February 26th, 2023, 7:18 p.m. local time
I am fairly certain I have not posted a Moon image since last year’s November eclipse. It’s been cloudy, cold, snowing, or I have been just plain busy. But here in late Winter the conditions are slowly turning again in my favor, so I hope to get the telescope(s) out more often.
The homemade Dobsonian still works, and I used it for this night’s session. Perhaps 2023 will finally be the year that I extract the primary mirror to give it a cleaning. I have not touched the mirror since I built the telescope in October 2016. And for years, I pondered getting a better focuser, a “two-stage” one that allows for finer adjustments when you are close to true focus. The year of the Dob retrofit?
I was rusty in taking images, as I resorted to a photo from the stock camera app on my iPhone. I forgot to bring my Apple Watch for triggering the shutter. Hitting the phone itself, even with a three-second delay, resulted in mostly fuzzy Moon images in NightCap.
Equipment Used:
- 254mm Dobsonian telescope (homemade)
- 23mm eyepiece
- No eyepiece filter
- iPhone 14 Pro
- Smartphone telescope eyepiece adapter
- Stock camera app on iPhone
- f/1.8
- 1/2900 sec exposure
- ISO 57
- Focal length: 7mm
- Touchups in PaintShop Pro and AfterShot Pro
