A box for working in night mode

Star chart apps are a great help when observing – as long as they do not send an SMS to your phone. If they do, then your dark adaptation quickly vanishes.

I use various apps on my smartphone before and during observing. Although they usually have a night mode, when changing apps or when you just want to write a message, the display shines brightly and the whole process of dark adaptation has to re-start. So I needed a solution that meant that I didn't have to live without my apps while observing.

An astronomy forum advised me to use red film on the screen. But since I also use my smartphone during the day for normal purposes, I did not want a solution where I found myself constantly sticking a film on and then tearing it off again later. I needed a more permanent solution - something like a box, but with a transparent lid. My brother-in-law is a professional carpenter, and together we created some sketches and agreed the correct measurements. The box should be as small as possible, so that I don't have still more bulky equipment to carry, but still large enough to be able to operate a smartphone or tablet inside without any problems.

The requirements were sent to the carpentry workshop, and out came a 41×31×16cm box with a 25cm wide slit in the side. This means that you can still operate a 10-inch tablet without difficulty. Originally, I had planned to stretch some dark fabric across the slit. But I quickly realised that, in practice, this wasn’t necessary as very little light escapes and this has no effect on my dark adaptation. The bottom line: €25 in material costs and a loyal companion for the last two years.

Author: André Fehr / License: Oculum Verlag GmbH