Astro Tutorial #2.9.3: Smartphone - Planetary Astrophotography for Beginners [Celestron NexYZ] 

Thanks!! Yes, the sensors became really astonishing!! It's nuts what you can resolve with hand-held-electronics these days! Clear skies!

True words! Thanks for your thoughts. Clear skies!!!

Thanks Nikhil for your encouraging words! It really means a lot to me. Clear skies!!

Thanks!! Spreading this beautiful hobby is a worthy journey 💖

Thanks for the kind words! Feel free to tag me over on twitter or insta - I'd love to see some more smartphone-astro-results. Clear skies!

With a spare DSLR the world of astro photography is all yours. Start taking short exposures with ~100-200mm and high ISO of bright DSO targets like the whirlpool galaxy on a steady tripod. Then maybe transition to a tracking mount... It's a super rich and rewarding hobby!! Clear skies!

Thanks for the heads up!

Superb! Don't forget to tag me over on Twitter 🙂 I want to see some results 😉

@@catchingphotons Cool, man! I will do that✌🏼

Thanks for that encouraging comment! It's very well appreciated! Clear skies!

Thanks for your kind words!

Thanks Wido! I'm really looking forward to seeing the pixel 6 since the sensor hasn't really changed since the 3'er series. A bit more control over the astro settings would be great but nevertheless great to see that the "big companies" are taking astro stuff into consideration these days! Clear skies to you!! 🍻

Ich have one question though. I have only shot Moon, Jupiter and Saturn so far and was encouraged by your video to find a star cluster. At home I am restricted to the South-West range of the sky and was wondering how you find a cluster that is high in the sky and in that range. But at the same time has a low mag so I can actually find it with my Dobsonian. Therefore I have chosen M13 in Hercules and am waiting for clear skies. Is that an object for a start? And how would you go about this and find a star cluster? Thanks

Hi there. I was eventually able to track down the M13 global cluster and was surprised what small region in the sky the ZWO ASI 120 only covers. The more I was surprised that I was able to locate the cluster with my 10 inch Dobsonian and with quite some light pollution in our area. I am using Stellarium to figure out what I might need to expect with the gear I am using. With SharpCap I was able to take a c 1sec exposure that was not so bad for the beginning. Cheers, Michael

Hey Michael! Yep, M13 is a bright one and hence a good first choice. And yep, the ZWO covers quite a small area especially with your focal length. Therefore it's mainly ment to be used for planetary where only this small area matters... Many DSOs will be way (!) too big for this FOV. Easy entrance would be a 15 bucks T2 adapter ring and a used DSLR. The larger sensor will enable for a much larger FOV. Any possibilities to show me your results? I'd be very interested! Clear skies!!

@@catchingphotons Thank you very much for your reply and your useful comments. You can find my videos on my youtube channel. For now I have only uploaded pictures of Jupiter and Saturn. I did not consider it yet worthewile uploading the image of M13. I am currently trying to locate the Pinwheel and Whirpool galaxies since I should be able to directly observe them from our backyard. A lot of other DSOs in the milky-way are unfortunately behind our house. But I was not successful to see the galaxies through my 10mm and 25mm eyepieces (so far) Although when I check in Stellarium I should be able to see them (FoV c 0.2°), light pollution around 5-6 (Stellarium). I believe by star hopping I should be aiming at the right spot. Therefore I was thinking whether I should use your smartphone approach next to increase the exposure time. And if that works I will also think about buying an DSLR. Cheers, Michael

By means of plate solving via directly uploading imagies to astronomy I shot with my smartphone and an NexYZ adapter I believe I am now pointing my 10'' dobsonian (FOV 1°) in the right direction. Unfortunately without tracking I can only do 1-5sec exposures which did not reveal the pinwheel galaxy so far. I believe there is still to much noise to see anything (light pollution, full moon, AZ/H: low height 30-40°). Although when applying a threshold filter in python cv2 I can see that there is something but it could well be a reflection of the glass of the eyepiece. Also my small FOV of 1° does not allow any stacking with SharpCap my ASI ZWO 120 due to not enough reference stars. So I guess I am currently trying to catch the Pinwheel galaxy under the worst possible settings. I see that Andromeda is high in the sky at around 4am currently. Maybe I should start with a less challenging DSO first. If you like I can share some images. Do you have a mail adress? Michael

Thanks FJB, please tag me if you publish any images, I'm looking forward to seeing them! Clear skies!!

Cool! Yes the eyepiece holder is a major (!!) upgrade, I highly encourage you to invest into this first (~60 bucks). Second in line might be a decent Barlow lens (~60-100 bucks). It's a long road but so rewarding! Clear skies!!

Thanks for your encouraging words Bill!! I just pressed "record". No actually I fixed the focus (hold screen long) and focused with binoculars or scope. In that way I had small amount of control over the exposure but that control is very much limited. The more control you have, the better but obviously it works without ;-) Clear skies!!

@@catchingphotons Nice! Thanks for the reply. I will experiment with my phone camera settings tonight, as Saturn is at opposition and I'll try to capture some good shots of it with my telescope. Have a nice day and clear skies!🌌

You are very welcome!! Good luck next time and clear skies!!

It's a cool way for beginners to enter the world of Astrophotography. You have instead to share? Post them here or tag me over on Twitter or Instagram. Clear skies my friend!!

It's amazing, isn't it? Clear skies my friend!

True story! I want to establish an astronomy-group in my school and mobile-phones are a great way, as you said! Clear skies!!

Hey there!! Welcome aboard :-)

Cool 😎

I saw your Insta-Post. Great!!

MP does not matter so much. It all depends on the optics. Cheers!

Do it, it's totally worth it!

You are very welcome!!!

