SkySafari – The Amazing Sky

This electronic eyepiece brings back the joy of actually looking through a telescope, for a greater sense of personal discovery than when viewing a remote screen.

We now have “smart telescopes” that can find and capture celestial targets with the push of a button. But you do all your observing by looking at the screen of your phone or tablet. It’s the way many amateur astronomers now (vicariously!) enjoy the sky. Here’s a device that combines digital imaging with the “old-fashioned” practice of actually looking through a telescope! It works very well, though with some caveats.

TL;DR SUMMARY The SmartEye digital eyepiece from PegasusAstro performed very well for its main purpose of providing enhanced views of deep-sky objects in more detail and colour than is possible in an optical eyepiece, making it ideal for public outreach. It works best on a smaller telescope and on an equatorial mount. SmartEye’s advanced features, which enable it to control a GoTo mount, proved a challenge to get working.

Website: https://smarteyepiece.com/
Vendor: PegasusAstro.com

Cost: $1998.00 US

Pros
– Shows deep-sky objects in full colour
– Self-contained operation
– Can serve as an imaging camera
– Easy operation with on-screen menus

Cons
– Eye position critical for the sharpest view
– Relatively high power (best used on smaller scopes)
– Not suitable for the Moon or planets
– Connecting to GoTo mounts complex

SmartEye Specifications
Apparent Field of View: ~90º
Effective Focal Length: ~7mm (measured)
Eye Relief: ~12mm
Sensor: Sony IMX533 (11mm x 11mm) 3008 x 3008 pixels
Display Screen: 2560 x 2560 pixels
WiFi: Dual band 2.4 and 5 GHz
Weight: 815 grams
Maximum Diameter: 85mm
Nosepiece Size: 2-inch (48mm)
Filter Thread: 48mm
Firmware Tested: v1.2, then upgraded to v1.3
Unit supplied on loan from Simulation Curriculum

As its name implies, SmartEye from PegasusAstro (based in Greece) is a “smart eyepiece” you actually look through. What you see, however, is a digital screen displaying a live image built-up in real-time by SmartEye’s internal camera. At last, you see the colour and detail in nebulas and galaxies that most people expect to see through a telescope. As such, SmartEye is great for public outreach. For the individual observer, it provides a unique “hybrid” viewing experience combining classic visual astronomy and modern digital imaging.

I know, purists will complain “this isn’t real observing!” I can say as an avid visual observer I still found the views very exciting. It was amazing to see colours and details in familiar objects “live.” It was like getting a big telescope and re-discovering the sky with it.

But, I found SmartEye has to be used on the right telescope and mount to work at its best. While it can be used as a capable imaging camera (it uses Sony’s popular 9-megapixel IMX533 sensor), I tested SmartEye for its main purpose – to look through for enhanced live views.

SmartEye Operation

With a weight of 815 grams SmartEye is hefty but similar in mass, and size, to the large, low-power eyepieces many amateur astronomers own. It also focuses at a similar focal point as other large eyepieces, making it compatible with any telescope that accepts 2-inch accessories.

The SmartEye comes with a sturdy case, rubber end caps, braided USB-C power cord, and an adapter to power it from 12-volts via a user-supplied cord with 2.1mm barrel plugs.

SmartEye requires external power. It can run from any 5-volt USB power bank connected to its USB-C port. But with the included adapter shown above it can run from a 12-volt battery like many of us use to power our mounts and astro-gear.

Unlike smart scopes, SmartEye’s sensor is actively cooled, typically to about 0° C, to reduce thermal noise. But as it is just inches away from your ear, you do hear the fan.

I found the instruction’s estimate of battery life accurate – a 10-amp-hour power bank lasted about 2 hours; a 20-amp-hour bank lasted double that. If the power drops too low, SmartEye shuts off without harm, but also without warning.

The opening splash screen allows focusing the eyepiece diopter adjustment for the sharpest view of the screen.

Once connected to power, SmartEye boots up with a screen (above) that first allows focusing the diopter so the screen appears sharp to your eye. That’s done with the large, easy-to-adjust lever on the side of the eyepiece.

While the eyepiece has comfortable eye relief, just enough to use eyeglasses, seeing the entire field requires your eye be right up to and centered on the rubber eyecup. If your eye is back too far or off-centre, stars look very distorted, far more than with an optical eyepiece.

Live View mode presents numerical readouts to help focus the telescope for the sharpest stars. The actual view looks sharper than this capture from a phone looking into the eyepiece.

