This Teenager is Taking Marvelous Moon Photos Using His Phone

Vijay Suddala is only 18 years old, but he's already creating impressive imagery of the Moon. And perhaps the most remarkable thing is that, for the most part, he only uses his phone to do so. By pairing his Samsung Galaxy M21 with an Orion Skyscanner 100mm telescope and an adapter, he is able to come away with some stunning images of the Moon.

Suddala bought his telescope three years ago and started using it right away to photograph Earth's satellite. But it wasn't until he purchased a smartphone adapter, which aligns his phone's camera with the eyepiece, that everything fell into place. Inspired by astrophotography videos on YouTube, he worked to perfect his techniques and now takes incredible high-definition photographs of the Moon using his equipment and a few apps.

His process often entails taking multiple photos of the Moon and stitching them together using special software. In order to get the HD look that he's after, he'll also take an overexposed photo that he'll layer to get a nice glow. Sometimes, he will create composite images that include clouds and other celestial bodies for an even more out-of-this-world feel.

He hopes that his work will inspire others to try their hand at mobile astrophotography and to also see the artistry in creating these composites.

“I think pure astrophotography combined with the art of merging images can result in great composite images of the Moon,” he tells My Modern Met. “I think that purists hate this idea of merging images. But, I don't think there's anything wrong with merging different photos to produce beautiful images because it can only inspire more people to get involved in astrophotography and it doesn't ruin the prestige of astrophotography. People who are getting into astrophotography should try to do what they want to. Keep experimenting.”

Follow Suddala's smartphone astrophotography via Instagram, where he published regular updates.