The moon tonight

masraum · 03-31-2017, 07:06 PM

If you've got binoculars or a telescope or spotting scope or even a camera with a good telephoto lens, and the sky is nice and clear where you are, the moon is really nice tonight. The terminator (demarcation between light and dark) location tonight on the moon is nicely showing on a heavily cratered area, so well into the dark area you can see bright spots which are basically the tops of mountains, and there's lots of dark craters near the light side of the terminator. You can of course, always see the terminator as long as the moon is not full, but sometimes, the view seems a bit better than others, usually when it's half full (quarter moon) or less.

The moon is, to me, one of the celestial objects that almost never photographs as well as you can see it if you've got some sort of telescope. The main reason is because cameras don't have the dynamic range to allow you to see the light and dark areas in as much detail.

But, here's a photo that somewhat demonstrates what I'm talking about (and is pretty close to the current phase of the moon, I think)

DanielDudley · 04-01-2017, 03:22 AM

More snow. More salt. Less moon.

flatbutt · 04-01-2017, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum

If you've got binoculars or a telescope or spotting scope or even a camera with a good telephoto lens, and the sky is nice and clear where you are, the moon is really nice tonight. The terminator (demarcation between light and dark) location tonight on the moon is nicely showing on a heavily cratered area, so well into the dark area you can see bright spots which are basically the tops of mountains, and there's lots of dark craters near the light side of the terminator. You can of course, always see the terminator as long as the moon is not full, but sometimes, the view seems a bit better than others, usually when it's half full (quarter moon) or less.

The moon is, to me, one of the celestial objects that almost never photographs as well as you can see it if you've got some sort of telescope. The main reason is because cameras don't have the dynamic range to allow you to see the light and dark areas in as much detail.

But, here's a photo that somewhat demonstrates what I'm talking about (and is pretty close to the current phase of the moon, I think)

+1. The waxing/waning crescents reveal a lot of detail. I have a 90mm Mak/Cass that is ideal for lunar views.

masraum · 04-01-2017, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatbutt

+1. The waxing/waning crescents reveal a lot of detail. I have a 90mm Mak/Cass that is ideal for lunar views.

Nice. When we moved from a house to an apt I sold off my 8" dobsonian which was amazing for viewing the moon. You felt like you were there at 300x. I now have a pair of 20x50 binoculars on a tripod that are really nice, but still not as good as a scope.

flatbutt · 04-01-2017, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masraum

Nice. When we moved from a house to an apt I sold off my 8" dobsonian which was amazing for viewing the moon. You felt like you were there at 300x. I now have a pair of 20x50 binoculars on a tripod that are really nice, but still not as good as a scope.

Ha! I had a 16" Dobs that was a real light bucket! But what a pain to set up and track with. Good binos do a very nice job. I imagine you have some nice dark skies within a short drive?

masraum · 04-01-2017, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Ha! I had a 16" Dobs that was a real light bucket! But what a pain to set up and track with. Good binos do a very nice job. I imagine you have some nice dark skies within a short drive?

Not really, at least, I wouldn't think so. To get to anything outside of white, red, orange or yellow on a light pollution map is probably going to be 2-3 hours. Houston and it's "suburbs" are 1.5-2 hours across, and then once you get someplace dark, you don't want to look in the direction of Houston. Pretty much all of my viewing has been done from home. I loved it when my mom lived in the middle of no where in the FL panhandle. That was pretty dark and enabled me to easily see things in an old cheap pair of binos that I couldn't see with my 8" in Houston.

16", very nice! I'm guessing it was a strut tube? That seems like just about the only reasonable way to manage something that big. I can only imagine the views through something like that.

One of these days, I hope to retire someplace in the country so I can observe whether it's with a scope, binos or naked eye.

flatbutt · 04-01-2017, 11:47 PM

Actually it was a solid tube. That was one heavy OTA. But the view was great when the seeing was good. I need to travel at least an hour to get a decent sky but I can get fairly good planetary views with the 102mm refractor. Great seeing is at least two hours for me too.