Astrophotography Moon Winner

Inspired by this stunning Astrophotography of the Year winner in the moon category, I thought I’d have a go and see what I could do.

moonWinnerSml

https://www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/astronomy-photographer-year/galleries/our-moon-2024

Unfortunately, my best effort last night didn’t even come close.

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The winning image is of a small section to the top right of my photo. Still, undeterred, there are a few things I could do to try and improve things.

  1. Better telescope, better camera, better lenses. These all cost money. In some cases, serious amounts of money.
  2. Move to a better climate. This is my favourite solution. There are people who can actually plan what and when they’re going to photograph. They have regular clear skies and low light pollution. In my case, it’s more a matter of waking up at midnight, sticking my head out of the window, and if it’s a clear sky, hurriedly getting dressed and dashing out into the back garden to see what I can capture before the clouds roll in again.
  3. Don’t photograph the full moon. The above photograph has very low contrast because it’s a full moon. The winning photograph was taken when the sun was casting beautiful shadows across the craters and mountains of Sinus Iridium.
  4. Try stacking photos. This was a single image. It might be worth taking a few dozen and try stacking the results. Might be worth a go.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Rev Roy Jenkins, Baptist Minister in Cardiff

Donald Trump’s clown car is filling up. He values loyalty above experience, capability or integrity. This is no different from many ordinary organisations.

Christians owe an absolute loyalty to the Invisible Magic Friend. Humans, and all their petty concerns with things like morality and law, come a distant second. I can’t see how this could cause any problems at all.

https://mega.nz/file/hu1VUQDA#TNEiveWFB96_sdy5rqXYkSG87rH8VVu7ZSvCTz0BPoo

Preposterously Reverend Lord Professor Bishop Baron Lord Richard Harries, Baron Pentregarth, Gresham Professor of Divinity, Baron, Bishop, Professor, Lord…

Coal and oil is a gift from the Invisible Magic Friend. But it’s a bad gift that we mustn’t use. The Invisible Magic Friend has given us other gifts, like life. That’s a good thing. The Invisible Magic Friend created the universe and saw that it was good. Except coal and oil. They’re bad.

https://mega.nz/file/AuF0AQaR#GfQxwTAkqqVCxuLjYC735_USXoJEbucPqjCtNY2PNWc

Moon 13th Nov

When the moon is almost full there’s little point in trying to photograph anything else. So here are some moon pics. In all cases, the brightness has been slightly reduced and the contrast slightly increased to try and bring out more features.

All Taken with a Panasonis Lumix GF7 at prime focus through a Sky-Watcher Heritage-150P Flextube Virtuoso GTi telescope from my back garden in Southend. Iso 800, 640th sec exposure.

Cropped and centered on Tycho crater (the location of the “monolith” in 2001).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tycho_(lunar_crater)

I couldn’t help contrasting this with a picture from 19 May, when the moon was a little less full. You get a much nicer view of Tycho, but what really comes out a lot better is Clavius crater to the south, with its multiple daughter craters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clavius_(crater)

Cropped and centered on Aristarchus, generally considered the brightest feature on the moon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristarchus_(crater)

Jasvir Singh, Chair of the City Sikhs Network, Co-chair of Faiths Forum 4 London

And in the Big News today from a Faith Perspective, Happy Nearly Birthday of Guru Nanak everybody!

Guru Nanak was born, traveled and talked. Wasn’t he brilliant. He particularly believed in hearing all points of view and engaging in open debate. Hearing what others have to say is so important.

As this is Thought for the Day, this is not open for discussion.

https://mega.nz/file/t3cXTapK#23ZiKspwulrBL_8ctE6Joxir-UBxeGDpRMTxXxbGAiY