Appreciation post: My cheap phone mount for my telescope actually worked

I was struggling with shaky shots of the Orion Nebula until I used a $12 universal phone clamp from Amazon. Anyone have a better method for planetary imaging without a dedicated camera?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabethhart1mo ago

Hey, just a heads up, the Orion Nebula is actually a deep sky object, not a planet. For planets like Jupiter or Saturn, a phone clamp will struggle because you need way more zoom. You'd really want a dedicated planetary camera that can handle high frame rate video to beat the atmosphere's blur.

keith9431mo ago

Wait, you got a shot of the Orion Nebula with a twelve dollar phone clamp? That's actually wild, I always figured you needed way more gear for that. Tbh I'm shocked it even held still enough to catch any light. My old setup shook if a car drove by half a mile away. For planets though, I guess you really do hit a wall with just a phone.