Video of iPhone handheld afocal lunar, solar, planet. Very simple, very basic, very rewarding

[chops]

I started putting this together for my family and kids, but then got a little carried away with adding annotations such as crater and mare names, plus other details. I thought it turned into a handy little resource (for me), and realised that others may like it too.

I hope you enjoy it too, it's a collection of images I've been saving in a phone album called 'astronomy' and thought it'd be simpler to share with friends this way.

It's all single image photos / single take video, so no stacking involved. The only 'post processing' is when I've changed an image in the iphone to mono, or adjusted saturation and contrast to make it more interesting. Many are straight out of the phone - some iPhone 7, some 10 and a couple iPhone 11.

The kit's all very cheap: £80 for a secondhand 1990s Helios Explorer 6" with EQ3-2 type mount, a 1999 ETX-125 (which I bought second hand in 2003), plus a Skyliner 250px dob (again, second hand in 2015 for £232). Lenses are typically Plossl or those supplied with the scope. I'm in fairly good skies - some of these on the edge of a town - probably Bortle 5 and others more rural, so closer to Bortle 4, perhaps 3 on a good night.

 

 

[SuburbanMak]

Having tried this low-tech method of image capture the other night all I can say is outstanding patience & steady hand! Nice drop of Strauss too  

[chops]

Thanks SuburbanMak. The Blue Danube can make even the worst shots seem magnificent. I find the Dobson much easier to handhold because of the shorter focal length and I can use lower powered eyepieces. Many of the shots are taken with plossls, but a couple with 68 and 82 degree explore scientific eps.

Quick shot attached taken 2 nights ago in a 10 min session,  tweaked in the iPhone to decrease highlights and contrast,  increase sharpness etc.

I’ve since spotted just how badly collimated the mirrors are, so corrected that today. ... which means it’s cloudy tonight!

clear skies!

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by chops
Add image of moon etc

[SuburbanMak]

That's cool - looks almost like a drawing. 

Here are the only two I managed to grab the other night, tweaked for contrast and sharpness in PS Express (attached).  I am sufficiently encouraged to have since invested in the rings to connect my DSLR to the eyepiece.   I sense this may be the start of  a slippery & expensive slope toward imaging...   

Put up a thread here on that  little project:   

I sense this may be the start of  a slippery & expensive slope toward imaging...