Stars with phone-cam?

[BetaDust]

Hi all.

I'm a reel noob here, but i know i can't take a picture of a star with a phonecamera, can I?

I took a moon picture with my Nokia N95 phone, I than transferred it to my computer, and it seems like there is a star in the middle-right side of the picture?

http://img362.imageshack.us/my.php?i...2008086wp6.jpg

Sorry to bother you with silly phone image questions.

Thanks,

Dennis

[Tog]

I'm not going to say it can't be done, but the odds are really against it. Venus or Jupiter maybe, but a real star would be unlikely.

In you pic, I'm assuming you mean the blue green thing in about the the middle of the right edge. To me it looks sort of deformed, like a bean or a (US) football with a dent on one side. I'm not a photo interpretation expert or anything so I may be wrong, but from similar imaged I've seen, and taken, I'd guess that what you have is a lens flare. Looks like on on the bottom of the frame as well.

Basically, light doesn't pass through glass cleanly. It makes a reflection on both sides. Based on the shape I see, I'd say that street light in the middle is the source. It is reflecting off of either the front or back of the lens and being picked up by the CCD in the phone.

See below, and possibly above for corrections.

BTW, Welcome to BAUT.

Edit: You know, back when you did register... The "Noob" thing threw me.

[BetaDust]

Thanks for the info Tog, and for the welcome to :-)

Dennis

[Gob332]

I was bored one moring before sunrise and was able to catch Venus with my phone. It just looked like a white dot, but it was clearly visible. Don't expect much more than that though.

[DaveC426913]

To me it looks sort of deformed, like a bean or a (US) football with a dent on one side.

All objects in the image share the same distortion. What you are seeing is point (or near-point) sources of light that have been smeared slightly by camera-movement. Look at the smaller pinpoints and you can clearly see the smear.

Considering the brightness of the other sources of light in the pic, I wouldn't rule out that dot on the right as a star.

[BetaDust]

Thanks for the answers Tog, Gob332 and DaveC426913.

Dennis

[John Mendenhall]

Cool, I'm going to try it, if it ever stops raining and gives us a clear night.

Folks, there's a lot of us out there, with a lot of camera phones. How about seeing what you can capture of the night sky with your phone? The phone/camera/mobilePC technology just keeps getting better and better. Whatever we can get now will be improved by a factor of 10 in 5 years.

[BetaDust]

--- John Mendenhall --- Cool, I'm going to try it, if it ever stops raining and gives us a clear night.

Folks, there's a lot of us out there, with a lot of camera phones. How about seeing what you can capture of the night sky with your phone? The phone/camera/mobilePC technology just keeps getting better and better. Whatever we can get now will be improved by a factor of 10 in 5 years.

Good idea. I know i will be making lot of pic's in the comming weeks (new phone... gotta play).
But i still can't beleave it's a star in that picture, i go with Tog idea, a lens flare. But i'll keep trying.

Dennis

[sabianq]

did you try during the middle of the day?

[sabianq]

to Tog

I'm not going to say it can't be done, but the odds are really against it. Venus or Jupiter maybe, but a real star would be unlikely.

i just took this with my cell phone camera
and it is a real star

[sabianq]

this one too.

[John Mendenhall]

Thanks, folks, looks like we'll finally get a clear night tonight, I'm gonna try it

[David Mc]

If my star program is right, tonight should be a great night to experiment.
Jupiter will be rising close along with the Moon.
http://www.bautforum.com/astrophotography/

There's forum for this if you folks post 'em
I'd love to see what you get.

[Sam5]

Hi all.

I'm a reel noob here, but i know i can't take a picture of a star with a phonecamera, can I?

I took a moon picture with my Nokia N95 phone, I than transferred it to my computer, and it seems like there is a star in the middle-right side of the picture?

http://img362.imageshack.us/my.php?i...2008086wp6.jpg

Sorry to bother you with silly phone image questions.

