Tried to capture the Orion Nebula with my phone through a telescope, got a blob that looked like a fuzzy potato instead

So last Tuesday I thought I'd be clever and just hold my iPhone up to the eyepiece of my 6 inch dob to get a quick shot of M42. Spent like 20 minutes trying to get the phone perfectly centered while my neighbor's porch light kept ruining my dark vision. The final picture looked like a glowing blob with some smudge around it, nothing like those crisp photos you see here. Learned that phone cameras just can't pick up the detail unless you've got some crazy adapter setup. Has anyone here actually gotten a decent shot with just a phone and no special rig?

2 comments

2 Comments

loganm5220d ago

Oh man, the fuzzy potato is a rite of passage for sure! Actually though, you can get a little better than a blob if you tweak a couple things. First off, your neighbor's porch light is killing your night vision way more than you think, even a little ambient light messes with your phone's exposure. Also, instead of just holding it freehand, try propping the phone against the eyepiece with tape or a rubber band, it sounds janky but it cuts down the shake a ton. And here's the thing people don't mention, you gotta use the phone's manual mode if it has one and turn down the ISO, or else it just turns into a glowing mess. The shots still won't look like Hubble photos, but you can at least get it from "fuzzy potato" to "vaguely nebula-shaped smudge" which feels like a win.

jamiekim20d ago

Man that is such a solid tip about the porch light, I never even thought about how that messes with the exposure. I've been out there getting frustrated with my blurry shots and it's probably just my neighbors being too helpful with their lighting. Gonna try the tape trick tonight for sure, that janky setup honestly sounds like my whole approach to this hobby so far.