How To Use An iPhone With A Telescope To Take Pictures

How To Attach Your iPhone To A Telescope

It’s quite easy to fix your iPhone to a smartphone adapter and start using it with your telescope.

Please note that the installation instructions will vary from one adapter to the next, but in most models, you’ll have to follow these steps to install your smartphone telescope adapter.

Use a knob on the adapter to open its bracket so that you can place your iPhone in it.

Most adapters will allow you enough space so that you don’t have to remove your phone’s case. 

Ensure that your phone is securely fastened, then check that its camera isn’t restricted or blocked. Some adapters will make use of an eyepiece mounting ring for the phone.

With some phone adapter models, the adapter with your phone in it will be attached to the eyepiece which you’ll then insert into the telescope. You will probably have knobs or screws to tighten to ensure that the eyepiece attaches to the adapter.

With other types of smartphone telescope adapters, you may have to mount the adapter to the telescope’s eyepiece before you can slide your iPhone in it. 

Most smartphone adapters come with an instruction manual. Go ahead and read it thoroughly before you attempt to use it with your iPhone and the telescope.

Take Pictures of the Moon Through a Telescope Using an iPhone

With its shifting phase and the wobbles of libration bringing myriad new features into view each night, the Moon is a wonderful target for photographers of all abilities.

Whatever type of telescope you use, make sure it’s well collimated, by ensuring that its optics are carefully aligned to produce the sharpest image possible. Your telescope’s instruction manual will show you how to do this.

Use astronomy apps or software to decide what date and time to photograph

Pick a date when your Moon target is near the line between the illuminated and dark portions: the terminator.

Shoot when the target is lit from an angle to reveal surface textures and rugged lunar crust, craters, and other subtle features like rilles.

Check the seeing conditions: atmospheric turbulence that can blur and distort your view of the Moon.

Take a short video of just over a minute. A video taken with an iPhone has many frames each second. It enables the sharpest moments of clarity to be selected.

You can then stack these frames together using stacking software (mentioned previously in the article) and process them further to bring out tremendous detail on the Moon’s surface.

You can download free apps to photograph the Moon from the Apple play store. Apps such as ‘Moon Globe’, ‘Stellarium’, ‘Virtual Moon Atlas’ are all great options that show what the Moon looks like for a given date and time, complete with shadow details.

Take Pictures of the Planets Through a Telescope Using an iPhone

Astroimaging a planet properly with an iPhone takes a bit more effort than shooting a video of the moon. The moon is large, and you don’t need to use high magnification to film it. Whereas, to photograph the planets, you need high magnification, so you have to use a Barlow lens or short focal length eyepiece. In this case, you need a motorized mount that will automatically track the planet throughout Earth’s rotation.

You do not really need an advanced telescope or a DSLR to find and photograph the five visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn). A simple beginner’s telescope and your iPhone will do just fine.

Because the major bodies in the solar system orbit the Sun in nearly the same plane of the ecliptic, the position of each planet is predictable and you can plan for photographic opportunities in the future. 

To photograph a planet through a telescope using an iPhone, you’ll have to use the eyepiece projection method with a telescope. The eyepiece projection method is when you place the camera lens of your phone perpendicular to the center of the telescope eyepiece to capture the action.

You should also use your iPhone’s built-in zoom to make the planet bigger on the screen. Without that, you only have the option of using the magnification provided by the eyepiece.

Use the manual controls of your iPhone camera to adjust settings such as exposure time, ISO, and aperture (if available). Once you find the right settings to properly expose the planet you are photographing (so the planet is not too bright), just take a picture or better yet, shoot a short video to be processed later in stacking software.

The best video frames (the least blurry images) are then extracted and stacked, to reveal surface details and vivid colors. 

Conclusion

Taking pictures through a telescope using your iPhone doesn’t require the most expensive equipment or professional astrophotography skills. But, you’ll have to master your telescope and practice a bit before getting really great results. Your first images might not blow you away but don’t worry. Take some time experimenting with different eyepieces, filters, and software, etc. Your success will also depend on clear skies and steady nights.