Posidonius

The seeing was a bit unsteady, but I wanted to see what I could obtain shooting video. Here is Posidonius, named for the Greek philosopher, geographer and astronomer, who lived 135 - 51 BCE. This walled plain is 95km in diameter. Adjacent to Posidonius is the 51km crater Chacornac, now filled with darkness. Just to the south we find the oblong appearing le Monnier, a flooded crater 61km in diameter also in darkness. le Monnier is the site of the Luna 21 landing. To the west is part of Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity), which the Dorsa Smirnov runs across as seen here. This image does not do the view through the eyepiece justice!

8:24UT, 10 October, 2017, Tucson, Arizona.
Celestron 20cm (8”) EdgeHD with a Canon 80D operating with eyepiece projection using a 21mm eyepiece. Video processed with AutoStakkert & Registax.

Theophilus, Cyrillus & Catharina

Theophilus, Cyrillus & Catharina (all about 100km in diameter). Sinus Asperitatis (Bay of Roughness) and Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) are to the north, while the Rupes Altai rings the south.

7:48UT, 10 October, 2017, Tucson, Arizona.
Celestron 20cm (8”) EdgeHD with a Canon 80D operating ` f/ 25
1/250 second, 16,000 ISO, Camera RAW

After Full

The moon begins to wane after the Harvest Moon. October 7th, 2017

Struve, Eddington & Russell

This image just happens to be a bit smaller than, but a very similar orientation to "Plate 17. Struve" of Antonín Rükl's Atlas of the Moon.

Struve (170km), the remains of a flooded walled plain is along the terminator experiencing dawn. Already in full daylight are the remains of the flooded walled plain Eddington (125km). The last flooded walled plain above them in this image is Russell, at 103km. The large crater below them at the bottom of the frame is Krafft. It is 51km in diameter and has a flooded floor. The crater near the center of the frame is Seleucus (43km) and directly above that is Briggs (37km) and then Briggs B.

7:57UT, 4 October, 2017, Tucson, Arizona.
Celestron 20cm (8”) EdgeHD

Canon 80D operating with eyepiece projection using a 9.7mm eyepiece.
1/100 second
16,000 ISO
Camera RAW

Darwin, Byrgius & the Montes Cordillera

Top center we see the paired craters of Sirsalis and Sirsalis A. To it's right we see the 45km crater Hansteen, the mountain Mons Hansteen and the flooded crater Billy. To the left of the Sirsalis craters we find the Summer Lake (Lacus Aestatis) and the 90km crater Rocco emerging from the darkness.As we turn south we pas by the flooded crater Crüger, past Darwin to Byrgius (46,130 & 87km respectively) in the center of the frame. Reaching south along the terminator the Montes Cordillera are basking in the dawn light, leading us down to the walled plains of Lagrange and Piazzi (160 & 101km).

7:00UT, 4 October, 2017, Tucson, Arizona.
Celestron 20cm (8”) EdgeHD
Canon 80D operating with eyepiece projection.
1/320 second
6400 ISO
Camera RAW

Grimaldi & Riccioli

I had a chance to image the moon at a higher magnification. The right half of this image is dominated by Oceanus Procellarum. The 30km crater Reiner and the flat bright feature Reiner Gamma stand out in this part of the ocean. Immediately to the left is the deep crater Cavalerius (58km) and the 106km walled plain Hevelius. The 222km inner basin of Grimaldi is filled with lava, which is surrounded by a broken outer wall with a 430km diameter. Moving towards the terminator and back to the north we see Riccioli (146km), Hedin mostly in shadow (143km), and Olbers (75km) At the top of the frame is Cardanus at 50km.

06:56UT, 4 October, 2017, Tucson, Arizona.
Celestron 20cm (8”) EdgeHD
Canon 80D operating with eyepiece projection.
1/200th second
6400 ISO
Camera RAW

Back to the Moon!

After a few fits and starts on this blog, I am thinking it is probably the best place for me to post my new astronomical images. I've picked up a new amateur telescope, and have restarted my long dormant lunar photography program.

We'll start this off with an image of the nearly full moon.

~5:00UT, 4 October, 2017, Tucson, Arizona.
Celestron 20cm (8”) EdgeHD
Canon 80D operating a f/ 10
1/2000 second, 2000 ISO
Camera RAW

Flight Simulator X Screen Shots

I haven't used this blog in quite a long time, as you can see by the date of the last update.

Anyway, I have recently upgraded our home office computer, looking for a box that would let me "fly" Flight Simulator X (FSX) with realistic settings and scenery. This way I could practice instrument procedures so my skills don't get too rusty, check out a multitude of rare and historic airplanes, and lastly to create aviation imagery.

On this last point I have been posting my early work on the website FlightSim.com in their Screen Shot Forum. I've been working on improving the appearance of FSX to look as realistic & visual appealing as possible.

