Smart telescope premiere: The Cygnus Nebular Complex captured as a 585-megapixel mosaic with Vespera
14 Oct. 2025
Under the skies of his home in Oregon, Vaonis ambassador Nathanael Martin accomplished something never before seen in the world of smart telescopes.
Equipped with three Vespera II units, he captured an ultra-high-definition image of the Cygnus Nebular Complex, a breathtaking 585-megapixel mosaic covering 13 × 18 degrees of sky, assembled from 48 Vespera II mosaic panels and totaling more than 222 hours of acquisition.
The whole 13° x 18° Cygnus Nebular Complex captured with Vespera 2
(link to full-resolution image below).
This monumental 13° x 18° image, a first for any smart telescope, reveals the entire Cygnus region in unprecedented depth, from the iconic North America and Pelican Nebulae to the Crescent, Butterfly, and Tulip Nebulae, all interwoven by the glowing filaments of countless H II regions that trace the Milky Way’s spiral arm.
It’s a cosmic panorama made possible by an instrument that fits in a backpack
“I firmly consider Vespera II to be the best overall smartscope on the market currently, all factors considered.” Nathanael says.
“The software is amazing. I never stack my own subs from Vespera. The stacked TIFFs are extremely good quality, and Mosaic mode is flawless in image quality. Total game changer.”
The Challenge: Capturing the Heart of Cygnus
The Cygnus constellation is one of the most photogenic in the sky. Yet, its sheer scale poses a challenge: even wide-field instruments struggle to encompass its full grandeur in a single frame.
To reveal the entire Cygnus Nebular Complex, from the North America and Pelican Nebulae (NGC 7000 & IC 5070) to the distant folds of SH2-101, the Tulip Nebula, and the Crescent Nebula, Nathanael planned an intricate 48-panel mosaic using Vespera II’s mosaic mode. Each panel required around five hours of exposure, precisely overlapped to achieve seamless coverage of an immense 13° × 18° field of view, roughly thirty-four full moons wide.
Usually considered a wide-field target, the North America and Pelican Nebulae
appear here as just a small portion of the full celestial tapestry.
Nathanael meticulously prepared his acquisition plan over several months.
“I wanted to keep gradients as consistent as possible,” he explains, “so I decided to image only during 50% moon or less.”
During an extraordinary fourteen consecutive clear nights in September, Nathanael operated three Vespera II units simultaneously to accelerate coverage.
Once the data was collected, another challenge awaited: assembling and processing the 48-panel mosaic. The scale was immense.
“Processing took two full days,” Nathanael says. He mainly used Pixinsight for the processing and final touch-ups were done in Photoshop to balance gradients from different nights.
The effort paid off spectacularly. The final image revealed a breathtaking expanse of interconnected nebulosity, filaments, hydrogen clouds, and faint emissions that are often cropped out of traditional portraits.
“Once finished, I absolutely love seeing all the different nebulae I’d previously imaged in context,” he reflects. “There’s so much surrounding nebulosity that’s usually omitted, especially around NGC 7000. Just incredible.”
The Crescent Nebula appears almost lost amid the countless filaments of H II regions,
details that usually remain invisible in images captured by other smart telescopes.
This monumental project demanded not only flawless coordination between sessions, but also the ability to trust the telescope’s automation to operate independently for hours under remote or unattended conditions.
Vespera II delivered on all fronts. Its precision tracking, robust stacking engine, and mosaic capabilities turned an ambitious idea into a reality. It’s an achievement that would have been virtually impossible with any other smart telescope.
A Cosmic Masterpiece
The Cygnus mosaic stands as a testament to both human passion and technological innovation. The 585-megapixel composite reveals the delicate structures of hydrogen clouds in vivid detail, a living map of stellar birth and death within our galaxy.
No other smart telescope has ever produced such a vast, detailed, and perfectly stitched image of this region.
Thanks to Vaonis’ cutting-edge technology and Nathanael’s dedication, the Cygnus Mega Mosaic represents not only an aesthetic triumph but also a proof of concept: Vaonis smart telescopes have now changed the game of astrophotography.
A Journey to the Atacama Desert: Behind the Scenes of a Cosmic Expedition
This mega mosaic of the Cygnus Nebula Complex is not Nathanael’s only achievement. He has already taken his Vespera on imaging journeys across the globe, from Colorado to New Zealand.
A notoriously challenging target for a smart telescope, the Corona Australis Molecular Cloud Complex, also known as the Baboon Nebula, was successfully captured by Nathanael with his Vespera II from Chile.
Armed with two Vespera II units, he traveled to northern Chile, eventually reaching San Pedro de Atacama, where he put his telescopes to full use, making the most of every minute under the pristine skies of the Atacama Desert.
“During the several months leading up to the trip, I spent dozens of hours researching targets online, planning framing and acquisition times,” he recalls. “In the end I worked out a complex jigsaw puzzle of observation schedules for all my essential targets, planning a minimum core schedule of seven nights’ worth of imaging in nine nights... in case a couple nights were ruined by weather.”
"The data I collected in the Atacama was so incredible and clean... some of the best observations I’ve ever made,” he says. “I was blessed with completely clear skies for all nine nights of the stay.”
The Power of Vespera. The only smart telescope capable of such a feat.
What makes this accomplishment possible is the extraordinary capabilities built into Vespera II.
Its CovalENS mosaic mode, multi-night capture, and advanced auto-stacking combine to form a seamless workflow that transforms ambitious astrophotography into an accessible, automated process.
The three Vesperas of Nathanel in action
Where most smart telescopes would struggle to maintain focus, alignment, and consistent framing over dozens of sessions, Vespera II excels.
Nathanael had considered other smart telescopes for his project, but none came close to Vespera II’s combination of reliability and image quality.
“For nebulas the Vespera II is much better, Seestar’s mosaic mode is not effective enough, I don’t use it at all” he explains.
“Seestar lacks live focus, which means I have to monitor it and sometimes manually refocus during the night, a royal pain.”
He also evaluated the Celestron Origin, but soon realized that despite its large aperture, it wasn’t ready for such an ambitious mission:
“[Celestron Origin]’s software and such is still way behind. It just doesn’t seem mature enough to justify the enormous cost and lack of portability.”
By contrast, Vaonis’ ecosystem, powered by CovalENS (mosaic mode), multi-night capture, and efficient auto-stacking, offered exactly what was needed for a project of this scale:
“The trifecta of CovalENS, Multi-Night capture, and good auto-stacking makes Vaonis’ software far superior overall,” Nathanael says.
“Seestar’s auto-stacking is not very effective [...] I would recommend Vespera II without any reservations to anyone interested in astrophotography.”
Beyond its software features, Vespera is engineered with precision,
sturdiness, and quality in mind, which also explains why
its mosaic mode performs so well.
The Future of Smart Astrophotography
What Nathanael accomplished is more than a technical milestone, it’s a glimpse into the future of astrophotography.
A future where exploration is no longer limited by complexity, where travelers can carry observatory-class capability in their luggage, and where the beauty of the universe becomes accessible to anyone with curiosity and a clear night sky.
Nathanael is already preparing his next expedition:
“I am planning to return [to Chile] in March 2026 to work on mega-mosaics of the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Carina & Vela regions of the Milky Way.”
With Vaonis Vespera lineup, the boundaries of what a compact smart telescope can achieve have been redefined.
The Mega Mosaic of Cygnus stands as a spectacular proof that the marriage of innovation and passion can open new frontiers, bringing the cosmos closer than ever before.
