Backyard Astronomy

What a great night with the telescope! The star of the evening (excuse the pun) was Jupiter. It was crystal clear tonight and two darker bands were strongly suggested. I pushed magnification to its limits using the 6mm lens and 2x Barlow. The inner moons almost filled the FOV although there was no size difference.

I've been trying to do this for some time. It ain't pretty but it does work. The idea, of course, is to provide a stable mount for my mobile phone whilst using my telescope. Unfortunately, the mount which I purchased was the incorrect size so I did some major surgery and ended up attaching it using cable ties. It looks ungainly but it does the job effectively. The phone mount attaches using a standard thread, which is very convenient as I've had trouble fitting my Pixel 7a with others and have had to jury rig a mount. It also has two holes allowing for portrait or landscape orientation which is handy for full sky pics.  Importantly, it can also be set up flat or perpendicular, meaning that any star searching app can be used easily. I'm really hoping that the magnetic field generated by the telescope doesn't affect the phone sensors. Being a few inches away, it shouldn't affect them but we shall see.