Telescope Eyepiece Phone Mount

thingiverse

This object was made in Tinkercad. Edit it online https://www.tinkercad.com/things/0qnCzpKazqP When I attempt to take a photo of what I am seeing through my telescope with my smartphone, it is very difficult to have my phone perfectly aligned with the eyepiece. This proves especially difficult when taking pictures of something with more detail. For instance, for my photo to show Saturn’s rings, I have to focus my camera on the eyepiece for a couple of seconds, but It is very hard to do so when using smaller eyepieces or when there is wind. Even the smallest movement during focus will result in a bad photo. Typically, the problem appears very evident in some of my photos since you can see the edges of the eyepiece or blurriness due to my error. This problem affects me and any other telescope user who hasn’t bought an adapter for their phone. The problem is specifically located on my telescope, but since most telescopes use the same standard for eyepieces, this could work on anybody’s telescope as long as the piece can adapt to any smartphone. Fixing this problem is not as significant as others, but it does make telescope usage much more convenient since it eliminates the human error involved in imaging. I think that this is a perfect example of something that a 3D-printed part could easily fix since I just need something to attach to both the eyepiece and my smartphone. Filament color is not an issue, but it would preferably be something that looks nice on a telescope, such as black or gray rather than something bright that stands out. My solution to my problem includes creating a mount for my cell phone that can attach to the telescope’s eyepiece. By mounting onto the cell phone, it eliminates the human error involved in holding the cell phone and makes it very easy to hold the phone still and in clear view of the eyepiece. This will hopefully eliminate any blurriness surrounding any of my images and make it so that I can easily take photos of the night sky. The size of my solution is something not much larger than my hand. The object should be able to wrap around my cell phone and also attach to the telescope eyepiece. The solution may also be able to adapt to different phone sizes. The limitations of the proposed solution are that it may only fit some phone models or have a maximum weight attached to it. I think that if the solution prints without issues, it should last for a long time as long as it is used with care. I think that this solution only fits my situation, but if a camera or similar instrument like a microscope fits my measurements, it would be possible that the solution works for those devices as well. I think that a black filament would look good for my solution because it would match in with the eyepiece and look like an ordinary part of the telescope.