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Yes. A phone can record Mars and the Beehive Cluster (M44, or Praesepe) in the same wide-field frame, especially when the phone is fixed on a tripod and given a few seconds of exposure. Mars will normally be a bright colored point, not a resolved planetary disk. The practical choice is between a simple phone-only landscape of the sky and an optional afocal setup that places the phone behind binoculars or a telescope eyepiece. The latter enlarges Mars but can crop out much of the broad cluster.
What you can realistically photograph
The October 11, 2026 Mars–Beehive pairing is a good target for a phone because the two objects can share a relatively wide composition. A phone camera alone records the event as a star-field scene: Mars appears as the brightest point, often with a warm orange or reddish tint, while M44 appears as a loose patch of stars if the sky is dark enough and the exposure is long enough. Phone-only optics should not be expected to show Mars as a disk with surface markings.
M44 is an open star cluster also known as Praesepe or Messier 44. NASA describes it as about 1.5 degrees across and containing about 200 stars (2023). Those figures describe the cluster itself, not the number of stars your phone will capture. Because its angular size is large, a high-magnification view that looks impressive on Mars can remove the visual context that makes the pairing recognizable.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThe date comes from a general October 2026 sky guide, not a universal ephemeris for every location. Before you set up, use a local planetarium, astronomy-club chart, or reputable sky-chart app to confirm the time, altitude, and direction from your site. Twilight, trees and buildings, weather, and light pollution can determine whether M44 is visible at all.
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Choose a capture method
| Method | Best for | Field of view | Alignment and steadiness | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phone alone on a tripod | A simple record of the complete pairing | Widest; preserves surrounding sky | Easiest; the phone is fixed directly to the support | Mars remains a point and faint cluster stars compete with sky glow |
| Phone over binocular eyepiece | An enlarged view when you already own binoculars | Narrower; must still include a useful portion of M44 | Hand-holding is difficult; an adapter improves repeatability | Lens and eyepiece alignment can be fiddly, and the cluster may be cropped |
| Phone over telescope eyepiece | Closer afocal framing and a steadier view | Depends on telescope and eyepiece; high power can exclude M44 | Best with a compatible phone-to-eyepiece adapter | Compatibility, vignetting, and exposure balance become more demanding |
Do not buy optics solely for this event. A small tripod or firm improvised support is enough for the phone-only route. Binoculars or a telescope are optional tools for people who already have them, and a low-power, wide-field eyepiece is more useful for a joint Mars-and-M44 composition than a high-power planetary eyepiece.
Check the sky before opening the camera
Confirm the local event geometry
- Look up October 11, 2026 in a local sky chart and set the observing location accurately.
- Note when Mars and M44 rise, how high they become, and which direction to face. A general event date does not guarantee that the pair is above your horizon or clear of a building.
- Choose the darkest practical location with an unobstructed view. Move away from porch lights and direct street lighting, but keep personal safety and access in mind.
- Prefer a time when the sky is fully dark. If the pair is low in the sky, atmospheric haze can reduce the cluster’s contrast even when the forecast is clear.
Prepare the phone
- Charge the battery and clear storage; repeated long exposures and a bright screen consume power.
- Clean the active camera lens with a soft cloth. A fingerprint can create a large glow around Mars.
- Turn off flash. It does not illuminate astronomical objects and can reflect from nearby surfaces.
- Use the main camera’s native wide setting when possible. Avoid beginning with digital zoom because it crops the broad scene and magnifies every vibration.
- Disable automatic lens switching if your phone app allows it. A sudden change between cameras can alter framing and focus during a sequence.
Phone-only: a step-by-step wide-field capture
1. Make the support immovable
Mount the phone on a small tripod or clamp. A rock, block of wood, or another stable improvised stand can work when a tripod is unavailable; NASA’s smartphone-astronomy guidance specifically recommends a small tripod or an improvised stand. Make sure the phone cannot slide while the shutter is open. Point the support before you begin and avoid touching the setup once framing is established.
2. Compose for the whole cluster
Use the widest useful native camera view and leave some surrounding sky around Mars and M44. Include a recognizable horizon or distant silhouette only if it helps establish direction; do not let a bright foreground light enter the frame. Since M44 spans about 1.5 degrees, leave more room than you would for a close-up of a single star.
