Capturing the Blue Giant: How I Imaged Neptune and Triton with a 6-Inch GSO Dobsonian and a Smartphone
FINAL IMAGE OF NEPTUNE - STACKED AND PROCESSED Imaging deep-sky ice giants from a back garden usually sounds like the domain of expensive equatorial mounts, dedicated planetary cameras, and complex setups. But what if I told you that you can capture Neptune—and even its largest moon, Triton—using a 6-inch GSO Dobsonian, a budget 4mm GSO Super Plössl eyepiece, a smartphone (Motorola G85), and some free stacking software? During Neptune's opposition, I set out to test the limits of modest equipment. Here is the full story of how I tracked down the farthest planet in our solar system and brought out its ghostly moon using afocal astrophotography. The Equipment Setup Telescope : 6-inch GSO Dobsonian (manual tracking, high focal length at f/8, 1200mm focal length). Eyepiece : 4mm GSO Super Plössl (delivering a massive 300x magnification, but with a very tight exit pupil). Barlow Lens : None! (Kept the optical train simple to avoid extra glass and light ...