Seeing stars – and nebulae – in vivid colour

At IFA Berlin, the company announced that the smart telescope decoded the colours of around 300,000 stars in the Hercules cluster and revealed the chemical composition of gas clouds in the Trifid Nebula (Messier 20) gas cloud (pictured) in less than two minutes.

The vision technology has been developed through the analysis and reprocessing of thousands of images contributed by Unistellar’s international community of over 25,000 users. The data has been used to refine algorithms which automatically perform error corrections, magnification and image enhancements to improve clarity and reveal the authentic colours of space in the signal. The result is claimed to offer “unparalleled vibrancy” for a level of clarity of observation that is comparable to those of an experienced astrophotographer, said the company.

As well as enhancing the colours of the universe and image quality, Vivid Vision also increases the potential of the company’s smart telescopes. The new level of luminosity and detail possible has not been matched by mainstream telescopes, said the company.

“With the diverse chemical compositions of stars and nebulae, the universe is a colourful spectacle,” said Laurent Marfisi, co-founder and CEO of Unistellar. “It’s time telescopes showed you the true beauty of space!”

The over-the-air update for all Unistellar telescopes will be available from October.