Man uses a Game Boy Camera to photograph Jupiter
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Both amateur and professional astronomers have captured incredible photos of Jupiter from Earth over the years, while space probes like NASA’s Juno have actually glimpsed the gas giant up close. But just because an image of the solar system’s largest planet is a bit grainy doesn’t make it any less interesting—or creative. During a recent visit to Mount Wilson Observatory’s Hooker Telescope in California, musician, director, and retro tech enthusiast Chris Graue decided to try snapping some pictures of Jupiter using one of gaming history’s oddest offerings, the Game Boy Camera.
Released in 1998, the Game Boy Camera expanded the iconic gaming device’s pixelated abilities to incorporate photography. However, its uses were pretty limited from the start. The 128-megapixel add-on was only capable of generating tiny, four-color grayscale pictures printed through its small, receipt-like printer.
But although the camera was more a novelty than a useful tool, it still generated a cult following that has lasted long after Nintendo discontinued the product in 2002. Graue’s experiment in astrophotography required a few alterations to work properly. First, he and his friends attached C-mount lenses to the Game Boy Camera, then utilized a specially designed, 3D-printed adapter to let it slide into the eyepiece of the observatory’s 60-inch telescope.
Once in place, this meant that the Game Boy Camera was technically shooting through a 730,000 millimeter lens. is this the largest lens on a game boy camera ever? Jupiter wasn’t Graue’s first subject, however.
He initially tried to snap some images of the moon, but quickly learned Earth’s satellite was simply too close for the ultra-powerful observatory telescope. “What I see is cool but it’s not identifiably the moon,” he said in his social media post. At an average distance of 444 million miles from Earth, Jupiter proved a much more appropriate target for this test.
The Game Boy Camera photographs aren’t exactly discernible without the proper context, but Graue did manage to take some pictures highlighting Jupiter’s cloud stripes, as well as a view of the gas giant’s edge. Regardless of clarity, it was certainly a successful experiment. “The answer is yes–if you are committed enough, you, too, can take a picture of Jupiter with your Game Boy Camera,” Graue declared.
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