3. Trigger without touching the phone
Set a two- or ten-second timer, use a remote shutter, or trigger the camera from a watch or headset if your phone supports it. A timer gives the phone time to stop vibrating after you tap the screen. Take several frames rather than trusting one exposure.
4. Focus on a distant point of light
Tap a bright star or Mars on the preview and inspect the result at full size. If the app offers manual focus, move it toward infinity and refine it on a star. If it offers focus lock, lock focus after the star looks smallest and sharpest. Keep that focus setting for the sequence; repeated autofocus hunting can soften the cluster.
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5. Start with a short exposure test
If your camera app exposes shutter speed, begin with a few seconds. There is no universal phone setting: sensor size, computational photography, sky brightness, and atmospheric conditions differ. Review the test at full size, not only in the small preview.
- If stars become short lines, shorten the exposure or improve the support. The Earth’s rotation and phone movement both show up as trails.
- If Mars is a featureless white or yellow spot, shorten the exposure or lower the exposure compensation. Preserving its color usually means accepting fewer faint stars.
- If the cluster is missing while Mars looks controlled, increase exposure cautiously or move to a darker location. Raising exposure can also brighten the sky background.
6. Record a bracket of exposures
Capture a sequence that includes a shorter frame for Mars and a longer frame for M44. The two objects have different brightnesses, so one exposure may not show both optimally. Bracketing also protects you from a single frame ruined by a hand tremor, passing light, or a brief focus error.
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Zoom into several frames and check that stars remain points, Mars is not clipped into an uncolored blob, and the cluster sits where you intended. Keep the original files. A later crop can remove empty sky, but it cannot restore a star that was outside the frame.
Balancing Mars against faint cluster stars
Mars is much brighter than the individual stars in M44. Phone cameras often brighten a dark preview automatically, so the screen can make an underexposed cluster look better than the saved file. Use the histogram or highlight warning when your app provides one, and judge the saved image at full size.
| What you see in the test frame | Likely cause | Adjustment for the next frame |
|---|---|---|
| Mars is a large white patch; few stars are visible | Highlights are clipped or exposure is too long | Shorten shutter time or reduce exposure compensation; keep the phone fixed |
| Mars is visible but M44 is barely present | Sky is bright or exposure is too short | Try a somewhat longer exposure, move to darker ground, or use a wider aperture setting if the app provides one |
| Stars are streaks across the frame | Support movement or an exposure too long for the phone’s focal length | Shorten the exposure, use a firmer support, and rely on multiple frames |
| Everything is soft, including bright stars | Focus is wrong, lens is dirty, or the camera changed lenses | Clean the lens, refocus on a distant star, lock focus, and keep one camera active |
Do not treat an ISO number from another phone as a prescription. A prior BBC Sky at Night tutorial used ISO 400–1600 as an experimental range for a basic phone camera, but those values are not universal and the tutorial concerned an earlier event. Current phones may hide ISO behind computational modes or expose it differently.
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Using binoculars or a telescope (optional afocal capture)
An afocal setup places the phone camera behind an eyepiece; the phone does not replace the telescope’s optics. This route is worthwhile only if you already have suitable equipment and can keep the phone and eyepiece aligned.
Choose a wide enough optical view
Start with the lowest-power, widest-field eyepiece that gives a clear image. M44’s roughly 1.5-degree span means a narrow, high-power field can show Mars while cutting off most of the cluster. A useful joint composition may show only part of M44 through binoculars, so check the framing before you settle on a magnification.
Fit and align the phone
- Attach a universal phone-to-eyepiece adapter if its clamp range matches your phone and eyepiece. Check the phone’s dimensions, camera-lens position, eyepiece diameter, and return policy before buying.
- Remove a thick phone case if it prevents the clamp from centering the lens, but keep the phone secure.
- Center the active camera lens over the eyepiece. Phones with multiple cameras and a protruding camera bump may require lateral adjustment or a different adapter position.
- On the preview, look for a bright, even circular field. Black crescents, a small bright spot, or severe vignetting indicate that the lens is not centered or is too far from the eyepiece.
- Lock focus and exposure after the field is centered. Do not use digital zoom to compensate for poor mechanical alignment.
Capture short trials
Take several short exposures and inspect both the planet and the star field. Telescope vibration, mount settling, and the narrow field make a single frame unreliable. If Mars is saturated, shorten the exposure; if the outer cluster stars disappear, try a second, longer frame. The phone’s automatic processing may change between frames, so retain the originals for comparison.
