First Lunar Viewing

I meant to make this post the night I viewed but I got too cold and lazy after viewing it and attempting to photograph it that I didn't get around to it. I had posted these photos on my picasa web album and did a bit of sharpening to really bring out a little bit of detail. It was Monday night and the air was COLD! When I say cold it was around 0°F or possibly lower. I can't remember at the moment but I know I couldn't stand there longer than 10 minutes without losing feeling in my finger tips.

I took these photos of the Waxing Gibbous moon with my digital camera that has a manual function so I could adjust the F-stop to 5.0, Shutter speed to 1/125th, and ISO to 100. These seem to be the sweet spot for photographing the moon. I was unaware of these so after some fooling around with the camera settings and not getting it, I went inside to ask my girlfriend (who does photography, and damn well I might add) what the settings should be for the moon. Once she told me I set the camera, warmed up, went back outside, aimed my telescope at the moon, held the camera to my 32mm eyepiece, Crystal View Moon Filter, and No. 82A filter, and started taking snap shots. I took about 20 pictures, 4 came out really good. That's what you have to expect when taking photographs of just about anything though. Which is why I love digital cameras, because you don't end up with a roll of wasted film, which I would, endless amounts of wasted film.

I've been looking at the weather forecast for this weekend at accuweather.com because they provide an astronomy viewing forecast which will tell you how good of a view you should have for stargazing the night sky. This weekend into Tuesday so far is looking great. Although it's also looking pretty cold, around -15° and colder with the real feel temperatures. The cold wont stop me, I'll still go out, but I'll be shivering and chattering my teeth like some crazy obsessed astronomer who can't let one good night of viewing go by. Unfortunately other than the moon I wont be able to take any photographs to share because I lack a motor drive and a camera mount for my telescope. Someday hopefully I will be able to invest in these items.

Anyway, enjoy these photos, click the one above and the 3 below to see them larger.