Smart telescopes offer a 'transformative' experience for citizen scientists

Scott Kardel.
(Image credit: Courtesy of Scott Kardel)

Scott Kardel is seeing the night sky in a whole new way.

An astronomy professor at Palomar College in San Marcos, California, Kardel received his first telescope at 10, and has enjoyed stargazing ever since. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kardel bought a Unistellar smart telescope, which is operated through a smartphone app. It has an electronic eyepiece that delivers more precise images, and compared to a traditional telescope, "It is just transformative," Kardel told The Week.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.