After focusing the diopter you enter “Live View” that presents an image refreshing every 1/2 second. This allows focusing the telescope. “Focus Assist” overlays provide a numerical readout of star sizes – the smaller the number, the sharper the image.

The numbers tended to fluctuate in value, making it hard to nail the most precise focus. For visual use the accuracy was good enough. But for critical imaging I found focusing first on a bright star using a Bahtinov mask (as with any deep-sky imaging) did noticeably improve sharpness.

**The crown dial is at left. At top is the diopter adjustment lever.**

Live View also allows centering a target. Bright deep-sky objects will be visible. However, I found the bright Focus Assist overlays (which can’t be dimmed or turned off) made it difficult to see faint targets. In that case, checking if a target was in the field required starting an imaging sequence, what SmartEye calls a “New Observation.”

This shows the Orion Nebula, Messier 42, (L to R) after 5 frames, 10 frames and 40 frames, each frame a 10-second exposure. These are screenshots from the *SkySafari* control app. Click or tap on an image to bring it up full-screen.

SmartEye then takes and accumulates 10-second exposures (by default; the exposure time can be varied by the user from 5 to 30 seconds). After just one or two exposures the object appears much brighter than in Live View. After a few more exposures detailed structure begins to emerge. But it takes a couple of minutes for colours to appear.

After a few more minutes the view stabilizes, so most people in line at your telescope should see much the same view.

The View Through SmartEye

I had only one opportunity during my test period to use the SmartEye at a public outreach event, and the reaction was universally “Wow! This is the best thing I’ve seen all night!” It was the showpiece globular cluster Messier 13 through only an 80mm refractor. But people could see it as a ball of stars, not just as a fuzzy glow.

Click or tap on the images below to view them full-screen. All SmartEye images present the objects as they looked live in the eyepiece. No post-processing was applied.

The Horsehead Nebula: 105mm f/6 refractor

The screen has 2560 by 2560 pixels, enough resolution it is not obvious you are looking at a screen. Only when viewing dim targets does speckled noise become visible, giving away the fact you are viewing an electronic image. But most objects look quite natural, with the exception they are eerily still – there is no scintillation or wavering from atmospheric “seeing.” Stars also appear in different sizes, not all as pinpoints.

As soon as you exit an Observation SmartEye automatically saves the stacked final image as an 8-bit PNG file onto a user-supplied microSD card. (Imagers can opt to have it also save all sub-frames as 16-bit FITS files for stacking later. Those are square images measuring 3008 x 3008 pixels.)

All the images presented here are the “out-of-camera” PNG stacks; I did not process them further. They record the objects just as they looked “live” through the eyepiece, complete with a round mask, and flipped mirror-image because SmartEye was inserted into a star diagonal. There is no option for flipping the image back to normal “in-camera.”

While SmartEye performs some internal noise reduction and dark-frame subtraction, there are no “AI” enhancements, which I think is a good thing!

However, a Gamma contrast adjustment provides some control over what the image looks like. A higher gamma of 1.2 makes faint features more visible; a lower gamma of 0.8 prevents bright areas from blowing out. However, the instructions don’t tell you this contrast adjustment gets baked into the saved PNG stacked image; it is not just a change in the displayed image.

The Hercules Cluster, M13: 120mm f/7 refractor

As the examples show, deep-sky objects – star clusters, nebulas and galaxies – look superb. You see not only elusive objects like the Horsehead Nebula in a 4-inch scope, but in colour! You see not only spiral arms in galaxies, but details in the arms. With SmartEye, a 4-inch scope outperforms a 25-inch!

But SmartEye is only for deep-sky objects. It does not work on planets or the Moon, as even in Live View their images are greatly overexposed. There is no fast-exposure “lucky imaging” planetary mode.

Like any 2-inch eyepiece the SmartEye can accept standard 48mm filters. The manufacturer recommends using a UV/IR blocking filter to sharpen images. I tried SmartEye with and without such a filter from Astronomik and found the improvement the filter made was subtle at best. But it did help keep dust off the sensor which proved to be an issue; it tended to attract dust.

NOTE: During my test period from February to June 2026 a firmware update did address some issues I found. Future updates will no doubt address others, or add new features. But this test is based on Firmware v1.2, upgraded to v1.3.

