A 1998 Game Boy Camera on the Mount Wilson Telescope: Here’s the Photo of Jupiter
A 1998 Game Boy Camera, a photographic accessory for the Nintendo portable console, photographed Jupiter through the 60-inch telescope of the Mount Wilson Observatory. The idea originated from Chris Graue, a musician and director from the Californian ska-punk scene in Los Angeles, during a private visit to the observatory organized by two friends. The bands of the planet ended up on a thermal receipt printed by the Game Boy Printer.
The Game Boy Camera has a resolution of 128 pixels and four shades of gray, equating to 0.014 megapixels. The 60-inch telescope, in Cassegrain configuration, has an equivalent focal length of about 24,384mm; combined with the Nintendo camera sensor, the system corresponds to a lens of about 730,000mm.
How it was connected to the telescope: The Game Boy Camera has been modified with a 3D-printed case, designed by UltiArjan, which allows for mounting C-Mount optics. From there, Graue explains, he and friend Drew created an adapter that slides into the 1.25-inch eyepiece holder of the telescope. Additional adapters allowed for use on the 4-inch eyepiece holder of the 60-inch telescope.
A post shared by Lo(u)ser Chris Graue (@chrisgraue)
However, the field of view remains that of a minuscule sensor. The Moon proved too close to be captured usefully by such a powerful instrument, while Jupiter, much farther away, yielded recognizable results. Even so, Graue noted, the camera is so cropped that it can only frame a portion of the planet at a time.
The instrument and its context: The 60-inch telescope is not a random choice: inaugurated in 1908, it was the largest in the world at the time of its commissioning and is the instrument with which the first photographs of stars outside the Milky Way were taken.
This is not Graue's first experiment of this kind; he had previously built a tripod mount for a Super Nintendo. Meanwhile, the Game Boy Camera will accompany him: next month it is expected to be in the luggage for the tour in Alaska with his band, the Lo(u)ser.