Saturn, captured on a boy’s phone
GLINTING in the inky blackness of space and encircled by its distinctive rings is one of our Solar System’s most breathtaking sights, the planet Saturn.
remarkably, this stunning image wasn’t taken by astronomers in an observatory, but by a schoolboy in his back garden with a £50 telescope and an iPhone.
Marcus reed, 15, set up his 102mm l ens telescope after checking an iPhone app called Sky Guide and discovering the planet could be seen in the clear night sky. the teenager, who lives with his mother Christine, 49, a deputy nursing manager, and father Martin, a part-time paramedic, in Seaford, east Sussex, yesterday described how he took his incredible photograph. Saturn is nearly ten times the size of earth and 746million miles away.
he said: ‘I took the picture at about 4am. I had turned on the app and saw that Saturn was visible, so straight away I put my slippers on and ran downstairs, setting up the telescope on the back lawn in my pyjamas.
‘I was pleasantly surprised when I saw I had such a clear picture – Saturn is my favourite planet.’
the photo was taken by lining up the smartphone’s camera with the 12.5mm eyepiece of the tripodmounted telescope. It has won praise on social media after Marcus posted it on Facebook group Nature Watch.
Marcus, who has a sister emma, 18, said: ‘I have been interested in astronomy and photography for a long time. I use my telescope every night when it’s clear.’