The Critical Choice of a Mount and Telescope

SmartEye must be used on a mount that tracks the sky. I did test it on a “GoTo” alt-azimuth mount, and it did work. But the field rotation inevitable with such a mount introduced dark edge artifacts that began to spoil the view after only a few minutes.

On an alt-azimuth mount field rotation introduced edge vignetting, here after just 8 minutes.

Plan to use SmartEye on an equatorial mount. And it should be solid. The live stacking will recover from minor vibrations, as the stacking algorithm rejects bad frames.

But a major bump (such as from the enthusiastic guest who has to grab the eyepiece!) will halt the stacking with an error message (as shown below) and spoil the image, even if the object is still in the field. The “Observation” has to be started over.

The result of a major bump to the scope – an Error message and trailed stars (right).

The mount must also have its GoTo system aligned accurately enough to place targets in the field of a moderately high-power eyepiece. Because that’s what SmartEye is.

The advertising claims a 90º apparent field of view, similar to a premium optical eyepiece. That’s about right as the visual field is quite expansive, though visually the edge of the field is not well defined. However, matching the SmartEye’s actual field in its final images to star charts (as shown below) required assigning the eyepiece a focal length of 7mm, much shorter than the 11mm or 12mm stated in the sales literature.

A circular field of view indicator for SmartEye in *SkySafari* matches the actual image (right) with it entered as a 7mm eyepiece.

As such, on a large reflector (such as an 11- or 14-inch f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain) the narrow actual field of view will be suitable only for small targets such as globular clusters, planetary nebulas, and bright galaxies, but not for showpiece objects such as large nebulas, open clusters, or the Andromeda Galaxy.

M51 in a stack of 61 x 10 second exposures at Gain 350. With the SvBony Mak127 at f/11.8 for a focal length of 1500mm.

Even using it one night on a 127mm (5-inch) f/12 Maksutov telescope proved frustrating, as targets would end up just outside the narrow field. But where? It can take many iterations of “shoot-move-shoot” to centre a target. In such cases I found it useful to have a low-power optical eyepiece on hand to aid finding objects.

As per the manufacturer’s recommendations, I found SmartEye worked best on 80mm to 130mm (3.1- to 5-inch) refractors at f/6 or so. Indeed, as the sample images demonstrate, SmartEye will show more through a 4- to 5-inch refractor than an optical eyepiece will on a large-aperture reflector. It doesn’t need the light-gathering power of a big scope. In fact, due to its relatively high power, I think it’s best used on a small, fast scope.

Testing SmartEye’s Advanced Features

SmartEye works well stand-alone. You don’t need to connect it to any other device, other than a power bank.

But as an option, via SmartEye’s WiFi you can connect it to the popular app SkySafari from Simulation Curriculum (you need the app’s Pro version) to control SmartEye’s camera with your phone or tablet. Incoming images appear on your device where they can be saved. That worked well, and might be useful at an outreach event for people in line to preview what they are about to see.

While SmartEye’s on-screen menus control most settings, connecting it to *SkySafari* accesses more functions remotely via WiFi.

SmartEye itself has a screen that displays a QR code to allow a guest to connect to it via a web app in a “read-only” mode with their own phone, to view and share images. But they first have to connect to SmartEye’s WiFi (no password is needed). And in my tests, the images were saved to my iPhone’s Downloads folder, not to the Photo gallery where a guest might expect to find them. I didn’t test this feature at a public event, so I can’t say how well it works in practice.

SmartEye can also connect to a WiFi-enabled mount (and it must be via WiFi, not a wired USB connection) so it can aim the mount by tapping on a target on SkySafari’s star chart. Once there SmartEye can “plate solve” using its images to nudge the mount to precisely centre an object, just as all smart scopes do.

What SmartEye coupled to SkySafari and a mount cannot do, unlike smart scopes and their apps, is use its plate solving ability to help you initially polar align the mount. I used a laser on the mount’s polar axis for that step.

Connecting it to a WiFi mount allows SmartEye to use its images to precisely aim the mount via plate solving.

While I eventually got plate solving to work, it took some effort to set up, following multiple steps and entry of IP addresses. Non-IT-experts like me cringe at such procedures. While SmartEye is said to have Bluetooth 5, I saw no occasion when it made use of it, such as to ease the connection process as smart scopes do.

Indeed, the instructions in the earlier manual I had were too generic and failed to work; I had to be sent detailed steps for the ZWO AM5 mount I was using. (As of v1.7 the SmartEye manual now includes instructions for several brands of mounts.) But in the end the plate-solving and centering did work accurately and quickly. Setting up Presets in SkySafari made it “one-click” easy to reconnect later.

