While the telescope market is nothing new for Nikon, the company has made its first investment in the smart telescope industry today in partnership with smart telescope company Unistellar.
Unistellar’s eVscope 2 was the first smart telescope to incorporate Nikon technology, and this new investment will allow Unistellar to develop new smart telescopes and bring them to market.
Nikon and Unistellar announced a new digital astronomical telescope camera eVscope 2
Nikon and Unistellar announce a master joint development agreement
Unistellar products are sold at Adorama, Amazon, and B&H.
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From upper left: Yoshihiro Maki, Muneaki Tokunari, Antonin Borot, Yasuhiro Ohmura, Kosuke Kawaura Front side : Arnaud Malvache, Toshikazu Umatate, Laurent Marfisi
Marseilles, April 5. Unistellar is taking a new step toward realizing its vision of becoming the world leader in consumer astronomy. By welcoming an investment from Nikon, the company is enhancing the synergy between Unistellar’s imaging and space observation know-how and Nikon’s optical and industrial expertise.
Unistellar, which already has a strong presence and distribution in the United States, Europe, Japan, and more than 60 other countries, has not only disrupted the world’s amateur astronomy market in recent years, but has also enabled strong growth within the sector, thanks to the emergence of smart telescopes that ease the observation of galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters even in the middle of a city.
Nikon and Unistellar are building on the success of their R&D collaboration, which was announced in July 2021. The eVscope 2, Unistellar’s first smart telescope that incorporates Nikon’s technological contribution, has already achieved international success, receiving an innovation award at CES 2022. The reaffirmed partnership between the two companies will allow Unistellar to develop new smart telescopes and bring them to market more quickly, bolstering its international growth.
“Nikon is proud to be working with Unistellar on innovative solutions to develop the smart telescope market” said Yasuhiro Ohmura, Senior Vice President, of Nikon. “Nikon ambitions to contribute to the advancement of science by bringing the excitement of astronomical observation to all.”
Citizen science programs relying on Unistellar smart telescopes have already made significant contributions to our understanding of space—from exoplanets to near-Earth asteroids and comets—through collaborations with leading scientific organizations such as NASA and the SETI Institute.
“Unistellar is proud to welcome this investment from Nikon, a company that shares our vision of providing everyone with an opportunity to experience outer space by exponentially expanding the smart telescope market,” explains Laurent Marfisi, co-founder and CEO of Unistellar. “The synergies between our respective areas of expertise will allow an even larger audience to marvel at the wonders of space observation and the thrill of major astronomical discoveries.”
About Unistellar
Unistellar is the creator of the world’s most powerful and easiest-to-operate smart telescopes. Thanks to the company’s proprietary and patented advancements in optics and imaging, its line of connected products makes space exploration possible for everyone, even with light pollution in the middle of a city.
The market leader in smart telescopes, Unistellar offers a one-of-a-kind space observation and discovery experience in the United States, Europe, Japan, and many other countries. The company received two CES Awards: one in the “Digital Imaging” category for the eVscope 2 in 2022 and one in the “Tech for a Better World” category for the eVscope in 2018.
Through partnerships with leading scientific institutions like NASA and the SETI Institute, Unistellar has built the world’s largest citizen astronomy community.