Noticed something weird at the Kitt Peak observatory visitor area

I drove out to Kitt Peak last weekend to catch the night sky show and saw maybe 10 people all night using their phones to take photos through the big scopes. Like holding up an iPhone to the eyepiece for a quick snap. Does anyone else think that kind of ruins the whole point of sitting in darkness and actually looking at the stars?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliots499d ago

Honestly, "holding up an iPhone to the eyepiece for a quick snap" is a pretty good description of how I'd mess it up. I'm so clumsy I'd probably drop my phone down the telescope tube and then have to call someone with a really long pair of tweezers to get it out. Ngl, I get the frustration, but half the people doing that probably just wanted a quick memory and couldn't figure out the fancy camera mount. Tbh, I think it's kind of funny that people pay to drive all the way out there just to fight with their phone's autofocus in the dark.

wyatt_chen869d ago

That drive to a dark sky site probably costs $20 in gas just to fight with your phone's glare on a dirty eyepiece. I saw a guy at a star party last year spend 45 minutes trying to get his zero dark thirty app to sync with a tracking mount, then just gave up and held his phone up like a caveman. Honestly the universe has been around for billions of years, it'll still be there if your phone picture turns out blurry.