What’s That Star? Meet The First-Ever Augmented Reality Binoculars

How well do you know the night sky? If you struggle to tell one star from another, a new pair of augmented reality binoculars may be for you.

Aimed at astronomy enthusiasts wanting to explore the night sky, the just-announced Envision binoculars from Unistellar and Nikon use augmented reality to overlay data about exactly what it is within their field of view. As a bonus, they also promise to make it easy to share what you find with others.

Step Forward

This is an interesting step forward for binoculars, which remain the best way for stargazers to graduate from naked-eye observing. The tech inside Envision—which is now on Kickstarter—comes from Unistellar’s eVscope and Oddessey smart telescopes, which self-align by plate-solving images of the night sky.

Envision are essentially good-quality 10×50 Porro binoculars, which means they have 10x magnification and a 50mm aperture—the ideal size to let in enough light at night without being too heavy to hold still.

As well as the night sky, Envision can tell you about terrestrial targets, too, with about a million hills, mountains and peaks in its database, as well as trails, shelters, water springs and caves. It’s got a battery life of about five hours.

Contextual Information

The augmented reality tech overlays contextual information directly onto the six-degree field of view—a little like how Google Glass smart glasses worked—with a catalog of 1,000 objects and 200,000 stars. Envision also integrates with a smartphone via a dedicated app, providing instant access to a database of maps and information. There are four modes on offer:

• Smart Scouting Mode: a 3D map overlay displays information on celestial objects within the field of view.
• Guided Navigation Mode: the app suggests stars, comets and other celestial objects to explore.
• Shareable Target-Lock Mode: find a celestial object and pass the binoculars to friends. The binoculars will then guide them to the same target.
• Classic Optical Mode: a tech-free experience with the augmented reality overlay disabled.

Discover And Engage

“We’re thrilled to unveil Envision smart binoculars, a testament to our commitment to innovation in exploration,” said Laurent Marfisi, co-founder and CEO of Unistellar, in a press release. “From amateur astronomers to outdoor adventurers, Envision will empower these users to discover and engage with their surroundings in ways never thought possible.”

Uni stellar’s original eVscope smart telescopes raised $2.2 million on Kickstarter in 2017. Nikon has been an investor since 2023 and manufactures the eyepiece for Unistellar’s eVscope 2 and Odyssey Pro smart telescopes.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

Pick up my books Stargazing in 2024, A Stargazing Program For Beginners , and When Is The Next Eclipse?