Sunday (05.04.09) marked the end of MoonWatch week, which for me has been a fun event to celebrate even if the weather has not always cooperated. On this occasion the promising blue evening sky had given way to the fog like veil of cirrostratus cloud later that night, which I would have cursed at any other time if it weren’t for the hazy lunar corona that it was helping to create.
With Regulus in Leo sitting just above the Moon I decided to use the Bresser 10×50s mounted on the tripod to make a wide field observation. Trying to identify the number of lunar objects that I could see at this magnification was also quite fun. Near the southern terminator I could partially discern the Mare Nubium while to the north I could easily make out the giant ray crater Copernicus and the Mare Imbrium. The vast bay of the Sinus Iridium and the dark, lava filled crater Plato were also clearly visible in and around this area.
Looking eastwards I had no problem observing the dark stains of the brightly lit Maria — this included the Mare: Serenitatis, Vaporum, Tranquillitatis, Crisium & Foecunditatis — while the bright rays of Langrenus and the outlines of Petavius as well as Furnerius were all visible. I also managed to catch (with some added scrutiny) the smaller ray craters Manilius, Menelaus and Proclus, all of which looked like minute pin-pricks of light against the lunar surface.
By the time I had finished making a preliminary sketch the cloud cover had grown just that little bit thicker. It looked more and more likely that a blanket of stratus would begin to roll in from the west quite soon so I was happy to have made the observation when I did. All in all I have to say that this short lunar jaunt was the perfect way to end the first MoonWatch week. The second MoonWatch week won’t take place until late October, just after Jupiter SkyWatch week — both of which I’m really looking forward to. In between then and now I’m hoping to complete the Binocular Messier Club list and make some headway with the Lunar 100, which is more than enough to keep this amateur astronomer busy for some time.
[Post edited: 07.04.09]
Tags: Bresser 10x50, Copernicus, Langrenus, Leo, Lunar Corona, Manilius, Mare Crisium, Mare Foecunditatis, Mare Nubium, Mare Serenitatis, Mare Tranquillitatis, Mare Vaporum, Menelaus, Moon, MoonWatch, Petavius, Plato, Proclus, Regulus, Sinus Iridium
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With the Moon due to occult the Pleiades star cluster, Wednesday evening promised a celestial show like no other. Unfortunately for me the weather had other plans and for most of the day the sky was dominated by a blanket of altostratus cloud that later thinned out somewhat and allowed me a fleeting glimpse of the hazy Moon. It was through these ethereal, episodic breaks in the cloud that I managed the shot above.
Not the most impressive of pictures I have to admit, it’s a 4 second exposure that was shot at 70mm using an f/stop of 8 with an ISO of 100. There’s even a vague hint of a lunar corona in there, but it’s not going win a prize anytime soon. The weather showed no signs of abating and eventually the Moon was completely lost under a relentless carpet of cloud, bringing my very brief session to a close.
Tags: DSLR, Lunar Corona, M45, Moon, The Pleiades, Weather
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As the last rays of the setting sun disappeared behind the horizon on Saturday evening, I really thought I was on to a winner. The sky was absolutely spotless - the stars were were out and Jupiter could be seen blazing over in the south west. This was prime observing weather and make no mistake. So imagine how disappointed I was when I gazed out of the window two hours later to find a thin blanket of cirrostratus coating the sky.
However, my disappointment soon evaporated as I saw the waning moon rising over in the east looking all diffuse and atmospheric. This was just too tempting a target and I broke out the tripod and the a200.
The picture above was intentionally blown to capture the lunar corona and was the best of four exposures that was taken at 26mm using an ISO of 100 with an f/stop of 4.5 and a shutter speed of 10 seconds. The image was then processed in Photoshop where I adjusted the black and white points and altered the colour balance. I also applied a layer mask and applied a circular gradient set to colour dodge to bring out a little more detail in the corona.
Having taken all the corona shots that I was going to take I packed up and headed indoors to process the RAW images and console myself with a can or two of Guinness. Little did I realize what I was going to observe in the wee small hours of Sunday morning.
Glancing from the side window at about half past midnight I saw something that I have been desperate to see for a long time. A prominent lunar corona - at first I mistook it for a lunar halo, but this didn’t stop me grabbing my gear and heading out to capture a few shots.
The shot above was a 5 second exposure, again taken using 26mm at ISO 100 with an f/stop of 4.5 and the white balance set to daylight. I took 3 decent exposures but randomly chose the one above, which I might add, required very little processing in Photoshop. The white and black points were altered as was the colour balance, but otherwise the picture is presented here as is.
I was so glad that I looked out when I did, otherwise I would have missed this beautiful phenomenon. In fact I’d have traded a whole nights’ worth of observing just to see a lunar corona like this. A wonderful sight and one of the few times I was actually pleased that there was some cloud cover.
Tags: DSLR, Lunar Corona, Moon, Photoshop, Weather
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A huge vapid bank of cloud ambled over the sky early on Wednesday (15.10.08) morning and presented me with a chance to shoot the washed out lunar corona. Am I becoming obsessed? The first shot was taken at 70mm using an F/Stop of 8 with an ISO of 100. The second image is my favourite - It was shot at 18mm with an F/Stop of 5.6 again at ISO 100. The last shot like the first one was also taken using an F/Stop of 8 at 70mm and ISO 100. Using a lower ISO has definitely imparted a smooth quality to these shots which makes them all the nicer. I am going to stop taking pictures of the moon . . . I promise.
Tags: DSLR, Lunar Corona, Moon, Weather
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Following Saturday evening’s short lunar imaging endeavor I found that I had become quite absorbed with moon halos and coronas. The corona is caused when clouds drift in front of the moon. Water droplets in these clouds diffract the light which in turn creates a bright disc and faint coloured rings that surround the moon. Halos on the other hand are caused by cirro-stratus clouds high in the Earth’s atmosphere. Small ice crystals in these thin clouds bend the light at an angle of 22° which in turn creates a large ring around the moon.
Monday evening presented me with reasonable conditions to go out ‘corona hunting’. Normally I would be moaning about clouds and low sky transparency, but on this occasion I couldn’t get enough of it. After a fair amount of experimentation I took the shot above using an exposure of 15 seconds at 40mm with the white balance set to daylight and an F/Stop of 8. On reflection I probably should have stopped up another stop or two, however the picture still turned out quite nice and only needed some minor processing in Photoshop. All I need now are some nice thin cirro-stratus clouds to pass my way!
Tags: DSLR, Lunar Corona, Moon, Weather
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