The Official Shoot the Moon Thread

Tonight's moon

After a complete failure shooting the lunar eclipse (yes, still bitter), it was nice to finally have a comfortable, clear evening for a little redemption. I found myself trusting the back LCD for focus because of the frigid weather during the eclipse. I couldn't move my fingers enough to zoom in, so I just went with what I was seeing. And at the size of a nickel on the LCD screen - everything looked great! Then I opened the images in Lightroom. Ouch. It's going to be a long wait for May 15, 2022 to try again.

rh18 wrote in post #18827933
After a complete failure shooting the lunar eclipse (yes, still bitter), it was nice to finally have a comfortable, clear evening for a little redemption.

Failure leads to experience.

Ballen Photo wrote in post #18828133
Failure leads to experience.

No doubt! I won't repeat that mistake. Next time I'll stay inside where it's warm and enjoy everyone else's images the next day.

rh18 wrote in post #18828216
No doubt! I won't repeat that mistake. Next time I'll stay inside where it's warm and enjoy everyone else's images the next day.

LOL! No, get out and keep making mistakes. They're good for you.

Last nights 36.2 % Waxing moon. 2019-03-12

best viewed at full 1600px

Was a quick run out on a break at work - I SO wish I had more time to try some composite shots. Hoping for another window tonight!

Cheers all

Mike

Heya,

March 13th 2019 means it's time for the monthly Lunar V & X features. I happened to be both home and with a fairly clear sky to work with as I've missed the past few.

For the full disc, I imaged with an 80mm F5 refractor at F10 (via a 2x barlow) and a Baader Green Filter (500nm wavelength) to increase angular resolution as the seeing supported this. I stacked 1,000 frames to produce the single image.

For the high resolution surface panels, I imaged with a 200mm (8") F10 C8 Edge HD SCT operating at F20 (via a 2x barlow) and a Astronomik 742nm IR filter, which lowers angular resolution, but calms the seeing significantly. Each panel is 1,000 frames stacked. The terminator image is a mosaic of 4 such panels, 4,000 images total stacked.

Full resolution of the disc available on my Astrobin, here: https://astrob.in/full​/395554/0/

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/RpUa​Bi

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/RpUa​9V

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/RpUa​e4

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/RpU9​Vt

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/RpUa​uK

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/RpUa​mD

Please see the full resolution image on my Astrobin here:https://astrob.in/full​/395555/0/

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/RpU9​Hp

Tremendous work as always Martin! A pleasure to examine in detail.

Here is my effort... through misty clouds and 87 percent humidity I am pleasantly surprised how well it came out.

Stack of best 140 of 238 frames.

WestCoastCannuck wrote in post #18828566
Here is my effort... through misty clouds and 87 percent humidity I am pleasantly surprised how well it came out.

Stack of best 140 of 238 frames.

You got the V & X!

Very best,

MalVeauX wrote in post #18828800
You got the V & X!

Can you explain the V & X? I googled it and still not sure I can make it out. I think I might see the X from my March 13 shot in the bottom left area just above two deep medium size craters?

Also, your images of the sun and moon are fantastic and fascinating.

March 13

rh18 wrote in post #18828958
Can you explain the V & X? I googled it and still not sure I can make it out. I think I might see the X from my March 13 shot in the bottom left area just above two deep medium size craters?

Heya,

I see them in your photo, you got them!

Sure, I'll highlight them with two photos.

Basically at a specific lunar phase, the angle of light over a few crater formations highlight the rim of these craters and features and the highlights form pretty stark letters that we're familiar with that resemble V & X. There are others too, but these two are the most profound and easy to see without too much imagination.

Here's some dates & times for this year:

Date UT Time Sun Alt at "X" location Co-Long

01/13/2019 1235UT -.987 @ X 358.07

02/12/2019 0213UT -1.031 @ X 357.64

03/13/2019 1526UT -1.072 @ X 357.31

04/12/2019 0410UT -1.086 @ X 357.19

05/11/2019 1625UT -1.072 @ X 357.29

06/10/2019 0417UT -1.039 @ X 357.59

07/09/2019 1558UT -0.994 @ X 357.99

08/08/2019 0343UT -0.949 @ X 358.40

09/06/2019 1547UT -0.907 @ X 358.71

10/06/2019 0417UT -0.897 @ X 358.83

11/04/2019 1718UT -0.907 @ X 358.72

12/04/2019 0644UT -0.948 @ X 358.40

MalVeauX wrote in post #18829059
Sure, I'll highlight them with two photos.

Basically at a specific lunar phase, the angle of light over a few crater formations highlight the rim of these craters and features and the highlights form pretty stark letters that we're familiar with that resemble V & X. There are others too, but these two are the most profound and easy to see without too much imagination.

Ah yes, I see them now! Thanks for highlighting them like that - it made it very easy to find.

MalVeauX wrote in post #18829059
Heya,

I see them in your photo, you got them!

Sure, I'll highlight them with two photos.

Basically at a specific lunar phase, the angle of light over a few crater formations highlight the rim of these craters and features and the highlights form pretty stark letters that we're familiar with that resemble V & X. There are others too, but these two are the most profound and easy to see without too much imagination.

Dang! I just learned something, thanks.

Best piece from last night. My usual DSLR gear, this time my 400/4.5 + 3X and 1.4X converters (1680mm) And my usual crop body, Sony A77ii.

This scaled about 75%

WestCoastCannuck wrote in post #18830544
Best piece from last night. My usual DSLR gear, this time my 400/4.5 + 3X and 1.4X converters (1680mm) And my usual crop body, Sony A77ii.

This scaled about 75%

WCC,

Very nice job yet again!!