The Moon... It rises and sets

[torags]

I love sun rises/sets. The moon also rises and sets, most don't even think of it.

The moon rises and sets differ dramatically from the time of the sun. The moon works off the full moon cycle and the set for example may vary an hour or two from the night before.

Camera captures are only a couple of times a month and in foggy SF; only a few times a year. Short winter days allow for more captures.

Now I prefer the moon because you can capture its texture. I start the thread with a few:

The first is a sunset in the afternoon, the second a moonset in the morning both shot to the west of my balcony

http://torags.smugmug.com/photos/138049269_Crj5q-M.jpg

http://torags.smugmug.com/photos/252676230_fskY2-M.jpg

The moon , like the sun moves across the horizon during the year.Noisy, but what the hell...

http://torags.smugmug.com/photos/189325441_kRLi2-M.jpg

[bmwdean]

Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon in the morning.

[SNC1923]

Rags and Jeff,

These are really nice shots. I shot these over Monument Valley and couple of years back with a Nikon Coolpix 5700. Cropping involved in image 2.

http://SNC1923.smugmug.com/photos/64504306_mddYK-L.jpg (http://snc1923.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=64504306&ImageKey=mddYK)

http://SNC1923.smugmug.com/photos/64504310_hNsh5-L.jpg (http://snc1923.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=64504310&ImageKey=hNsh5)

[torags]

An old faithful

http://torags.smugmug.com/photos/177854720_kJVGr-M.jpg

[bmwdean]

We have all seen the "front side" of the moon. Thanks to NASA, we can all now see the "back side" of the moon:

<img border=1 width=600 src=http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/PIA00225.jpg>

[torags]

Setting Moon

http://torags.smugmug.com/photos/253969270_U47uv-M.jpg

[bensonga]

The moon, a closeup. Taken with my Canon D60 thru a friend's one of a kind TMB 9 inch apochromatic folded refractor telescope back in 2003. Looking at the moon thru this telescope, with a binoviewer attached....it felt like we were looking out the window of a space ship orbiting the moon! As is often the case....my photos don't come even close to capturing the intensity of the actual visual experience. It was truly awe inspiring.

Gary Benson
Eagle River, Alaska

[bensonga]

By way of contrast.....here's another photo taken the same night. Also with my D60. But this pic was taken thru my telescope....a well made, but small, Televue Pronto with a 70mm aperture and 480mm focal length.

Nice.....but not quite the same visual impact as seeing the moon up close and personal thru the big TMB! :laugh

Gary Benson
Eagle River, Alaska

[torags]

Gary, I've seen these telescope pix and love them as I do yours.

I bought a Russian 1000mm reflector lens in Dec. for the Mavericks surf contest & sky shots. It required my 1.4TC to clear my on board flash housing.

I bought it from Kremlin Optics and it was a nightmare, I sent it back. I wouldn't recommend purchasing a unit out of Russia.

[bensonga]

Gary, I've seen these telescope pix and love them as I do yours.

Thanks! My efforts are pretty basic, compared to others. Maybe someday I'll have a place to build a small observatory and do it properly.

I bought a Russian 1000mm reflector lens in Dec. for the Mavericks surf contest & sky shots. It required my 1.4TC to clear my on board flash housing.
I bought it from Kremlin Optics and it was a nightmare, I sent it back. I wouldn't recommend purchasing a unit out of Russia.

I've had excellent experience with the Newtonian reflectors being made in China and marketed by Orion Telescopes (and others). I have 6 and 8 inch Orion Newts....the 8 inch may be similar to yours as it has a 1000mm focal length.

There are some excellent optics (mostly lens cells) coming out of Russia, but the good stuff is very expensive. It's produced in an optical glass factory called LZOS. The TMB telescope I mentioned (Thomas M. Bach) uses lenses made by LZOS for TMB....this particular telescope was a one-off custom designed folded refractor priced in the $30,000+ range. Needless to say, the views thru that telescope are spectacular!

Here's a little info about TMB/LZOS.

http://www.tmboptical.com/itemsGrid.asp?cat_id=10

Clear Skies! (as they say in the astro community).

Gary Benson
Eagle River, Alaska