Starting astrophotography with a mobile phone

Mobile phone eyepiece adaptors can be obtained for a few £ on Amazon or elsewhere. They can be used in conjunction with a suitable eyepiece (a 9mm, long eye relief eyepiece was used here) to take afocal astrophotographs. This is one of the best ways to get started in Astrophotography.

The Moon is the best object on which to start. It is different every day, so provides a whole range of views to image and study.

Mobile phone eyepiece adaptor obtained for about £10

The adaptor allows the eyepiece to be clamped in exactly the right place for the phone camera to look through it.

Getting the eyepiece and camera in exactly the right positions relative to each other can be a bit fiddly, but perseverance will be rewarded.

The eyepiece/phone combination were placed at the focus of a 102mm refractor and the Moon is clearly visible on the phone screen.

If the phone camera has the facility to zoom, then you can zoom in to get a closer view.

Sufficient images to capture the whole Moon were captured to cover the whole Moon

The images were transferred to a computer by means of a USB data cable. Alternatively, they could be uploaded to Google photos (for an Android phone) and then downloaded to the computer.

The images were stitched together into a single image using Microsoft ICE and post-processed in the Gimp 2.10.

Click on the image to get a closer view

Final image of the 96.4% waxing, gibbous Moon

This adaptor will be located at the Brian Stokes Cygnus Observatory for members to use when conditions and regulations allow.

Steve Wainwright