Game Boy Camera 2bit image of the moon. (Image credit Alexander Pietrow)
Nearly 20 years ago in 1998, Nintendo released the Game Boy Camera (Pocket Camera in Japan) for the popular handheld gaming platform and allowed kids to take glorious 2bit digital images in black and white. Even with the camera’s limited ability, it still remains a popular add-on device among gamers, photographers and makers alike.
Now we can add astronomers to that list as well as Dutch astronomy student, and researcher Alexander Pietrow used one to take some great blocky old-school images of the moon and Jupiter that look like they belong on an early 90’s game cartridge box. To add to his credit, he is the first astrophotographer (or anyone else for that matter) to do so using the monochrome camera.
Game Boy Camera connected to an 1838 6'' Fraunhofer telescope. (Image credit Alexander Pietrow)
Out of curiosity, Alexander wondered if could capture images of celestial bodies using the 128×112 pixel CMOS camera and decided to pair it with an 1838 Fraunhofer telescope found at the Old Observatory of Leiden in the Netherlands (South Holland). To get the camera perfectly aligned with the telescope’s eyepiece, Alexander used a Gosky Universal Cellphone Adapter and set out to test whether the camera would be able to pick up far away images by aiming the scope at a nearby church tower.
After a successful, albeit blocky test shoot, his next mission was the moon and mounted the camera on the telescope’s viewfinder to capture a zoomed-out image first, then taking a more detailed photo showing the moon’s craters using the scope’s main viewer. The end-result of that photo shoot produced the nostalgic-like imagery at the beginning of this post.
The large blob in the center is actually Jupiter, complete with three Galilean moons. (Image credit Alexander Pietrow)
Alexander then wondered if he could capture something better and aimed the telescope at Jupiter and not only captured the giant planet but three of its moons as well. In order to see those heavenly bodies more ‘clearly,' the image was zoomed-in by 400% to make them more visible due to the camera’s limited pixel resolution.
No, Alexander’s images are not groundbreaking or astounding by any means, but that doesn’t make them any less interesting given the fact they were taken by a camera that was meant to be a novelty add-on.
I have of one these cameras... what else can it do... hmm.
Have a story tip? Message me at: cabe(at)element14(dot)com
Top Comments