iPhone Telescope Adapter

Tue, 06/12/2012 - 18:14

A Kickstarter project was successfully funded to manufacture an adapter for the iPhone that will fit 1-1.5" eyepieces for  telescopes (among other devices). It sells for $80 starting June 30.

Here is the link.

 

It's an afocal, no-lens design. The iPhone 4S has a back-illuminated, f/2.4 CMOS camera.

 

 

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
iphone camera photometry

Thanks for the link.  I have a few questions for anyone in the forum who might know:

1)  Are there any aavso observers who currently use iphone cameras to record photometric data?

2)  What are the risks/limitations/ pitfalls of such an approach?

I think the camera produces only jpeg images.  The citizen sky photometry tutorial does not recommend using jpeg files as output because they provide a limited dynamic range (I assume that this means the precision in determining magnitudes is correspondingly limited).  However, perhaps there is a way around this with the iphone camera?   Also, perhaps the precision possible with an iphone photo is at least as good or slightly greater than that attainable by naked eye visual estimates?

I'm a newbie variable star observer.  Thanks!