The normal one :-) The opening of the eyepiece is tiny but this just connects the contracted light rays if you will. See it another way: your pupils are tiny too, but you can cover a whooping 190° Field of view (or something). So the light rays will diverge and fill the sensor, no problem. Cheers!!

Unfortunately I can't provide this jet ;-)

Yea it should be possible to get some brighter DSOs. The problem is the exposure length. It's your Dobson tracked (equatorial tracking platform) in any way? Otherwise the max exposure time will be highly limited. Though "SharpCap" (THE software to talk to planetary astro cams) has a live stacking mode that looks interesting for exactly your purpose. It takes endless rounds of short exposures and stack them live for your to see the current state of the image. Wait another 5' and the image quality will increase even more. Maybe I should do a video about it ;-) Clear skies!!

@@catchingphotons thank you so much! Yes I have an equatorial platform that tracks for about an hour between resets. Live stacking sounds like a great idea to try. I wanted to display a "live-ish" view, as though they were looking through an eyepiece with me - I bet that would be a nice compromise that might open up some dimmer objects.

Sounds cool!! Would you consider to share some images you folks take over the course of the night? I'd be highly interested!

Yes I'd love to. It will probably be this fall - we're moving to a house in a rural area and I'm super excited to move the scopes in and see how dark the skies are!

That can surely be a limit. The smartphone holder is intermediate heavy and adding the phone might bring your setup out of balance. If you manage to add the phone please share some images!! Clear skies!

Software called "Stellarium". Cheers!

Scope: Skywatcher PDS Newtonian 150/750 Mount: EQ6R Pro (but would work with any other) Camera: GooglePixel5 or ZWO ASI 120mc-s Barlow: 3x Omegon APO Software: SharpCap (capturing, free), Autostakkert!3 (free), Registax6 (free), Gimp (free)

Probably but the GoPro is neither intended nor made for astro images. If you are able to boost frame rate though it might be an interesting thought. Cheers and clear skies!

Haha, you are very welcome!

Of course! The message goes like: Use what you have. If you own a DSLR, go with that. Still use video-files for capturing planets though. But if you lack the DSLR you might as well use your phone, or a compact camera for that matter. Clear skies!

I can only guess but maybe there is some post-processing in your phone happening which would explain why it is not visible in the live feed.

This method should work with everything that has a working camera 🤳 ... Even though I don't own a galaxy tab. Only problem is the max size of the adapter. You'd need one that can hold the tab fine - don't know the specs though.

Cool! Can you share some images?

@@catchingphotons i have others video in my account

:-) Sometimes skills, sometimes equipment and preparing but most of the time: Luck with seeing! Thus it's called: Lucky imaging. Clear skies!!

Hey! Normally (if doing stacking) I copy the files onto my PC and use "autostakkert!3" for further processing (free software). I don't know of any smartphone stacking app that works for me. Cheers!

You like to? Do so!!

Wait for it to become visible certain planets can only be viewed at certain times of year 😊

@@DarsiDarsi- 👍

Hey! Planets are only visible during some parts of the year! Saturn and Jupiter will be back in late fall. But no worries: Practice on the moon instead :-) Your assumption was correct: Pre-Focus with the phone - fix focus - focus with the binoculars - then set appropriate exposure and stuff on your phone. You need to capture a video-file and then run this through software on PC to enhance details. Cheers! Chris

@@catchingphotons Thank you! Much appreciated.

Hey! What are the specs of your equpi/setup you use? Clear skies!!

@@catchingphotons I use a Meade 7" MCT. Because it is so high powered I do all my viewing through a 56mm or a Baader Hyperion Zoom. Smartphone adapters aren't designed for 2" barrels. I tried the Celestron NeXYZ, but the build quality was so bad I returned it

Well it certainly depends on your demands :-) some will say: no way! Others (me included) will say: no question, yes! I'm planning to buy a second scope just for planetary :-D But jokes aside: a smartphone is every anyway a great starting point for getting your feet wet in planetary BEFORE investing hundreds of dollars for further equipment. I'm a huge fan! Clear skies!

Zwo ASI 120mc

I would need someone with that specific phone to find out. Cheers and clear skies!

@@catchingphotons I have the phone but I don't think you're in Florida 😅

I own the Google pixel 5 but have never had this problem so far ... Can you tape the IR emitter?

@@catchingphotons yep if I show the camera to a mirror I get a little people dot. I have tried " open camera" where I can switch to manual focus but that doesn't turn off the infrared

@@catchingphotons I guess I could put tape in it something over it. That was my thought too. I have been looking around for some alternative Canara app that would turn it off with software. Thank you for your reply

I use that free software Registax6. Clear skies!

It works with every phone. What number of lenses your manufacturer included into your phone don't need to bother you. For more information: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5FF6eWj3VNI.html Cheers and clear skies!!

@@catchingphotons thank you

Hate because of handling? The cost of 120mc is lower than a phone BUT most of us have the phone anyway so there is no additional cost involved. My phone never dropped to this date 😉👍 let's hope it never does (but it feels pretty secured though). Cheers and clear skies!

Thanks! I used video mode of my smartphone (30-60fps) and than the software "PIPP" to convert the MP4 to raw video I can import with autostakkert. It's a free software and relatively easy to use. Clear skies!!

Celestron NexYZ smartphone adapter

@@catchingphotons thanks.. so what do u recommend a phone mount or a astro camera I like to make also deep space images with my etx 90

Probably true BUT the EQ6R Pro is just awesome and worth every cent. I love the accuracy and the smooth and quiet slewing. Cheers and clear skies!

Hope to get one some day 👍 great work

Камера с ночным видением может иметь схожие возможности сбора света, но всё зависит от фокусного расстояния (и, соответственно, оптики) и способности правильно отслеживать ночное небо.