An Important Announcement About the Development of Telescope Live 4

Season’s Greetings, Everyone!

I hope that, so far, you’ve all had a wonderful holiday season, filled with joy, relaxation, and maybe even some clear skies for stargazing! 

As we wrap up the year and prepare to ring in 2025, I wanted to take a moment to share an exciting update about Telescope Live 4 (TL4) - our biggest project yet.

The holidays are often a time for reflection and looking ahead, and with TL4, we’re doing just that. 

While our team has been hard at work, we’re incredibly grateful for the continued support of our amazing community - you’ve made this journey possible, and we can’t wait to show you what’s next.

But let’s get into today’s announcement!

It is all about the stage of development of TL4 - for the newcomers, that's what we internally call the development of the latest version of our platform, which we've been working on for more than a year now.

Telescope Live 4: A New Beginning for Astrophotographers

Since our original announcement, we have been working tirelessly on Telescope Live 4, and I’m thrilled to say that we’re now in the final stages of development. 

The platform is shaping up beautifully, and we can’t wait to share it with all of you!

For those of you who are new or want a quick refresher, here’s a brief recap of our original announcement from November 2023. If you’ve been following our journey closely, feel free to skip ahead to the next section.

A Quick Recap of Our Original Announcement

In my last announcement (that you can read here), I shared our vision for the future of Telescope Live - a platform completely reimagined to meet the needs of astrophotographers at every level. 

We’ve based this entire development on the invaluable feedback we received from you in our June 2023 survey.

Telescope Live has always been about more than just remote imaging; it’s about empowering astrophotographers of all levels to capture, process, and share stunning images of the universe.

When we launched TL3, it was already a significant improvement over its predecessors.

However, TL3 was still built on the backbone of TL1, which was originally designed as a remote imaging service for scientific research. 

While that was perfect for researchers, as our community grew, so did your expectations and needs.

The limitations of TL3 became more apparent as Telescope Live evolved into a platform for all things astrophotography. 

TL3’s architecture, originally conceived for a more niche use case, wasn’t flexible enough to keep pace with the full scope of what the astrophotography community needed.

That’s why we made the bold decision to start from scratch. 

Every single feature of TL4 has been rebuilt and re-engineered from the ground up. 

We’ve recoded every tool, redesigned the entire interface, and optimized workflows to provide you with a seamless experience. 

Whether you’re grabbing datasets, exploring the gallery, or navigating through our tutorials, TL4 will deliver a smooth, intuitive experience built for both novice and advanced astrophotographers.

What’s Next?

“So, when will the official launch happen?”

While we had originally aimed for a November 2024 release, we now expect to launch TL4 within the end of Q1 and the beginning of Q2 2025.

One of the main reasons for the delay is that we’ve decided to extend the alpha and beta testing period. 

We believe in delivering a platform that not only works well but also exceeds expectations. 

By lengthening the testing phase, we can thoroughly test every corner of the platform, allowing our (current) alpha and (future) beta testers to find and report bugs, usability issues, and any other unexpected challenges.

This isn’t just about fixing bugs, though. 

We also want to gather additional feedback during this phase to make final tweaks and improvements.

It’s all about refining TL4 to create a platform that works flawlessly from day one. 

I’m confident that the additional time we’re investing will ensure a polished and powerful experience.

Beta testing

“And what about the Beta testing you mentioned?”

We are currently in the Alpha testing phase (which has been kept internal), but the Beta testing will start soon. 

As said, we will be addressing all potential bugs and problems, and we will do so with an innovative system that makes it “as easy as pie” to report issues and keep track of everything.

This is crucial for allowing our developers to stay on top of everything so that we can deliver the most powerful, integrated, and flawless platform we have ever created!

As we get closer to launching the beta testing phase, we’ll send out a notification to let you know it’s time to get involved. 

And who knows, you might just be one of the lucky few to receive an exclusive invitation to join the TL4 beta team! 

Keep an eye on your inbox -you won’t want to miss this opportunity to help shape the future of Telescope Live.

Future updates

In the coming weeks, we will start sharing everything we’ve been working on with you, so that you will have a precise and complete idea of all the work that has been done and how it will translate into the most revolutionary platform ever created in the world of astrophotography!

We’ll be sharing sneak peeks of some exciting new features, and I’m sure you’ll be just as excited as I am once you get a glimpse of what’s coming.

I can’t wait for you to experience TL4 for yourselves! It’s been an incredible journey building this platform from the ground up, and I’m confident it will open new possibilities for your astrophotography journey.

Stay tuned for more updates soon!

Thank you for your continued attention, your patience throughout this journey, and for being such an integral part of our community. 

From all of us at Telescope Live, we wish you a joyful holiday season and a bright start to the New Year filled with clear skies and incredible discoveries!