The RISION Magic brings detailed thermal imaging to your smartphone in a compact, affordable package, although its software still needs some refinement.

As a product tester, one of the biggest things I run into is people asking about how hot a device gets with standard use. Typically, I will use infrared thermometers to get temperature readings but I would much rather use a thermal imager so that the device can actually be seen and users can visualize where hot spots are. Some thermal imagers are too large to use conveniently, which is why I was excited about the RISION Magic being released.

About the RISION Magic

The RISION Magic is a compact USB-C thermal camera designed to turn a compatible smartphone, tablet, or Windows PC into a portable thermal imaging tool. At just 24 grams and without its own battery, the Magic draws power from the connected device, making it easy to carry and use without another device to charge. RISION offers support for iOS, Android, and Windows, along with free mobile and desktop versions of its RISION View app.

The Magic uses a native 160 × 120 thermal sensor and RISION’s QuadIR™ technology to produce a 320 × 240 super-resolved image. It also uses AI BiSpectrix™ to combine thermal and visible-light imagery in real time, helping users connect temperature differences with the physical objects or areas responsible for them.

RISION designed the Magic primarily for everyday troubleshooting and home maintenance. It can be used to look for energy loss around doors and windows, identify HVAC issues, find potential moisture problems, and spot overheating electrical connections without having to touch hot surfaces or exposed wiring. The RISION View app also provides temperature measurements, real-time waveform monitoring, customizable temperature thresholds, multiple measurement zones, thermal image and video capture, and automated PDF reporting.

Features & Specs

• Thermal resolution: 160 × 120 native
• Super resolution: 320 × 240 with QuadIR™ processing
• Thermal sensitivity: ≤40 mK NETD
• Refresh rate: 25 Hz
• Temperature range: -4°F to 1,112°F (-20°C to 600°C)
• Temperature accuracy: ±2% / ±2°C
• Thermal/visible fusion: AI BiSpectrix™ dual-light fusion
• Connection: USB-C
• Power: Draws power directly from the connected device
• Power consumption: 0.32W
• Battery: No built-in battery
• Continuous use: Approximately 5–8 hours, depending on the connected device
• Compatibility: iOS, Android, and Windows PCs
• App: RISION View mobile and desktop applications
• Color palettes: 12, with adjustable text color and size
• Temperature monitoring: Up to five points, five lines, and five areas simultaneously
• Analysis: Real-time temperature waveform monitoring and customizable temperature thresholds
• Image capture: Thermal photographs with temperature data
• Video: Thermal video recording with temperature data
• Reporting: Automated PDF reports
• Documentation: Custom watermarks and GPS location information
• Cloud: Cloud synchronization and multi-device access
• Housing: Aerospace-grade alloy
• Weight: 24 grams
• Warranty: 24 months
• Return period: 30 days

Pricing & Availability

The RISION Magic has an MSRP of $139, although RISION is currently offering it for $119 through its website. The camera includes free shipping, a 24-month warranty, and a 30-day return period. It can be ordered through rision.com and Amazon.

User Experience

I tested the RISION Magic with my iPhone 16 Pro, and getting started was very easy. After downloading the RISION View app, I plugged the Magic into the phone’s USB-C port, and the app recognized it immediately. I was able to start taking thermal measurements very quickly.

The camera itself is a good size for carrying around. It is compact without being so small that I feel like I am going to lose it. The included carrying case works well for protecting the camera, although I think it could be smaller to better match the compact size of the Magic.

The RISION View app is generally easy to use, but I did run into some software issues during testing. A few settings also weren’t located where I expected them to be. For example, I had to go into my Profile to change the temperature unit from Celsius to Fahrenheit rather than finding that option under Settings. More importantly, the app locked up a few times. If my phone went to sleep while the camera was connected, I sometimes had to disconnect and reconnect the Magic before the app would work again.

The thermal images were the highlight of my testing. They looked very good, with enough detail that it was easy to identify the objects I was looking at. I used the Magic to check a variety of things around the house, including my coffee before and after adding fresh coffee, an air conditioning vent, my keyboard, and our dog. It was interesting to see the differences in temperature across these everyday objects.

