February 9, 2011
Lightening the Shadows
image by Jimmy Eubanks, Boiling Springs, SC
The Sun is much brighter than the Moon, and the planets are fainter, but the Moon probably has the greatest contrast in brightness of any celestial object. This is especially true when the Moon is just a few days from new. Then a slender crescent is blazingly bright compared to the much larger Earth-lit zone. Imaging detail on both parts of such crescents is difficult, but using high dynamic range software to combine multiple exposures of different durations does work. Here Jimmy has combined 5 exposures to try to capture all parts of the Moon's dynamic range of brightness. Its not a view you can get with just eyeballs.
Chuck Wood
I got home at 2:20 AM Tuesday from my great trip to Astrofest in London. I thank Maurice Collins for keep fresh LPODs coming!
Technical Details
Orion EON 120ED refractor + Canon XSi. 5 images with exposures ranging from 1/640 sec. to 8 Seconds was used.
Yesterday's LPOD: Lunar Egg
Tomorrow's LPOD: A Basin Quest
COMMENTS?
Register, Log in, and join in the comments.
