Amazing Innovation - Turn your Smart Phone into a Smart Telescope - No need for batteries, just use your Smart Phone!

Start exploring the stars with the Standard Pack. Including the Hestia device and a sturdy tripod, this complete starter kit provides everything you need for stable, stunning celestial views. Perfect for beginners ready to dive into astronomy.

What's in the box: 

• Hestia
• Tripod
• Dust Cover (Soft black pouch)
• Solar Pointer
• Instruction card

IMPORTANT NOTE: although this bundle comes with a solar pointer included, please make sure not to point the telescope at the Sun without the optional Hestia Solar Filter. If you do so, you might potentially damage your camera's sensor and this might result in an out of warranty camera repair. We cannot take any financial responsibility if you damage your smart phone. 

Meet Hestia, the first ever
smartphone-based telescope.

Harnessing the power of your smartphone and our cutting-edge technology, Hestia enables you to capture the brilliance of the Sun, the enchanting beauty of the Moon, and the captivating depths of the Universe — without complex setups or extensive knowledge of astronomy. Simply place your smartphone on Hestia's ocular, align the device with the celestial object of your choice, let yourself be guided by our super user-friendly app, and unlock a whole new world of exploration.

Make your first steps into the vastness of Space.

Before becoming Space colonels, we all start as young star cadets. Hestia is the best first instrument for beginners or curious people that would love to discover and understand more about what lies above us. Hestia and your smartphone combined form a portal that didn't exist before, to help you cross the Universe and witness some of the brightest Galaxies, Nebulae, and Star Clusters and begin your Space journey.

Deep Sky Object below
SHOT WITH Hestia and iPhone 14 pro

Frequently asked questions

Is my smartphone compatible with Hestia ?

If you are using an Apple iPhone:

Sun & Moon: iPhone under iOS 16 and above, or iPhone 8 and above.

Deep Sky: iPhone 13 and above

Please note that only iPhone SE 2nd and 3rd Generations are compatible. iPads are not supported.

If you are using an Android smartphone:

Sun & Moon: Download the Gravity by Vaonis app.

Deep Sky: Phone list below

 SAMSUNG: Galaxy S22 Ultra, S23 Ultra, Galaxy S20 and above

 GOOGLE: Pixel 5, Pixel 6, Pixel 7 and above

 XIAOMI: Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 13 and above

 OPPO: Find X3, Find X5, Find X6 and above

Please note that tablets and Chromebooks are not compatible.

If you are not able to find the Gravity by Vaonis app in your store (Google app store or App store), that means your phone is not compatible at all.

What can be observed with Hestia?

Hestia, along with the Gravity by Vaonis app, includes 2 modes that will allow you to observe the following objects:

Day mode: observation of the Sun and sunspots, total and partial solar eclipses. A solar filter is necessary to observe the Sun without danger.

Night Mode: Moon, stars, and the brightest deep sky objects such as clusters, nebulae, and galaxies.

Although Gravity offers a timelapse mode, observing sunrises and sunsets of the Sun and Moon from your smartphone will be possible.

What is Hestia battery life?

Hestia does not include a battery. It is an optical system that works without electronics or mechanics. The autonomy will therefore depend mainly on your smartphone.

Can Hestia track objects?

No, Hestia will not be able to track objects.

The Gravity by Vaonis app will guide the user to do the tracking manually, thanks to in-app screen indications.

Which tripods are compatible with Hestia?

The tripod must:

be equipped with a fluid head, pan-tilt type with 2 axes (horizontal and vertical), and a ⅜” thread,

support a load of at least 500 g (1.1 lbs),

be stable and robust enough to prevent vibrations.

Smartphone tripods and ball heads are not compatible with Hestia.

Some items that are showing as in stock are in stock at our holding warehouses, not at the shop. To double check the stock levels at the shop, please contact us on 01909774369 or sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

The delivery times for most items is 1 - 2 days but again, please double check stock levels on important orders before placing an order via the website.

The delivery costs for courier next day are for mainland UK only. If you live in the Scottish Highlands/Islands, Channel Islands or Northern Ireland, then a shipping surchage will apply. please contact us for prices. Smaller items can still go 1st class via Royal Mail.

Please note that if you are wanting to take advantage of our Saturday and Sunday timed services or next day pre 12 or pre 10:30 services, you MUST check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. Also, orders using the Saturday and Sunday services must be placed before 1pm the previous working day. Also, please remember to check that the stock is here at the shop before placing orders. If the stock is not at the shop, we won't be able to ship on any of the timed services. 

