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Welcome to !
This wiki is intended to provide guidance and information to owners of any of the various evScope telescopes, a product line of intelligent, integrated products created by by Unistellar SAS. While many of the people contributing to this wiki have the good fortune if interactive with Unistellar and its staff, thus wiki is unofficial, and should not be assumed to represent official statements and information provided Unistellar. When official sources are referenced, this wiki will seek to provide references (with suitable links) to the official sources.

With all that said, this wiki will attempt to service the purpose of bridging the gap between the various and evolving official information sources, techniques and knowledge provided by both professional and experience amateur astronomers, and practical processes and procedures that many evScope users have developed in order to make the most of these remarkable instruments, and the community that Unistellar has created around them.

Unistellar eVscope Models
Currently, there have been the following models delivered of the eVscope product line: While the eVscope products are quite usable and complete, there are a number of add on products that many serious eVscope users have found useful - see Add On Products for Your eVscope for details.
 * Unistellar evScope 1 - also know as the EV1, this is the original product delivered by Unistellar.
 * Unistellar evScope eQuinox - the current high volume scope, the Equinox is very similar to the EV1.
 * Unistellar evScope 2 - also known as the EV2, this is the current high performance scope, offering a premium The Unistellar website is the best source for current technical and marketing information about the eQuinox and eVscope 2

Unboxing Your eVscope
Here is what to expect when your eVscope arrives at your door.


 * Unistellar eVscope 1 (Production discontinued but available in the secondary market)
 * Unistellar eVscope eQuinox
 * Unistellar eVscope 2

The Unistellar App
The Unistellar Application is a necessary and essential part of the eVscope system. The App provides the user interface needed to operate all aspects of the eVscope aside from powering it on. This section will discuss obtaining the App, general information explaining its use, and then more detailed descriptions of specific App functions.


 * Devices
 * Installation
 * Connecting
 * Functions
 * Catalog
 * Scientific Observations
 * Gallery
 * Observe
 * Settings

Setting Up Your eVscope
While there are some very nice official sources for how to set up and use your eVscope, found below are some pages with some additional details and guidance for folks that might appreciate them, including certain concerns and issues to be careful to avoid:


 * eVscope Setup Checklist
 * Tripod
 * Thermalization
 * Connecting
 * Orientation
 * Focusing
 * Collimation
 * Sensor Calibration

Observation Techniques
The evScope telescopes can he used for a wide variety of purposes, ranging from the 'simple and fun' live observations to serious astrophotography to quite serious Citizen Science contributions to scientific research and discovery. While some people will be happy to focus on one of these uses, many others will find satisfaction in learning to operate their scopes for many purposes.

Live Observation
Simple live observations are largely defined by the goal of finding and imaging the many interesting targets in the night sky, and often simply capturing pictures of them. The eVscope and its application are very well suited to this, and offer a quick and convenient way to produce excellent results quickly - both for the solo observer, and for groups such as 'Star Parties' or other outreach events.
 * Simple Live Observations - Live Mode
 * Simple Live Observations - Enhanced Vision Mode
 * Live Observations for Groups and Star Parties
 * Solar Observations (BE CAREFUL!)

Astrophotography
While the eVscope and application make doing short, quick and satisfying observations and capture of images quite simple, some of the true strength of the equipment and software involves the more time consuming process of longer term observations, both using the scope's internal stacking (Enhanced Vision Mode)' and using the pictures produced by the scopes in combination with other processing software.
 * Basics - Enhanced Vision Mode Astrophotography
 * Mosaics - How To Make Images Of Larger Targets
 * Advanced Stacking - How To Combine Enhanced Vision Mode Images Using Other Stacking Software
 * Advanced Stacking and Processing - Processing FITS Files from Enhanced Vision Mode observations for More Advanced Stacking and Mosaics

Citizen Science
Citizen science describes the general notion of amateur practitioners working with the professional science community in order to donate data and observation to aide in their scientific goals.

Unistellar Citizen Science
While any telescope can be used to participate in the various citizen science programs available to the astronomical community, Unistellar is particular in that it provides official programs backed by professional staff astronomers (mostly associated with the SETI Institute) to better support eVscope users participating in this process.

Users that desire to support research access the Unistellar website to find observation opportunities for their geolocation. The necessary timing, pointing, and telescope setting data is then downloaded to the eVscope or entered manually. After the observation, the App is used to command the eVscope to upload the collected images to Unistellar servers via a WiFi connection. Contributors complete and submit a form to notify Unistellar/SETI that an upload has occurred, the data are analyzed and merged with other observations, and feedback is provided to the submitter via the on-line collaboration application Slack.The revolutionary eVscope system can be used to contribute data to active scientific research. It has many advantages over previous efforts to conduct public astronomical research:
 * Hardware and software standardization allows data merging without extensive normalization
 * Relatively low cost compared to other research instruments allows wide accessibility
 * World-wide distribution allows continuous coverage of transient events
 * Centralized access and processing provided by the Unistellar/SETI Institute simplify data collection and analysis
 * Exoplanet Transits - this program involves enabling the eVscope community to aide in the process of discovering and confirming exoplanet candidates, and improving the data on existing planets.
 * Asteroid Occultations - this program involves users observing the intermittent blocking of light from stars by asteroids, allowing the orbits and shapes of these asteroids to be better understood and studied.
 * Planetary Defense - this program involves the study of the paths and orbits of near Earth orbit asteroids that may pose a future risk of impact, often involving observing recently discovered objects to help quick determine their orbits.
 * Cometary Activity - this (currently beta) program involves the tracking of specific comets of interest, in order to better understand their orbits, shape, rotation, and behaviors as they approach or recede from the Sun.

Other Citizen Science Opportunities
As might be expected, there are also other opportunities to contribute to Citizen Science programs, even outside of those offered by Unistellar. Understandably, these tend to be more advanced techniques, but ones that the eVscopes are still quite well suited to.
 * Exoplanet Transits - Picking Your Own Targets
 * Asteroid Occultations - Picking Your Own Targets
 * Variable Star Observations

For folks looking to add some content while we are getting the structure worked out
You should be able to 'edit' this page, and then just below HERE add a reference to the name of the page you want to add - do so my adding 'double [' then the page title then 'double ]'.


 * This is a test to create a new Research Using eVscopes page.