A. Moon In General (3" telescope)		B. Young Moon and Earth Shine (various telescopes)
	C. Moon In Wide Field (Wide field photos without scope)		D. Moon In General (80mm refractor)
	E. Moon Details (3" telescope)		F. Moon Details (8" telescope)
	G. Lunar Eclipses

Moon In General (with 3" Newtonian telescope)

Moon is our nearest space neighbour. It is the only space body, which surface details are visible by naked eye. That's why it is very thankful object of amateur astrophotography. All the next photographs were done with small 3" Bushnell Newtonian and Philips Vesta Pro webcam.

Moon. 1.12.2000, 17:30 (16:30 UTC) Web camera at focus of 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell) telescope Moon is 5d 16h young	Moon. 25.2.2001, 18:19 (17:19 UTC) Web camera at focus of 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell) telescope Moon is 2d 9h young	Moon. 6.3.2001, 22:46 (21:46 UTC) Web camera at focus of 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell) telescope Moon is 11d 13h young

Moon. 30.3.2001, 19:30 (17:30 UTC) Web camera at focus of 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell) telescope Moon is 5d 16h young	Moon. 31.3.2001, 21:45 (19:45 UTC) Web camera at focus of 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell) telescope Moon is 6d 18h young	Moon. 1.4.2001, 20:57 (18:57 UTC) Web camera at focus of 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell) telescope Moon is 7d 18h young

Moon. 2.4.2001, 22:07 (20:07 UTC) Web camera at focus of 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell) telescope Moon is 8d 19h young	Moon. 3.4.2001, 23:12 (21:12 UTC) Web camera at focus of 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell) telescope Moon is 9d 21h young	Moon. 4.4.2001, 22:28 (20:28 UTC) Web camera at focus of 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell) telescope Moon is 9d 21h young

Moon. 2.4.2001, 22:15 (20:15 UTC) 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell). Some parts of picture are overexposed to show darker regions near the terminator.	Moon. 3.4.2001, 23:12 (21:12 UTC) 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell). Crater Clavius and surroundings.	Moon. 2.4. - 4.4. 2001 76mm (f=700mm) Newtonian (Bushnell). Sun rising in Crater Clavius.

Lunation

How many percent of Lunar disk can we see from the Earth during its period? 50%? No-no. Nearly 60%. Why? The orbit of Moon is tilt about 5° towards to ecliptic. So once the Moon is above the ecliptic, else it is below. That's why we look at the Moon from above or from bottom - and we can see more area at north and south region of Moon. The second reason is that the Moon is orbiting the Earth by the eliptical path and so it can reveal more from its east and western side. In the animation on the left, you can see part of Lunar period from 30.3.2001 to 4.4.2001. Moon is going toward to north part of its orbit, so it reveals its south region.

Finding a proper exposure level is not a simple process. Moon face is very contrasting - it contains parts with more brightness levels than a simple webcam allows to record. Furthermore computer graphics cards (24-bits) allow to display only 256 brightness levels, too. The picture shows 3 photos of the moon detail - normal exposure, over-exposed and the combination them. The problem of exposure is described here.

During observation strange effects appear sometimes. You can see my 1st April UFO photography ;-)
This is not a mounting, it is real transit of bat in front of Moon disk during my observation on April 1st, 2001.
Similar transit of bat was repeated on April 2nd, 2001. This is really proof of the life on the Moon ;-)
Short videoclip shows the view of the moon through my 3" Bushnell Newtonian on alt-azimutal mount. The movement of the Moon
is caused by Earth's rotation.

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Last Update: 27.10.2007