I also compared the Magic’s temperature readings with a handheld infrared thermometer. The readings were reasonably close, although the infrared thermometer consistently measured approximately 4 degrees higher. For the type of general-purpose troubleshooting the Magic is designed for, I found the readings accurate enough to be useful.

I did run into another software issue when I tried the reporting feature. Creating a report requires signing up for a RISION account, but I couldn’t complete the registration. After entering the requested information and verification code, the Sign Up button remained disabled. That meant I wasn’t able to test the PDF reporting feature.

Overall, my experience with the Magic was a little mixed. The hardware is compact, easy to use, and produces surprisingly detailed thermal images, but the software still feels like it needs some refinement. I encountered several issues during testing, although none prevented me from using the camera after reconnecting it. Based on the image quality alone, I would recommend the RISION Magic at its $119 price, particularly for homeowners and DIY users who want an easy way to add thermal imaging to a smartphone.

Conclusion

The RISION Magic is an interesting addition to my testing setup because it gives me something an infrared thermometer can’t: a visual representation of where heat is coming from. Being able to see hot spots across a device or identify temperature differences around the house makes thermal imaging much more useful than simply getting a single temperature reading.

The hardware does what I want it to do, and the thermal images are detailed enough to make the camera genuinely useful. If RISION can address some of the software bugs, the Magic would be an even stronger recommendation. For now, I think it is a good option for anyone looking to add thermal imaging to their smartphone without spending a lot of money.

For more information, visit rision.com

Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max pair the faster A20 Pro chip with a variable-aperture Fusion Main camera, a smaller, more capable Dynamic Island, longer battery life, and higher prices, while otherwise changing surprisingly little from last year.

Apple’s 'Surprise and Shine' event sparks a lively debate over the new iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro lineup. The panel weighs the Duo’s foldable design, large display, durability, price, and potential to replace an iPad against the Pro Max’s camera improvements. From immediate buying decisions to first-generation caution, everyone has a different take on Apple’s latest hardware.

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There's now a direct rival to the Osmo Pocket 4 you can easily buy in the US.

Astrophotographer Kevin Boardman captured this spectacular view of the Crescent Nebula, revealing intricate filaments of gas surrounding a massive star nearing the end of its life some 4,700 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

Boardman's image represents a turbulent chapter in the life of the colossal Wolf-Rayet star WR 136 (HD 192163), which, visible as a blue point of light at the center of the image, is expected to end its life in a dramatic supernova explosion in about 100,000 years.

The 25-light-year-wide bubble is formed from stellar material cast off by WR 136 during its transformation into a red giant star, according to NASA. Repeated impacts by fast-moving stellar winds later send shockwaves through the outer shell, creating the complex filaments we see today.

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Catalogued as NGC 6888, or Caldwell 27, the Crescent Nebula, gets its nickname from its crescent-moon like appearance when observed in certain wavelengths of light. Boardman revealed spectacular detail in the nebula by imaging it with a set of narrowband filters over 16 hours and 18 minutes spread across five nights in late July.

"In the image, orange-red H-alpha reveals the tangled filaments while blue-cyan [O III] outlines emission from doubly ionized oxygen around the shell," Boardman told Space.com in an email. Each filter isolates specific wavelengths of light emitted by ionized gases, allowing different structures within the nebula to stand out.

Boardman collected roughly 12 hours of narrowband data from the nebula itself, along with four hours and 20 minutes of data capturing the surrounding stars, before combining exposures using the astronomy software PixInsight during post-processing.

The Crescent Nebula is too faint to be spotted with the naked eye, but can be seen with a moderate-to-large telescope equipped with a light pollution filter throughout September.

First, locate the magnitude +2.34 star Sadr at the center of the cross-shaped constellation Cygnus, which appears high overhead for Northern Hemisphere observers in late summer.

Next, locate the dimmer magnitude +4.03 star Eta Cygni using the simplified star chart above, or with the aid of a smartphone astronomy app. The Crescent Nebula lies directly between these two bright stars and is best seen on the dark nights surrounding this month's new moon phase on Sept. 10-11.

Be sure to check out our roundups of the best cameras and lenses for astrophotography if you're looking to upgrade your equipment, along with our picks of the top telescopes for observing the night sky.

