Saturday, May 19, 2007

Saturday night (moon) fever

I was outside moving the sprinkler around the veggie garden when I looked up and saw this:


I ran inside and grabbed my scope; there's nothing like those times when the moon and a planet--in this case Venus--appear to rise beside one another in the night sky.


These are the best photos I got, both digiscoping through the Mead Condor, now atop the new Slik 540Q-II tripod with microfluid head, and with the camera on zoom. I tried several camera modes while digiscoping--regular, night landscape, macro, and infinity. Sadly, I didn't get the focused view through the camera that I saw through the scope with my eye. The scope performed beautifully, but I think the camera might've had difficulty with the low light.


I did a little reading about the phenomenon of "earthshine," which occurs when you can see the entire moon in a shadowy blue along with the lit part. I absolutely love it when the moon looks like this, and I was thrilled to photograph it.

According to space.com, Leonardo da Vinci is the first person to have recognized this phenomenon. Beautiful. The view through the scope was incredible, too--I saw all the features on the bottom of the crescent moon.

6 comments:

Susan Gets Native said...

THAT is wicked as hell.
The shadow of the Earth looks so jagged...like we are all having a bad hair day!

dguzman said...

Isn't it cool? I love the moon.

nina at Nature Remains. said...

I love the moon, too.

Mary said...

Cool moon shots!

The Zen Birdfeeder said...

Thanks for the reminding me to point the digiscope really skyward! It's 8:45pm and I thought the camera was put away for the night. It was a good lesson in ATTENTION to one who is always encouraging others to pay attention. Thanks again.

dguzman said...

Thanks, Zen -- can't wait to check out your blog!