Apparently in Apple’s iOS 26 upgrade there’s some new capabilities for a “Night Mode,” even on an older iPhone 13 like mine. I stumbled on it when I was out looking for non-existant aurora the other night.
There were a few clouds, but this isn’t bad at all for an older iPhone being held by hand. Jupiter’s the bright spot in the mid-upper left, with Orion in the upper right, and Sirius being the bright star in the mid-lower right.
The big change when you find and use “Night Mode” is apparently the 10 second exposure. In normal mode, the maximum exposure is 3 seconds.
This even works with the telephoto lens in use, as seen here by a closeup of Orion. You can even see a fair bit of the luminosity around the Orion Nebula, the “middle star” in the “sword.”
It’s not a razor-sharp image, but it’s not bad! As they say, the best camera is the one you have with you, so even with a telescope and some high-powered DSLRs in the house, being able to take these with the iPhone in your pocket is pretty cool.
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 