Thanks,

Dennis

BetaDust,

What I see in your photo looks to me like the moon (top center), two sodium vapor street lights, and what looks like lights from different floors of an apartment building or an office building (center left). There is another street light just out of the view over toward the right. The blur is due to camera movement caused by a slow shutter speed.

Here’s your picture brightened up a bit. You can see the pole holding up the street light in the middle of the photo, and you can also see part of the extension arm at the top that holds the oval light at the end of it.

http://i32.tinypic.com/t6fqxe.jpg

[mugaliens]

To be honest, it's so blurry I can't tell if it's a star or a streetlamp.

However, it's still better than most UFO photos...

[BetaDust]

Thanx's mugs

[John Mendenhall]

To be honest, it's so blurry I can't tell if it's a star or a streetlamp.

However, it's still better than most UFO photos...

Good one, Mugsy.

Interesting, isn't it, that the better the quality of the photograph the less likely people are to claim that it's a UFO.

[mugaliens]

Good one, Mugsy.

Interesting, isn't it, that the better the quality of the photograph the less likely people are to claim that it's a UFO.

<chuckling...>

Thanks! To his credit, though, BetaDust didn't claim it was a UFO.

Still, it could be a UFO... Or rather, a USO (unidentified stellar object).

[sabianq]

if anyone is wondering,
i used my phone camera with a blank DVD as a filter to snap a picture of the sun at mid day.
it only issue is see with taking a picture of stars is the fact that they are so small that with the focal length of a cell phone camera, it seem that a single even brigh star would take up less than a pixel.

the pictures of the sun i took above show the sun as something like 15 pixels across when using the lens on the camera. a night time star would be quite a bit smaller.

at the same time, wasn't the original camera on the Hubble space telescope only like 600X800 pixels across?

so maybe with an augmentation of a large reflector telescope, tripod and tracking motor, maybe it would be easy to get great photos using a cell phone camera.

[Sam5]

<chuckling...>

Thanks! To his credit, though, BetaDust didn't claim it was a UFO.

Still, it could be a UFO... Or rather, a USO (unidentified stellar object).

The two orange blobs look to me like USLs. Unidentified Street Lights.

[BetaDust]

Hi All.

I'm reviving my own 6 month old thread.
I took some pictures with my phonecam last month.

At first I thought it was a bright star, but now I think,
It could be Venus.

Any Thoughts?

#1:http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9...nus1n95ng7.jpg
#2:http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/2...nus2n95ks7.jpg
#3:http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/1...nus3n95uu7.jpg
#4:http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/4...nus4n95im0.jpg

*all images taken with Nokia N95 phone

--Dennis.

[Swift]

I assume this is facing west just after sunset. If so, I'd agree that it is Venus.

[BetaDust]

I assume this is facing west just after sunset. If so, I'd agree that it is Venus.

You assume correctly.

And if so, did I take a picture of a planet with my phonecam?

[brink]

Why can't you take pictures of stars with a phonecam? I read somewhere that taking pictures of the Sun is bad.. although I do it a lot with my iPhone..


#1 http://www.gxleague.net/photo1.jpg
#2 http://www.gxleague.net/photo2.jpg

I am wondering what the object is in the first picture.. on the top left.

Obviously the blue object is Nibiru and not a lens reflection

Decent pictures for a 2.0 MP cam out of a car windshield while driving.

[BetaDust]

I am wondering what the object is in the first picture.. on the top left.

It is a Romulan Warbird, declocking. Duh.

[Jens]

And if so, did I take a picture of a planet with my phonecam?

Yes, but I assume you do it a lot anyway. Just point the phonecam down!

[BetaDust]

I made this picture with my N95 phonecam, a vew hours ago.



It's the Moon and Venus. I'm getting better at this

--Dennis

[Sam5]

It's the Moon and Venus. I'm getting better at this

--Dennis

Yes you are. Maybe you need one of these add-on lenses:


http://www.popgadget.net/2007/01/telephoto_lens.php

[BetaDust]

Yes you are. Maybe you need one of these add-on lenses:

Thanks for the link Sam5. I might get one.

But I like to see what our phonecam's can do all by itself...

--Dennis