We’re told that it’s up there. Most nights you can see it with the naked eye and it’s casting shadows. I’ve looked at it a few times through binoculars or spotting scope and it never ceases to amaze me, but I haven’t spent much time digiscoping the moon. Needing to break-up the monotony of sitting at home. I decided I would Phone Skope the Moon. My optic of choice was Celestron Astromaster 90 telescope. It was the first time taking it out in pursuit of taking pictures and video of the full moon. It is the closest that the moon will be to the Earth this year and with social distancing becoming the norm, I needed to get out of the house.
I arrived a few minutes early to make sure the tripod would set up properly, to adjust the eye-relief, and focus on the telescope, as well as pair my Bluetooth Shutter Remote to my iPhone 11 Pro Max. 7:46 PM came and went with no sign of the Moon peeking over the Wasatch Front Mountains. Thin grey clouds were hanging on the skyline and peaks towering over the Salt Lake Valley. 10 minutes later a bright light crept over the top of the clouds. “There it is”, I muttered under my breath while a sweet old lady walked by with her small dog on a leash.
I pointed the telescope towards where I thought the moon would appear in the eyepiece. At first it was difficult to find due to the high magnification on the scope but I tracked it down. I pulled my iPhone 11 Pro Max out of my pocket and attached it to the telescope eyepiece using the Phone Skope case and optic adapter. I was ready to start digiscoping the moon.
It was really impressive to view the surface of the moon and large craters that are littered across it. The high magnification of the telescope and the use of the 2x lens on the iPhone made it even more impressive viewing on the phone screen. I got excited and started tapping the phone screen to grab a couple of still images. After the 4th picture I realized they were coming out blurry because of tapping the screen and the super-high magnification of the telescope. I remembered the Bluetooth Shutter Button and started clicking the button. Pictures were noticeably more crisp than the previous images taken without the Shutter Button. If you haven’t considered the Bluetooth Shutter Remote, I’d suggest you take a look at it.
I started tinkering around with different exposure levels on the Phone Skope Camera app. Bringing down the exposure made for a much better image that showed more detail. The bright white portions of the moon were now visible and blown out. Make sure to expose properly before taking pictures and video, it really made for some awesome stills and video. Check out the quick clip on YouTube :
If you’re feeling cooped up with everything going on. I’d suggest taking a step out on the back porch and look-up. Don’t forget your optics and Phone Skope, you never know what you might capture.