Artist Attaches Game Boy Camera to Space Telescope and Takes Photo of Jupiter
A Game Boy enthusiast recently took his classic 1998 console to Mount Wilson Observatory in Los Angeles and attached it to an enormous 60-inch telescope.
The 128-pixel camera has just four shades of gray to make images from. The 60-inch telescope on Mount Wilson, in its current Cassegrain configuration, has an equivalent focal length of about 24,384mm.
That means when musician and director Chris Graue attached his tiny Game Boy camera to the telescope, he was shooting with a mind-boggling 730,000mm lens.
“You ever have that insane dream where you’re using the literal telescope that discovered the Milky Way Galaxy as the lens on your Game Boy camera and wonder if it can be real?” Graue says in a viral video.
Graue first pointed his unusual rig at the Moon, but unsurprisingly found that the natural satellite that sits 240,000 miles from Earth was much too close.
So Graue pointed the Game Boy telescope at an object much further away: Jupiter. The creative was able to make out the gas giant’s famous stripes, as well as getting a nice view of the edge.
“The answer is yes, if you are committed enough, you too can take a picture of Jupiter with your Game Boy camera,” Graue adds.
How Did He Do It?
Graue was on a private tour of Mount Wilson Observatory arranged by two friends.
“The Game Boy camera is modified by 3D-printing a case, designed by UltiArjan, that allows C-Mount lenses to be attached to it,” he explains.
“Then my buddy Drew and I made an adapter that slides into the telescope’s 1.25-inch eyepiece.”
He then used a series of adapters that enabled him to use it on the four-inch eyepiece that’s on the 60-inch telescope.
Graue previously appeared on PetaPixel when he created a tripod mount for a Super Nintendo console.
The so-called “chaotic-good wizard behind So-Cal’s ska-punk-pop scene” will be taking his Game Boy Camera with him when he tours Alaska next month as part of his music act, Lo(u)ser.