So a caveat: If you have issues connecting SmartEye to a WiFi-equipped mount as I did, you might need to contact Support at PegasusAstro or Simulation Curriculum for advice specific to your gear.

This shows the ST-4 port above the cooling vent and, at left, the USB-C power port and MicroSD card slot. The knob at right is the WiFi antenna.

Another caveat for imagers: The specs mention SmartEye will auto-guide a mount while it is also taking images (it has a standard ST-4 port for this, shown above). But as of July 2026 that feature has yet to be implemented.

A small telescope, like the 90mm refractor used here, allows framing large targets such as Messier 8, the Lagoon Nebula.

The PegasusAstro SmartEye – Who Is It For?

The individual — SmartEye is for the experienced deep-sky observer wanting to see more, but without the effort of having to set up a big telescope. Nor having to travel to dark skies – SmartEye presented fine views under bright skies. (I shot many of the sample images in bright moonlight.)

Weigh the $2000 (US) cost of SmartEye vs. the cost and inconvenience of a big telescope. However, don’t expect to use it for enhanced views of the Moon and planets. And it is best used on a polar-aligned equatorial mount, so not quite a “grab-and-go” rig.

The galaxy M82 in a stack of 66 x 10 second exposures at Gain 350. No post-processing applied. With the Askar APO120 refractor at f/7.

The club — SmartEye will also be suitable for outreach evangelists, astronomy clubs, and public observatories. It is ideal for EAA – Electronically Assisted Astronomy, but with a more immersive sense of discovery for your guests than they can get by looking at a separate screen. After all, they show up at your events hoping to look through a telescope, not at yet another screen!

Yes, you could accomplish EAA much cheaper by using a camera with the same or similar sensor casting to an outboard screen. But then people are just looking at another screen, divorced from the unique opportunity to actually look through a telescope, albeit at another screen!

Those who criticize SmartEye for being costly (and it is, no doubt) are thinking like photographers concerned only with the lowest-cost way to get an image on screen, any screen, for themselves or for the public. They are not factoring in the special user experience SmartEye provides, both guests and avid visual observers – that of looking into an eyepiece to discover objects for themselves. It’s the “wow” user experience that should make SmartEye a hit at public outreach events.

But I recommend not putting SmartEye on your club’s pride-and-joy big reflector scope. Keep the SmartEye rig small. Even when I told guests at my scope they were really looking at an electronic image, they were still thrilled with the view. And that was with a mere 80mm refractor!

— Alan Dyer, July 10, 2026 / www.AmazingSky.com

May 10, 1994 Annular Eclipse taken from a site east of Douglas, Arizona showing “reverse” Bailey’s Beads —lunar mountains just touching Sun’s limb 4-inch f/6 apo refractor at f/15 with Barlow lens Ektachrome 100 slide film.

Here’s my preview of some of the best celestial events for 2023. Mine is certainly not an exhaustive list. I’ve picked just one event per month, and I’ve focused on events best for unaided eyes or binoculars, and visible from North America. (So the solar eclipse of April 20 visible from Australia and the South Pacific, and the two minor lunar eclipses this year don’t make the cut!)

For most events, unless otherwise stated, the scene depicted is for southern Ontario, Canada. However, the view will be similar from other locations. All sky charts were created with SkySafari software, available here for desktop and mobile devices.

Click or tap on any of the illustrations to bring up a full-screen view with more detail and readable labels!

JANUARY

As 2023 opens, Venus is beginning its climb into the evening sky, while Saturn is sinking into the sunset. The two planets pass each other on Sunday, January 22, when they appear just one-third of a degree apart in the twilight. Use binoculars to pick out dimmer Saturn. And look for the thin day-old crescent Moon just over a binocular field below the planet pair.

FEBRUARY

A month later, on Wednesday, February 22, Venus has now ascended higher, preparing to meet up with descending Jupiter. But before they meet, the crescent Moon, with its dark side lit by faint Earthshine, joins the planets in a particularly close conjunction with Jupiter. They will appear about 1° (two Moon diameters) apart, with Venus about a binocular field below.

MARCH

Here’s a date to circle on your calendar. On Wednesday, March 1 the sky’s two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, pass within half a degree of each other, in arguably the year’s best conjunction. They’ll be close enough to frame nicely at medium power in a telescope, though the featureless gibbous disk of Venus will appear small, about the third the size of Jupiter’s banded globe. But Venus is by far the brighter of the two worlds.

