of the three.
- Sensor: 1/1.3 inch, 50 MP (12 MP with 2×2 binning), 1.2 µm pixels.
- Field of view: about 1.65° × 1.24°.
- Built-in autoguiding and single exposures up to 300 seconds, where most smart telescopes stay at 10 or 20 seconds.
- Filters: built-in Ha/OIII dual-band and solar filters. An SHO edition adds a filter for Hubble palettes.
- Price: $1,399 (standard) and $1,599 (SHO edition) on the Dwarflab store. Euro prices at European retailers are still to be confirmed.
- Shipping: announced for November 2026.
My take: this is the one I am most looking forward to. 90 mm at f/3.8 for this price is a lot of light collected. Guided long exposures are a real step towards what a classic setup does. It remains to be seen how stars look across the whole field, and how alt-azimuth tracking behaves over 5-minute exposures, thanks to the rotating sensor that compensates for field rotation (a rather well-thought-out solution, I think!).
The Draco is already in the site's comparison and field of view calculator.
Sky-Watcher Orbis: the eyepiece is back
Sky-Watcher, one of the historic astronomy gear brands, did not have a smart telescope yet. The Orbis was shown as a prototype in early October, at the Imaging World show in Nuremberg.
- Optics: 60 mm ED refractor, 300 mm focal length (f/5), 4 lenses.
- Two versions: the Orbis 60ED with an IMX662 sensor (2.1 MP), and the Orbis 60EDX with an IMX585 (8.3 MP) and a second wide-field camera.
- Field of view: about 2.1° × 1.2° for the 60EDX.
- A real eyepiece: a flip mirror sends light to a zoom eyepiece (5 to 16 mm, about 19 to 60x). So you can look at the sky with your own eye, not only on your phone screen.
- Mount: alt-azimuth with a built-in field derotator.
- Battery life: about 8 hours. 3-position wheel (UV/IR, Ha/OIII dual-band, dark for dark frames).
- Price and date: not announced yet. The Italian distributor mentions summer 2027.
My take: the eyepiece answers a real frustration. Many beginners regret never seeing the sky "for real" with a smart telescope (even if many will say you don't see much more than fuzzy blobs with these small optics anyway :D). With 60 mm of aperture, it competes with the Seestar models and the Dwarf 3. Everything will depend on the price, but it is a safe bet it will be at the high end of the range.
What to take away
All three announcements go the same way: more aperture, longer exposures, and gear that can evolve. Smart telescopes are getting closer to classic setups, and so are their prices.
| Aperture | Focal length | Field of view | Announced price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seestar S50 Pro (reference) | 50 mm | 260 mm | 1.38° × 2.45° (portrait) | €899 |
| Vaonis Atlas 80 | 80 mm | 360 mm | 1.8° × 1.0° | $3,990 presale |
| Dwarflab Draco | 90 mm | 340 mm | 1.65° × 1.24° | $1,399 |
| Sky-Watcher Orbis 60EDX | 60 mm | 300 mm | 2.1° × 1.2° | not announced yet |
If you are hesitating between one of these models and a classic setup, the astrophotography configurator compares the full budget of a setup with smart telescopes, directly on a sky image. I will add the Atlas and the Orbis to the comparison as soon as their specs and prices are final.
What about you, does one of these three tempt you?