Full "Blue" Moon (7/31/2015)
Nikon D810a, 1/60s, ISO set to .7EV under 200 (which I think is ISO 100 equivalent!), 10:26 p.m. I processed this one to bring out the yellow color due to it being low in the sky when shot. Nikon D810A camera, Takahashi TOA 130 telescope with 1.6x extender. Focal length was 1600mm, f12.3
I processed this picture to maximize the contrast between the dark & light areas. This uses the green color channel which was the sharpest. This helps show the meteor/asteroid impacts and ejecta. Sky and Telescope has a nice discussion of all that at this link.
Same details as above but 1/50s exposure. Nikon D810A camera, Takahashi TOA 130 telescope with 1.6x extender. Focal length was 1600mm, f12.3.
Image details: 7/24/15, This was actually a bit over half-a-moon; it was 9.11 days old, 59.78% waxing phase according to "TheSkyX". Mare Crisium is on the far right, Tranquility to the left, Serenity above left. Mare Fecunditatis below and a bit left of Crisium. Mare Imbrium is the half-a-sea on the top, and Nubium on the bottom-mid. This sized-down version doesn't really do justice to the detail captured. See close-up sections, below. Nikon D810A camera, Takahashi TOA 130 telescope with 1.6x extender. Focal length was 1600mm, f12.3, 1/60s at ISO 500. I used a remote shutter release, with the mirror-up and Electronic front-curtain features of the camera, though not sure they'd make much of a difference due to seeing. This imaging train oversamples, running at 0.64 arc seconds per pixel.
Click here to see the highly detailed, full camera resolution image
The near vertical black line is known as the Straight Wall and is a very cool feature of the moon age 7 to 9 days. Some details and labels of area features are just below. That's Clavius bottom left, the big crater with smaller craters within it's walls. You can clearly see the central peak inside Tycho and the shadow it casts. This image preserves the slight reddish-brown coloring when converting the raw image using the daylight color balance.
Labeled Features for Rupes Recta
110 km long, 240-300m high
Check out the shadow detail on Plato (mid-top). That's Eratosthenes, the crater on the bottom left. Montes Apenninus is the mountain range along the bottom. This was 1/60s at ISO 250, otherwise same detail as above for 7/24/15 picture. This image also preserves the reddish hues from the raw image conversion using the daylight color balance.
Checking out what the Nikon D810A can do with the moon. 1/50s, ISO 800, through the telescope with extender. The moon was about 3.5 days old, and 12% lit.
Looks like the above was ISO 800 with the Nikon D810A... Most likely via the TOA 130 & Reducer.
Click here to see the highly detailed, full camera resolution image of the July 24th Moon
Dick Locke's Astronomy Image Index
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