Editor's Note: If you would like to share your astrophotography with Space.com's readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.

In Ecuador’s Valley of Longevity, three women exchange traditions, knowledge, and nourishment through the gardens they cultivate.

This MacVoices Briefing compares the Insta360 Snap Selfie Screen with Light and SmallRig Phone Vlog Selfie Monitor, two solutions for framing shots while using an iPhone’s best camera. Factors in choosing include MagSafe mounting, wired versus Wi-Fi connections, screen size, touch controls, lighting, battery life, compatibility, portability, pricing, and flexibility. Chuck talks about how to determine help which monitor is best for your different shooting needs, and  how he solved the choice question. 

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While we have months to wait for the first images from the freshly-launched Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s other incredible observatories do not disappoint. The agency released a new collection of 16 galactic images taken with the Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes. 

Galaxies are separated into three main categories—spirals, ellipticals, and irregulars. Spirals are like our own Milky Way and appear to spin around a central focus. Ellipticals are older galaxies and likely the results of mergers. Irregulars that can encompass a wide range of galactic phenomena. 

Spirals, ellipticals, and irregulars are all represented in this new collection. Each image hasX-ray data from Chandra, combined with data from other telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Hubble, IXPE, Swift, and NuSTAR, and others both in space and on the ground. Gaze into the galaxies in the gallery below. (Click to expand images to full screen.)

NGC 16-72

II Zw 096

M33

NGC 4258

NGC 1569

M90

Centaurus A

M104

Arp 143

NGC 4725

NGC 1385

NGC 660

M82

NGC 3256

NGC 3938

NGC 4631

The post 16 glistening galaxies shine in new images form NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory appeared first on Popular Science.

It’s a bird’s world, and we’re just living in it. Today, the National Audubon Society officially announced the winners of the 2026 Audubon Photography Awards. The contest is now in its 17th year and celebrates stunning photos (and even a few videos) that showcase the beauty of birds and the challenges they face. For the second year, the judges awarded prizes to residents of Chile and Colombia, as well as the United States and Canada, highlighting how avians connect us across geographies and ecosystems. 

This year’s Grand Prize winners each received $5,000 and a voyage to Antarctica with HX Expeditions—an expedition cruise company and Audubon’s exclusive cruise partner.

Take a peek at the winners in the gallery below. (Click to expand images to full screen.)

Prizes for United States and Canada Residents

Grand Prize: Jacqueline Burke, roseate spoonbill

Youth Prize: Ian Shultz, rock pigeon

Video Prize: Piper VanOrd, great blue heron

A great blue heron (Ardea herodias) at Allegheny Islands Wilderness, National Wild & Scenic Allegheny River, in Warren, Pennsylvania. Credit: Piper VanOrd.

Female Bird Prize: Gail Bisson, common merganser

Plants for Birds Prize: Mike Henry, Gila woodpecker and saguaro cactus

Birds Without Borders Prize: Nick Parayko, Tennessee warbler

Birds in Landscapes Prize: Liron Gertsman, white-tailed tropicbird

Conservation Prize: Josh Galicki, northern gannets

Prizes for Chile and Colombia Residents

Grand Prize: Francisco Castro Escobar, lesser horned owl

Youth Prize: Juan David Camacho Márquez, Canada warbler

Video Prize: Nicolás Muñoz García, black-browed albatross

A black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) is on Isla Chañaral Marine Reserve, Huasco Province, Chile. The nearest town is Caleta Chañaral de Aceituno. Credit: Nicolás Muñoz García.

Birds Without Borders Prize: Rodrigo González Pairoa, black-browed albatross

Conservation Prize: Santiago Pérez Rincón, yellow-eared parrot

Plants for Birds Prize, Colombia: Santiago Giraldo, yellow-eared parrot and Quindio wax palm

Birds in Landscapes Prize, Colombia: Faber Mosquera Álvarez, oilbird

Birds in Landscapes Prize, Chile: Timothy Dhalleine, crested caracara

Coastal Birds Prize, Chile: Gonzalo Bertolotto Quintana, gentoo penguin

The winners and honorable mentions are published online in Audubon magazine, and winners will be in the Fall 2026 print issue. The annual Top 100 photos will also be announced on September 23, 2026, and additional selections will be featured in digital galleries on Audubon’s website.  

