File:BORN INFRARED.jpg

English: imaging, which allows to collect photons with an unprecedented efficiency. CCDs (Charge Coupled Devices) and their evolution are at the core of this revolution. Mobile phones share the same technology since the possibility of obtaining good quality images under poor illumination conditions relies on the utilization of similar sensors. What is not often known is that the mnobile phone sensors are able to detect light outside the visible spectrum, toward the infrared region. Therefore mobile phones can be considered an extremely useful educational tools for making easily visible the infrared radiation emitted by familiar devices such that the remote controls of TV equipements. This, in turns, allows to fully grasp the reason why astronomers use infrared telescopes for peering through the dusty regions of the sky that often hide astrophysical objects or phenomena.

English: This image has been obtained by catching the act of taking a snapshot with a mobile phone of an astronomical image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope infrared camera, projected on a screen. It summarizes both, the achievements of IR astronomy (among the majestic interstellar clouds at the center of the image it can be recognized the double ringed signature of Supernova 1987A) and the potential applications of mobile phones in science education.