Publicatie datum
5 March 2026
We have two clever new tools to bring the universe just a little closer: the Seestar and the SmartEye. Both make the invisible visible to everyone.
We may well be the first observatory in the Netherlands to use this new technology for the general public. It brings visitors a whole new view of the universe.
The Seestar is a compact, automatic telescope that finds its own way across the sky entirely by itself. You operate it via your phone or tablet, and let it take photos of an object of your choice. The result is a beautiful photo that is slowly built up.
It has long been hugely popular among our volunteers and donors for their own use. Now we have one ourselves, which is handy for showing more outside on busy evenings.
Through our telescope the moon, planets and sun are exactly as people expect them: magnificent. But with nebulae and galaxies you sometimes hear slight disappointment. It is beautiful, but people see faint, grey patches. Very different from photos, because a human eye can only capture a limited amount of light.
The SmartEye is a new eyepiece that is going to completely change this experience. You place it on the telescope as an eyepiece, just like any other eyepiece. You look through it as you are used to, but an internal sensor and a tiny screen amplify the light at lightning speed. This way you keep the real 'telescope experience', but you suddenly do see colour and detail. Nebulae and galaxies are gorgeous through it, and you see new things that we otherwise could not have brought into view.
The SmartEye is mounted on a telescope that was previously not used by visitors. Our regular large telescopes still use real eyepieces, also so that people can clearly see the difference.