The 2027 Audubon Photography Awards will open for entries on January 13, 2027. 

The post Tweet! Here are the winners of the 2026 Audubon Photography Awards appeared first on Popular Science.

In the CYME booth at NAB in Las Vegas, Matthieu Kopp, Chief Technology Officer, previews the next Peakto release, highlighting support for much larger media libraries, expanded collaboration, guest sharing, and secure on-premise access without cloud uploads. He also discusses other features such as new culling tools, improved ingest control, subclips for video workflows, and […]

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At NAB 2026, Russell Pompea, Account Executive from Topaz Labs, discusses major advances in Topaz Video, including Starlight Precise 2.5 for restoring low-quality footage, SDR-to-HDR conversion, and Apple Silicon optimization. The conversation also covers Topaz’s photography tools, model customization, subscription pricing, local vs. cloud processing, and shared responsibility for cloud security. 

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Life in space is hard. Most orbiting observatories retire well before their 20th birthday. Yet the Hubble Space Telescope has survived and continues to thrive well into its 30s. Astronomers celebrated the observatory’s 36th birthday in April by releasing a new image of the Trifid Nebula (M20). This stellar nursery lies about 5,000 light-years fromContinue reading "Hubble captures a corner of M20"

The post Hubble captures a corner of M20 appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

A new Google Earth tool allowed the creation of A.I. deepfake maps. The tech giant quickly pulled it back after a backlash and concerns about disinformation risks.

Astrophotography tends to blur the boundary between science and art. The incredible images from Hubble and JWST, for example, captivate us as much for their aesthetic beauty as for their data. Recently, a photography student blurred those lines even further, taking the concept of capturing the cosmos quite literally by creating images from film’s interactionContinue reading "How one student captured the universe without light"

The post How one student captured the universe without light appeared first on Astronomy Magazine.

Two dormant volcanoes in the Andes are shown “connected” by the glowing ribbon of a distant cosmic feature stretching across the sky between them, in a rare cosmic alignment echoing ancient legends about these neighboring peaks—and all of it was captured in one of the most breathtaking astronomy images in recent memory.

The photo (seen below) was captured by astrophotographer Gonzalo Laserna Vargas and showcased by the American space agency this week. In it, we see Parinacota and Pomerape, a pair of ancient stratovolcanoes that form an unmistakable part of the landscape along the border between Bolivia and Chile.

In local folklore, these two prominences represent a prince and princess whose forbidden romance forever linked them in myth. Although no geological evidence exists for any physical links between them, astronomy recently helped fulfil that mythic connection in an unprecedented night sky display. The unique conditions that made this image possible, as well as the planning and preparation that went into it, were described by Vargas in a recent post on his Instagram account.

Barnard’s Loop Rising

In the new imagery, recently featured as NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day, Barnard’s Loop—a vast arc of glowing hydrogen gas surrounding part of the constellation Orion—is showcased in a long-exposure photograph as it appears behind the two volcanoes.

The image was captured coinciding with the appearance of the nebula directly behind the volcanoes, and from an angle that causes the visible portion of the celestial object to appear as though it is rising from the mouths of the ancient volcanic peaks, uniting them through what resembles a colorful, luminous aerial display.

Despite the awe-inspiring appearance of the imagery, as part of the larger Orion Molecular Cloud, Barnard’s Loop remains at a distance of around 440 parsecs from these dormant volcanic peaks—in other words, close to 1,400 light-years away.

a Cosmic Convergence

Capturing a cosmic convergence at this scale required careful planning by Vargas, who took a sequence of exposures from the same location in Bolivia in mid-April, at a time when the nebula appeared perfectly in between the two mountain summits.

One thing that helped with this is the fact that Barnard’s Loop is one of the largest emission nebulae visible from Earth. Although it is far too faint to be seen easily with the naked eye, the nebula’s vibrant pink and orange colors appear in long-exposure photography, revealing its eerie halo fueled by the presence of hydrogen gas.

