Abstract: In the past four years, advanced, electronic telescopes, or “smart scopes,” have become game changers in astronomy education. Smart scopes are modest aperture, computerized, astronomical CMOS imaging systems. They set up in minutes and automatically locate and track objects using onboard plate solving software. Controlled wirelessly using smart phones or tablets, they make sharing final images easy. The author has extensive experience with the three major brands. This presentation will compare their performance and explore their future potential for education. Because they stack short exposure images on the fly, they effectively reduce light pollution noise, resulting in the ability to observe faint comets, clusters, nebulae and galaxies without transporting large aperture telescopes and audience to a dark sky site. Smart scopes offer great potential for Astronomy 101 courses where students experiencing them exclaim, “You mean that’s there!”
