That's not a moon.....actually it is.

Around 238 thousand miles away, a lump of rock goes round our planet. The moon. This apparently grey, barren lump of dust and rock has for millennia been steeped in mystery and ancient traditions, and acted as a calendar for ancient farmers. It is responsible for our tides and was of course the centre of the space race between America and Russia to see who could first put a man on it's surface. We only ever see one side, with the fables "dark side of the moon" always pointing out to space. Oddly, it's not dark though - it's only dark to us.

Most people probably barely notice this satellite, the fifth largest satellite in our own solar system, and if they do won't take particular notice of it. But it's worthy of more of your attention.

Last night in a first for me, I attached my Canon 100D DSLR camera to my 8 inch Skywatcher Dobsonian telescope to try and take a photo of the moon. In order to do this I removed the lens from the camera and attached the camera to the 'scope via a special mounting ring. Once attached it was simply a case of lining up the 'scope to look at the moon through the camera viewfinder/screen rather than a dedicated telescope eyepiece.

Once I had the orbiting rock in my sights, it some careful focusing using the 'scope's controls, and I was ready to shoot. I used a remote shutter please cable to minimise the risk of any camera shake, and fired away. I took several shots at different shutter and ISO settings to see which setting gave me the best shot.

Once I'd taken 30 or so images it was back inside to the computer and my current preferred image post processing viewing and editing software Luminar 4 (other and cheaper [and more expesnive] programs are available). I was pretty impressed with some shots as a first ever effort at doing this, but the best photos still needed tweaking. For one thing, viewing an object through a telescope means the image isn't orientated correctly, so that needed to be changed. Secondly whilst the best of the bunch looked pretty ok, they benefited from some slight tweaking of shadows and contrast to make the features of the moon stand out more. The photo below is the one of the best of bunch after all tweaks have been applied. I'm pretty happy with that, and it's inspired me to try this again.

My first ever photo of the moon through a telescope 6-5-21

Tonight (should skies be clear) should be a special view as it will be a Full Moon. Depending on where you live this full moon is variously known as the Flower Moon, Corn Planting Moon, Milk Moon, the Vesak Festival Moon and Supermoon.

If you haven't got a telescope, then any half decent pair of binoculars will enable you to have a great look at the moon, and if you haven't got a pair of binoculars then just use your eyes.  A great lockdown activity for all the family!

Until tomorrow....

#isolationlife
#stayhomesavelives