Along with Barnard’s Loop, several of the night sky’s most recognizable objects also make an appearance in Vargas’s photo. Near the center of the image is the Orion Nebula, which happens to be one of the nearest stellar nurseries to Earth. Such areas of the cosmos are places where new star formation occurs within vast clouds of cosmic dust and gas.

To the nebula’s right, Betelgeuse is also visible, the reddish supergiant which was recently confirmed to have a stellar companion after more than a century of speculation about what might cause unusual variances in its brightness.

Higher in the image, another striking feature—the Rosette Nebula—can also be seen, revealed as a massive cloud of glowing gas around a small group of young stars.

A Cosmic Neighborhood United in Imagery

Although each of these features is separated by hundreds or even thousands of light-years from Vargas’s imagery, they all appear in a singular frame, producing a dramatic cosmic backdrop for the ancient volcanic landscape they appear above.

Hence, for reasons that are easy to see, Vargas’s photo was named NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for July 28, 2026, revealing another artful view of the cosmos that relies on far more than just advanced equipment—it also showcases the necessity for astronomical knowledge, careful preparation, and, of course, impeccable timing.

The result in this case is a moment captured in time, where mythology, an ancient volcanic landscape, and the cosmos all converge within a single frame.

You can learn more about this image at NASA’s website, and follow Vargas and his cosmic photography on Instagram.

Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.

In Brazil, a community collective gives discarded trash a second life as parade costumes.

In my work, my absolute favorite days are the ones where I just get to take pictures. I’m testing a new camera or a new film stock, and so I’ve got nothing on the agenda other than heading to some locations that are beautiful or interesting (or, ideally, both) and capturing images of them. At the end of the day I’m normally tired, sweaty, have new blisters on my feet — and feel fantastic.

But those days are quite rare. Often I’m consumed with other things, the nitty-gritty of writing, work, life-admin and everything else. Trying to be more efficient, for money and time reasons, means that I tend to do my photography in big infrequent chunks — and some research I’ve seen is making me reconsider that approach.

The benefits of a regular photography habit for mental health are well-documented. British photo retailer MPB, in announcing its partnership with mental-health charity Mind, points to a study in the peer-reviewed journal Health which finds that taking a photo every day provides tangible benefits in terms of mental well-being.

British photographer, broadcaster and passionate nature advocate Chris Packham is a huge believer in the power of photography to effect a positive mental change. ‘Photography has always been a conscious way of addressing chronic or specific mental health issues in my life,’ he says.

‘When I'm peering down the lens, I'm so engrossed in the objective, so intensely involved with the technical and creative process, that the rest of the world vanishes. It's just me and the photo. The exterior anxieties are relegated to oblivion, and I get maximal relief.’

‘For me, photography is a key part of a portfolio of tried and tested therapies which consistently enhance positive mental health outcomes.’

And it’s not just taking photos! Even the simple act of viewing them can have a positive effect. MPB also cites a 2024 survey undertaken by Fujifilm, in which 80% of respondents reported that viewing old photos brought them feelings of happiness and calm, and helped to reduce anxiety.

Building a daily habit

I'm grateful to MPB and Mind for making me think more mindfully about how I engage with photography. It's also worth noting that the retailer is putting its money where its mouth is, and donating £1 to Mind for every item bought or sold on its marketplace this August, working towards its goal of £50,000 a year for the charity.

The campaign has got me thinking that I’m missing out on the mindful benefits of a daily (or near-daily) picture-taking habit. When I’m using my camera, I’m not looking at my phone. I’m not even thinking about the cursed thing; it’s normally in my backpack. I think this could be of much greater mental benefit if I were doing it regularly for shorter sessions.

Our cameras editor Tim Coleman tried screen-free photography for a week and found it made him feel more immersed and connected with his shooting. Even when using a digital camera, it felt like a digital detox — something that people frequently say they want more of!

So if you, like me, tend to plan your photo-taking around long days that you only get to enjoy every so often — it might be worth thinking about ways you can incorporate a more frequent habit, too.

Bringing the camera on a walk to the station to capture details of your local community. Building a twenty-minute walk into your lunch break to see what sights unfold around you. It won’t just benefit your photography, but could also have a real, positive, tangible impact on your mental well-being.