I recently started making images of the quality I want to produce. While I enjoy the ability in that forum to create stories based on flights, there are severe restrictions to the file sizes that can be posted. Since screen shots are already very limited in resolution, further reduction in size and additional compression really hurts the final images. I considered posting my screen grabs on our business website, but that's not really appropriate. That's why I am resurrecting this blog.

In the future I'll be posting what I consider the best of my simulated aviation images at their full 1.3 megapixel screen resolution starting very soon.

Full Moon Photography has been updated!

Our commercial site has been updated with new images, a new look, easier navigation and in our galleries, you can now order prints directly.

Please take a look and let us know what you think!

Full Moon Photography

Did you Google me?

I'm getting more and more contacts from the good people in Tucson and the surrounding areas who have seen my images on KOLD-TV (channel 13 in Tucson).

I'm very happy you enjoy the images I've shared with Chuck, Erin & Aaron and their viewers enough to search me out!

My partner & I invite you to take a look at our website, Full Moon Photography.net to view more of our images & time lapse animations. As I mention in the post below, we are updating our website and will soon be introducing a new set of galleries where prints and other products will be available for purchase.

One last note, we are available to photograph your special events, including weddings. (We LOVE shooting weddings!)

Thanks again for your interest in my images and we hope you consider us for your photographic needs in the future!

Richard & Sara

Not forgotten

I know its been a long LONG time since I added any content to this blog. That doesn't mean I forgot about it!

We are working hard on updating our commercial site, and more importantly, making NEW images! It won't be long now before our best images will be available for direct ordering as prints and other items.

Please take a look at the current version of our site and come back soon to see what we've done to improve it!

Thanks

Richard

Full Moon Photography

A few more Digital Wet-Plates from Picacho

Digital Wet-Plate Collodions

It's been months since I last updated this blog, but I'll start adding things every so often.

This first new post is a set of images made during the Picacho Peak Battle re-enactment in March 2008. The images were made using my Canon 20D and later processed in Photoshop to give them the appearance of being made using the wet plate collodion process.

This first image was made of a young boy who was having his picture made by a photographer that actually WAS using the wet plate collodion process. Her exposure time was 6 seconds. Stands that held the head and other parts of the body steady were commonly used during that era.

The Ring Nebula - M57

Waiting for the clouds to move out on my second of three nights at the 1.5-m telescope on Mt. Lemmon, I took the opportunity to take a few images that I normally wouldn't have time to take. This object is known as the "Ring Nebula", because it is, obviously, shaped like a ring. (Great imagination, we astronomers!)

You can find out more information about this object at Tuugii's blog here.

Mt. Lemmon Survey Telescope - 10 second exposure, 1.5 meter aperture @ f/ 2. For more about this telescope and MLS, follow the Catalina Sky Survey link on the right side of this page.

Hitchcock's "The Birds"

My friend Tim & I went birding at his favorite location, Plum Island, northeast of Boston, during my trip there. Literally tens and maybe hundreds of thousands of Barn & Tree Swallows were flocking during our visit. Each dot in this image is a bird and this is just one of many flocks that flew overhead during our day there!

Canon 20D - 1/8000th second, 72mm @ f/ 13, ISO 3200

Boston - 52370

After several hours and several miles walking around Boston, I stopped to rest on a bench next to a government building. Looking around, I liked the way the angles of the buildings seemed to mesh together from my vantage point.

Canon 20D - 1/60th second, 28mm @ f/ 25, ISO 200

Old State House Boston 52374

Canon 20D - 1/60th second, 60mm @ f/ 10, ISO 100

Death is an Irreverent Bastard

Wandering around "The Granery" in Boston, I was looking for funerary art that was atypical. Most of the 18th century grave stones had cherubs, urns with bending willows or the most common, winged skulls.

Edward Richards' stone caught my attention and made me chuckle. The Irreverent Bastard, Death (the skeleton) is sitting on a skull, presumably Edward's. Flanked by cross bones, Death is also accompanied by a winged hour glass on his right (Time Flies) and a scythe behind him, the tool of the Grim Reaper.

Canon 20D - 1/125th second, 28mm @ f/ 7.1, ISO 200

Proud Sailor

And rightly so, considering his post on the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel, the United States Ship Constitution.

Thanks to him and all of the active duty and veteran servicemen and women of the US military.

Canon 20D - 1/250th second, 10mm @ f/ 10, ISO 100

Paul Revere

The Freedom Trail takes you on a walking tour of historic Boston. Just east of the Old North Church is the well known statue of Paul Revere riding away from the church on his famous midnight ride.

Lesser known, but no less important are the two OTHER riders from that night who alerted the Minutemen, Wiliam Dawes and Samuel Prescott.

Canon 20D - 1/30th second, 53mm @ f/ 9, ISO 800