APRIL

If you want to check Mercury off your sighting list this year, this is a good week to do it. On April 11 Mercury reaches its greatest angle away from the Sun in the evening sky, and for northern hemisphere viewers, is angled at its highest in the western sky. Even so, look just a binocular field above the horizon. While you’re at it, look higher for the fine sight of Venus near the Pleiades star cluster.

MAY

Wednesday, May 17 brings a chance to see the crescent Moon pass in front of Jupiter. But it will be a tricky event to catch. While most of North America and parts of Northern Europe can see the occultation, it occurs in the daytime sky with the Moon only 25° west of the Sun. However, locations along the West Coast of North America can see either the start or end of the occultation in a bright pre-dawn sky. Vancouver, Canada sees Jupiter disappear before sunrise, while Los Angeles – the view shown above – sees Jupiter reappear just before sunrise. Other locations will see a close conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter low in the dawn sky.

JUNE

As June opens we have Venus still shining brightly in the evening below much dimmer Mars, now far from the Earth and tiny in a telescope. But it’ll be worth a look this night even in binoculars as the red planet passes in front of the Beehive star cluster, also known as Messier 44. If you miss June 2, Mars will be close to the Beehive the night before and after.

JULY

Venus has been bright all spring, but on July 7 it officially peaks at its maximum brilliance, reaching a blazing magnitude of -4.7. It reached its greatest angle from the Sun a month earlier on June 4 and is now dropping closer to the Sun each evening. But you still can’t miss it. What you might miss is dim Mars above, now close to the star Regulus in Leo. Mars passes 3/4 of a degree above Regulus on July 9 and 10. You’ll need binoculars to pick out the pairing.

AUGUST

Everyone looks forward to the annual summer stargazing highlight – watching the Perseid meteor shower. This is a good year, with the peak hour of the shower falling in the middle of the night of August 12/13 for North America. That’s a Saturday night! But most importantly, the waning Moon doesn’t rise until the wee hours, as shown here, so its light won’t wash out the meteors. Plan to be at a dark site for an all-night meteor watch.

SEPTEMBER

By September Venus has made the transition into the morning sky and shines at its greatest dawn-sky brilliance on September 19. It will then be joined by Mercury, with the inner planet reaching its greatest angle away from the Sun on September 22 shown here. This is the best morning appearance of Mercury for Northern Hemisphere observers. The view this morning bookends the view five months earlier on April 11. If you are away from urban light pollution, also look for the faint glow of Zodiacal Light in the pre-dawn sky before Mercury rises.

OCTOBER

October is solar eclipse month! On Saturday, October 14 the shadow of the Moon passes across all of North America and most of South America. Everyone on those two continents sees a partial eclipse of the Sun. But those along a narrow path sweeping across the western U.S. and down into Mexico, Central America and across northern South America can see a rare “ring of fire” eclipse as the Moon’s dark disk eclipses the Sun, but isn’t quite large enough to totally cover it. This is an “annular” eclipse. The view above is from Albuquerque, New Mexico, one of the largest U.S. cities in the path of annularity, second only to San Antonio, Texas.

This is the path of annularity across the western U.S. To see the Moon pass centrally across the Sun (the “ring of fire”) you have to be somewhere in that grey path. Outside the path you will see only a partial eclipse of the Sun. For detailed and zoomable eclipse path maps like the one above, please visit EclipseWise.com.

NOVEMBER

Close conjunctions between the crescent Moon and Venus are always notable. Get up early on Thursday, November 9 to see the 26-day-old Moon shining only a degree below Venus. Venus reached its greatest angle away from the Sun on October 23. It is now descending back toward the Sun, but remains high in the morning sky in early November.

DECEMBER

Though it usually puts on a better show than the summer Perseids, the Geminid meteor shower is not as popular because it’s cold! But this is also a good year for the Geminids as it peaks only two days after New Moon. The best night might be Thursday, December 14, but a good number of meteors should be zipping across the sky the night before on December 13, shown here. Start watching at nightfall and go as long as you can in the chill of a December night.

To download my free Amazing Sky 2023 Calendar in PDF format, go to my website at https://www.amazingsky.com/Books The PDF file can be printed out at home or taken to an office supply shop to be printed and bound.

Good luck in your stargazing and clear skies for 2023!

— Alan, January 15, 2023 / AmazingSky.com