Field notes: guides to smart telescopes for UK skies

Each field note takes one question that comes before buying a smart telescope: how much aperture, which brand, what a town sky allows, what the stacking really does. At the bottom of each one sit the models it mentions, with their specification sheets.

• Best smart telescopes for UK skies, by budget and by sky

  Fifteen smart telescopes and one pair of smart binoculars sorted for British conditions: short clear spells, damp air and orange skyglow, with picks in each budget band.

• Seestar S30 Pro or S50 Pro, and where the original S50 and S30 fit

  The two current Seestar Pro models set side by side from ZWO's figures: aperture, field, battery and weight, with the plain S30 and the original S50 placed alongside.

• Seestar or Unistellar: what the extra aperture and money change

  ZWO's small refractors against Unistellar's reflectors, figure by figure: aperture, field, detail, weight and how each handles light pollution.

• Dwarf 3, Dwarf mini or a Seestar: wide field against focal length

  DwarfLab's Dwarf 3 and Dwarf mini against ZWO's Seestar models: what the makers state about field, focal length, filters, weight and weather sealing.

• A first telescope that finds things for you

  What to look for in a first smart telescope under British skies: weight, setup, battery and filters, with the models that carry the For first nights label.

• Astrophotography with a smart telescope: what the stacking does

  How a smart telescope builds a deep-sky photograph from many short frames, and what the makers' figures on exposure, file formats, storage and mosaics mean for the images you keep.

• Smart telescopes under town skies (Bortle 7 and up)

  Which smart telescopes carry a light pollution filter, which process skyglow in software, and why neither does much for galaxies under an orange British sky.

• Planets with a smart telescope: why focal length decides

  Why most smart telescopes show Jupiter and Saturn as small discs, which models the makers' focal lengths and pixel sizes favour for planets, and what the detail score measures.

• Digital, electronic, smart: what the words mean

  Digital telescope, electronic eyepiece, smart telescope, plate solving and live stacking explained in plain terms, with the models that have each feature by their makers' figures.

• Smart binoculars: what the Envision adds to a plain pair

  Unistellar's Envision binoculars from the maker's figures: 10x50 Porro optics, a 6 degree field and an augmented reality display, and how they differ from a small smart telescope.

• eQuinox 2 or Odyssey: Unistellar's two middle-band scopes

  Unistellar's eQuinox 2 and Odyssey side by side from the maker's figures: mirror size, focal length, pixel size, weight, battery and autofocus, and which kind of sky each one suits.

• Vespera II or eQuinox 2: wide refractor against narrow mirror

  Vaonis Vespera II and Unistellar eQuinox 2 compared from their makers' figures: field of view, aperture, file formats, battery and weight, and the targets each design favours.

• Celestron Origin Mark II or Odyssey Pro: home observatory or carry case

  Celestron's Origin Mark II and Unistellar's Odyssey Pro compared from the makers' figures: 152 mm against 85 mm, 18.87 kg against 4 kg, filter drawer, eyepiece and battery.