Missions

Artemis II

This mission is the first crewed deep-space mission in over 50 years! You can observe this historic launch with your Unistellar telescope:

1. Set up your Unistellar telescope and connect it to the app, then switch to your home Wi-Fi and visit science.unistellar.com → Planetary Defense → Ephemeris.
2. Find the cellphone icon on the right (if it has a greyed out eye it means the target isn’t visible yet). Select Artemis II, enter your location and observation time, and hit Generate to get the link back to your app.
3. Reconnect your telescope, press Goto, confirm the settings : RA and Dec should be entered in the app for you. Hit “Save” and once the telescope is finished moving, you can begin the observation by hitting the “Record” button on your screen to record your observation.
4. Then watch as it slews to the rocket in real time.
5. Check the ephemeris if the target disappears then follow it again when it becomes visible, and experience the launch like never before. ✨

You can also observe Lunar Flashes with your Unistellar telescope alongside the Artemis II crew!

2001 FD58

2001 FD58 is a near-Earth asteroid passing approximately 17 lunar distances from Earth on February 14th. The asteroid has a diameter somewhere between 500 and 1,100 meters. 2001 FD58 will be bright enough to observe starting on February 13th and will remain bright enough for the eVscope to see until February 25th.

Eros

Eros is a massive 23km long asteroid. Its very well-studied and there is even a shape model of it. However, lightcurves change over time as the asteroid tumbles through space. We think it would be interesting to compare Eros’s current lightcurve with archival data to see how it’s changed.

2033 (Basilea)

2033 (Basilea) is a roughly 6km diameter asteroid located within the inner portion of the asteroid belt. Its name comes from the city of Basel in Switzerland.

3260 (Vizbor)

3260 (Vizbor) is a main-belt asteroid that is estimated to have a diameter between 7 and 16 km. Discovered in 1974, Vizbor is named after Yuri Vizbor, a Soviet bard.