Man in the Moon

Through my telescope... I am surprised the Moon is this difficult to

shoot.

A fine effort regardless...

You've got a telescope, so no doubt you'll appreciate that apart from atmospheric conditions, altitude of the object, polar alignment and rotation of the Earth, you also have to account for the orbital motion of the Moon.

I never get tired of our nearest neighbour in space.

A fine effort regardless? This is more than a fine effort. This is success! I didn't know the moon would be difficult to shoot either, until I tried. I don't have a telescope and mine is not nearly as detailed and impressive. I think yours beautiful. Thank you for sharing Marc

Marc stated that he was surprised by how difficult it is to shoot the Moon.

Regardless of that sentiment, I think that this is a fine effort = a successful effort.

I went on to list a couple of factors that contribute to this degree of difficulty. At these focal lengths, shutter speed (and mirror lock-up) become very important aspects of getting a successful outcome.

Marc's image was taken a a relatively low magnification. Go any higher and the degree of difficulty multiplies...

I agree.I also had no idea photos like this would be so technical challenging.One tip,get Registax(freeware) take multiple exposures and stack them together.It chooses the best ones merging them into one image.You need to get hold of those exposures were atmospheric conditions give those brief good views.Remember your mirror lock-up at higher mags,to reduce the vibrations introduced by the mirror motion, which may affect sharpness at slow shutter speeds..Anyway, i think this is a pretty good catch for a prime focus image.Nice!

 

Regards.

The Moon is digitally rotated. This is about 180c rotation. Neverthe less this is a good picture.

 

I also attach my picture shot handheld Canon EOS 40D, EF 70-200 J f/4. Spot metering, -1 underxposed.

I see your concern David.But remember the camera was attached to a telescope not a lens.

Depending on the equipment and configuration used,it could be mirror viewed like this,or also upside down.Confusing i know...But remember there are no up and down/east/west in space anyway,so it don`t really matter to much.I guess the reasons for this is simply that you need more "glass" to get the picture viewed right.In astronomy,you want to get maximum light in.More glass=less light.And also an extra cost in production.

 

Sometimes i choose to invert and rotate my images to "earth view" just to make it a bit easier later on.You have a sharp eye though..BTW nice photo.Lot`s of detail even with only 200mm.Well done.

 

 

Cheers.

I appreciate the feedback. I did use the mirror lock feature. I am sure that helped. I am in the middle of Houston and it was humid so. Thanks for all the input! It is very helpful for a beginner.

 

About the manipulation... I flipped it horizontally and vertically because the captured image was not what you see when you view the moon (the telescope mirrors invert everything in a reflector). At least that is what I thought. If that is considered manipulation then I should not have checked that box. I will go re-read that requirement.

 

And take another look at the Moon....

 

Exposure: 1/125

 

ISO: 100