What accessories help—and what they cannot do
- Phone tripod or clamp: the most broadly useful accessory for a phone-only attempt. It addresses shake without narrowing the field.
- Universal smartphone-to-eyepiece adapter: useful when you already own binoculars or a telescope. Compatibility depends on the phone body, camera placement, eyepiece diameter, and clamp range.
- Wide-field binoculars: helpful for observing the pairing and for an enlarged view, but the phone still needs careful alignment and the field may crop M44.
- Low-power telescope eyepiece: better suited to a joint composition than a high-power planetary eyepiece. Higher magnification does not automatically produce a better photograph.
None of these accessories is required. A steady, wide phone frame is often more faithful to the relationship between Mars and M44 than a magnified image that excludes most of the cluster.
Editing without inventing detail
Use modest adjustments after capture: lower highlights to recover Mars color when information remains in the file, raise shadows slightly to reveal the cluster, reduce color casts from nearby lights, and apply restrained sharpening. Crop only after deciding whether the full cluster context matters.
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Noise reduction can make a dark sky cleaner but can also erase faint stars. Stacking several aligned frames may improve signal-to-noise in an app that supports it; stacking cannot recover Mars surface detail that the phone’s optics never resolved. Keep an untouched original and export an edited copy so you can compare changes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Troubleshooting by symptom
“I can see Mars, but not the Beehive.”
Check sky brightness, twilight, and the phone’s framing first. M44’s stars are spread over a broad area and are easily lost against urban glow. Try a darker location, a slightly longer exposure, and the native wide camera rather than a cropped zoom view.
“The image has a bright halo around Mars.”
Clean the lens and shade it from nearby lamps without blocking the field. A long exposure can also exaggerate glare; take a shorter test while keeping the phone stationary.
“The camera keeps changing focus or lenses.”
Use a manual or pro mode if available, select one camera, and lock focus on a distant star. Avoid tapping different parts of the frame after focus is set.
“The telescope view is a black circle with a tiny bright image.”
The phone lens is not centered over the eyepiece, or the spacing is wrong. Reposition the adapter until the circular field is evenly illuminated, then refocus. Do not solve the problem with digital zoom.
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“Mars and the stars cannot both look right.”
That is a brightness-range limitation, not necessarily a failed setup. Keep the best short and long frames, or use a carefully aligned blend in which each layer is taken from your own sequence. Identify any composite processing if you share it, and do not claim that a blended result was captured in one exposure.
Do you need a telescope?
No. For the specific goal of photographing Mars together with M44, a phone on a steady support is the simplest route and preserves the widest context. A telescope becomes useful when your priority changes to a larger view of Mars or individual cluster stars. That change in priority normally narrows the field and can remove the very pairing you wanted to show.
Use binoculars or a telescope if you already own them, can mount or hold them steadily, and accept the alignment work. For a first attempt, make the phone-only wide-field frame before experimenting with an eyepiece.
A practical checklist for October 11, 2026
- Confirm the local time, direction, altitude, and visibility with a location-specific sky chart.
- Find a dark, unobstructed viewpoint and allow for weather and twilight.
- Charge the phone, clean the lens, disable flash, and free storage.
- Mount the phone firmly and select the native wide camera.
- Compose with enough sky for the approximately 1.5-degree M44 cluster.
- Set a timer or remote shutter.
- Focus on a distant star, lock focus, and take a short exposure test.
- Adjust exposure based on actual star trails, Mars highlights, and cluster visibility.
- Capture several frames, including at least one shorter and one longer trial.
- Review files at full size before leaving, then edit conservatively.
Sources and scope of the guidance
NASA’s Night Sky Network smartphone-astrophotography guidance (published November 15, 2024; updated October 2024) supports stabilization, focus locking, timer use, a few-second starting exposure, optional eyepiece adapters, and practicing before upgrading equipment. NASA’s 2023 smartphone-astrophotography guide provides the M44 identity, approximate 1.5-degree span, and approximately 200-star description. The October 2026 sky guide identifies October 11 as the Mars–Beehive pairing date and recommends binoculars or a telescope with a wide-field, low-power view, while noting that local observing details still require confirmation. A BBC Sky at Night tutorial from April 18, 2023 is useful as an example of experimental manual settings, not as a current event schedule or a universal recipe.
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