Dwarflab Draco: 90mm Smart Telescope with Rotating Sensor - First Impressions
The Dwarflab Draco combines a 90 mm f/3.8 telescope with built-in guiding, sensor cooling, and a physically rotating sensor. This should allow the Draco to take exposures of up to five minutes, still without traditional polar alignment.
This is written before the Draco is shipped worldwide, so this is a first-impressions post based on the announced specifications and Dwarflab's product information. Here's what looks promising, what the specifications actually mean, and what I want to test.
What is Draco?
Draco is Dwarflab’s most exciting smart telescope so far, and a big step up from the DWARF mini and DWARF 3. At its release (happening this month), it might become one of, if not the best available smart telescope for astrophotography.
Below is a picture of the Heart Nebula shot with the Draco, which I processed on my computer. More info on that if you scroll down a bit!
Of course, it is still a smart telescope, so you place it outside, connect through the app, pick a target, and it handles focusing, calibration, tracking, guiding, capture and live stacking all on its own. We'll also have manual control over exposure, gain and filter selection.
The Optics: A Lot of Aperture for the Size
The Dwarflab Draco has an aperture of 90mm, which is much larger than the 30mm of the DWARF Mini or the 35mm of the DWARF 3.
It has a sensor of 50MP natively but with an ouput of 12 Megapixels. It bins 2x2 for deep-sky imaging and a cropped centered target for the sun, moon, and planets. Here are some of the main specs below:
Aperture | 90 mm |
Focal length | 340 mm |
Focal ratio | f/3.8 |
Design | Catadioptric (folded) |
Weight | 5.5 kg |
Other Specs worth knowing:
Battery: 77 Wh, about 5 hours in astronomy mode
Storage: 128 GB built in
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, USB 3.0 Type-C
Output: FITS, TIFF, JPG and PNG
Eyepiece: No
Draco's Sensor... Rotation anc Cooling!
Doing long exposures on an alt-az mount is always limited by field rotation. When the telescope tracks, the stars slowly rotate around the target, which is why smart telescopes, by default, keep exposures short and rely on stacking, unless they can shoot in EQ mode.
Draco tackles it with three things working together:
A built-in independent guide sensor with real-time tracking correction
A physically rotating sensor to compensate for field rotation during capture
Exposures of up to 300 seconds per frame... even in atl-az mode!
Like the DWARF 2 and DWARF Mini, the Draco should be able to shoot in EQ mode also, but having a rotating sensor is a very welcomed addition!
On top of that, you will now be able to choose the angle you want when slewing to a target, as the sensor can be rotated to your liking!
Sensor cooling
Draco uses a TEC cooler and fan, with automatic temperature management rather than a user-selected temperature setpoint.
Cooling is useful for reducing thermal noise, but I'll wait to give it a try myself to judge the improvement.
Double Camera System
The Double Camera system is not new to Draco, as previous Dwarflab smart telescopes already had that. But Draco's telephoto (1200mm) and wide-angle (23.3mm) cameras can now capture simultaneously. That could be useful for recording a close view of a target alongside a wider view of the night sky.
If you'd like help with capture and processing, my Dwarflab Smart Telescope course is available on Galactic Course. Check the course page for the models and lessons currently covered.
Learn your Dwarflab Smart Telescope with Premium Tutorials
Do you own a Dwarflab smart telescope, or plan on getting one soon, including the Draco?
Be sure to join my Dwarflab Mastery Course, which teaches you everything you need to know to get the best out of your Dwarf telescope. It is divided into several clear chapters, with hundreds of lessons, each straigh-to-the-point and telling you exactly what to do and learn to have the best experience with your scope. It has videos, downloadables, a forum access, and much more, so CLICK HERE to see more details!
Standard vs. SHO
The Draco is available in two different editions: Standard and SHO.
The other features, like guiding, cooling, sensor rotation, dual cameras and more are the same. The difference is the filter system.
Standard | SHO | |
Hα + OIII dual-narrowband | Yes | Yes |
SII + OIII dual-narrowband | No | Yes |
Solar filter | Built-in OD5 | External magnetic |
Best for | General: deep-sky, solar, lunar, planetary, wide-field | Automated narrowband and Hubble-palette-style SHO images |
Both editions can photograph galaxies, clusters, and nebulae. The SHO Edition adds sulfur data for emission-nebula imaging. That is different from simply applying a Hubble-style color effect to an existing image.
I would recommend getting the SHO edition which would be in my opinion the best long-term option! It's a little pricier, but you won't ever be limited to what targets you can shoot especially if you love the Hubble Palette style.
The Heart Nebula with the Dwarflab Draco Smart Telescope
Dwarflab shared some raw data taken with the Draco. I chose to download data of the Heart Nebula to process it, and wow, I am so impressed!
This was shot with the Draco doing 300 second exposures in duo-band, and totals 3 hours of total integration time.
I made a video showing you how I got my results. You can view it above!
Price and Final Thoughts
What interests me most about Draco is the combination of aperture, guiding, cooling, and physical derotation. These are very welcomed addition to smart telescopes (Vaonis already has derotation, but not guiding and cooling). If they work well together, Draco could truly be at the top of the smart telescopes available for portable astrophotography.
You can check the current price of the different Draco editions on Dwarflab's website.
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Clear Skies,
Antoine Grelin
Galactic Hunter
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