Please note International customers will need to contact us for a shipping price prior to ordering via the website. We don't ship all items internationally. It is at our discretion what we ship outside of the UK. This all depends on the size and weight of the items. Please get in touch with us for any postage costs. Please note we do NOT ship telescopes or heavy items outside of the UK. This is due to massive postage costs and problems regarding returns.

If you have any questions regarding stock levels or delivery, please get in touch.

Zygo Interferometer Testing For ED Refractor Telescopes!

We are extremely pleased to announce our Zygo Interferometer is now installed and ready for use! Our experienced staff can test refractor lenses up to 120mm aperture and provide a comprehensive 2 page report showing the optical quality and Strehl ratio, plus much more information. We are using the very latest Zygo MX software to provide a more detailed report compared to other standard reports.

The interferometer is essentially a measuring instrument. Within the interferometer is a calibrated laser that is pointed through the optical test surface, then onto a high quality reference sphere, then back through the test subject then to an internal camera which gives us the measurement on the screen. From this, we can adjust the position of the test optic and the reference sphere to obtain a perfectly calibrated system. The more central the laser to the test optic and then on return, the better and more accurate reading and measurement we can take. This takes a lot of adjustment to get the best results from the optical surface. Once the measurement has been taken, we are provided with a series of results that show the optical quality of the surface plus other information. Continue reading for an explanation of the individual values and you can also see a test report that was done on one of our RVO Horizon 60 OTAs. 

We are offering certain telescopes with a Zygo test at an extra cost. Mainly ED doublets and triplets. All available telescopes with a Zygo test report are listed here. Just select Zygo Test Report from the drop down box at the top of the listing and we will test the optics in house and provide a full 2 page report with your scope. This will show you the optical quality of your telescope optics. We can also offer this service on your refractor telescope. Please get in touch for more details about this. 

At Rother Valley Optics, one thing we pride ourselves on is customer service and quality of our equipment. When we test your telescope, we will ensure that it is of the highest quality otherwise, we will reject the scope under our strict quality control and test another model for your peace of mind. One of the main values to look at when testing a refractor is the Strehl ratio. The higher this number, the higher quality lens you have. At Rother Valley Optics, we will guarantee the highest possible Strehl ratio for your telescope.  We will aim to provide 0.95 Strehl or higher on Takahashi, RVO Horizon, William Optics and many more! Generally, the higher the Strehl ratio, the lower the Astigmatism and Coma meaning a better image quality from your instrument. 

Other measurements such as the PV and RMS are important too. With these measurements, the lower the number the better as it shows less curvature on the lens. The flatter an optical lens, the better it will perform. The PV rating (Peak To Valley) is a measurement from the highest point (Peak) to the lowest point (Valley). From this we get the RMS (Root, Mean, Square). This is a similar figure to the PV and measured exactly the same way. The RMS is basically an average height difference from the PV so again, the lower the better. As you can see form the example below, we measured an RMS of just 0.027 wave which is a very good value.

We also measure the Power with our systems which is essentially the error from the reference sphere to the test optic. The reference sphere we use on our system is a very high quality sphere so the closer to zero the Power, the less error between the 2 elements thus ensuring a higher quality optical surface. 

You will also see some more values such as Astigmatism and Coma. Again, these are measured by the interferometer when we take measurements of the optical surface after adjustment. These are values which ideally would be at 0 but as our test optics are all curved lenses, there will always be astigmatism and coma present. The lower the number, the less of these aberations you will effectively see but with most refractors, you can buy field flatteners which will compensate for the coma anyway. The astigmatisms value is explaining the error between the symmetrical curvature of the lens. Basically, no lens will be perfectly symmetrical, the lower the astigmatism, the more symmetrical the lens surface is. 

Once the Zygo test report has been completed, the optical alignment is thoroughly tested and tuned to ensure they are spot on before they leave us. 

All available telescopes are on the website at the link below and ones we've tested already that are available straight away are also listed.

https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/zygo-tested-refractors.html

Here is an example of the test what we provide. This was a test on one of our Horizon 60 ED OTA's.

For any questions about this amazing new service, please either call 01909774369 or email sales@rothervalleyoptics.co.uk.

Are you interested in this product but would like to speak to someone with some more information? Simply fill in the form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

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