66% Moon on 22nd September

[David Smith]

I don't image much other than the Sun at the moment but with a Lunar eclipse coming up I thought I would have a go at the Moon. Found it surprisingly challenging to get an exposure I was vaguely happy with. When imaging the Sun it's generally a case of vary the exposure and away I go but this required a careful balance between exposure, gain and gamma to get the detail without over exposing large parts of the surface. My previous lunar images have all been done with either point and shoot cameras or my DSLR so this is new territory for me.

This is a three pane mosaic taken with my QHY5-II mono and Skywatcher Evostar 120, #23a Red and Baader Neodymium filters.

20150922_Moon_QHY5_3Pane by David Smith, on Flickr

Comments and suggestions welcomed.

Thanks for looking.

[xtreemchaos]

cracking image Dave, you got a lot of detail there mate.  thanks for sharing   charl.

[David Smith]

Thanks Charl. Quite enjoyed my lunar imaging session, shame it's cloudy tonight else I would probably have been out for another go.

[xtreemchaos]

yer Dave its cloudy and wet here to, i enjoy doing the moon theres allways some thing different with the changing phases.  clear skys charl.

[Astro Imp]

You've captured some nice detail with good tonal balance, well done.

[laudropb]

Very nice image. Let's me see what I am missing. Cloudy here the last 2 nights.

[JamesF]

That's a very nice image.  I think the massive range of contrast can make the Moon quite tricky.

James

[Jimtom]

That is a very nicely exposed image. I tried imaging the moon on 22nd for the 1st time and over exposed my movies .... more work needed! Thanks for sharing.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Really lovely detail and tonality

[Pete Presland]

You should do it more often that is a cracking mosaic image!