Moon...

Moon (71% full) at 7.10pm GMT, 23rd March 2021

Object: The Moon 

Constellation: Cancer
Distance: 387000 km (240780 miles)

Date: March 23rd 2021
Equipment: Vixen ED114, SXV-H9, Vixen GPDX mount

Subframes: 200 x 0.01s in H-alpha (aligned, stacked and wavelet sharpened in Registax 5)

Rather than curse the bright moon and high haze for preventing any useful deep-sky astrophotography on an otherwise clear night, I thought it would be good to blow the dust off my ancient Vixen refractor and equally ancient SXV-H9 camera and do some simple lunar imaging. I have had both for nearly 20 years and had contemplated selling them. However, the SXV-H9 chip size is a perfect fit for whole-disc imaging of the moon and Sun using the Vixen ED-114 and I have decided to keep them for that purpose. The optics of the Vixen are pretty good (although the blue-end colour correction of the Vixen isn't brilliant) and it's certainly good enough for his duty.

As with any SX product, getting the camera software to work is always a problem. It has long since ceased to run on my old XP laptop workhorse ever since I put Loadstar software it, which would not run a Loadstar and has since refused to recognise the SXV-H9. In the end, I managed to get it to run on my newish Win 10 laptop in the native software used for my newer SX694. 

SX cameras are really good (as is their customer support) but sorry SX, your software is pony.  Still, really can't complain - their 20 year old CCD camera still works perfectly and I have no doubt that if I have real problems with it, SX will still help out.

I use an old Astronomix 12 micron H alpha filter as a light blocker for the moon as the CCD otherwise gets flooded. The long wavelength also helps to cut through poor seeing and keep the subframes sharp.   

Moonrise over Borstal...

 

Moonrise...

A quick shot of this evening's full moon rising, taken using a Sony HX90 in twilight mode...

Lunar halo...

 

In the continued cloud-enforced absence of any deep-sky stuff, this was a shot of a lunar halo taken this evening with a hand-held Sony HX90 in shutter speed mode, combination of 1/1600th and 1/8th second exposures...

Moon...

Waxing gibbous Moon...

Object: Moon (77% of full)
Constellation: Aquarius
Distance: 399523 km (248252 miles)

Dates: 11th. July 2020
Equipment: ATIK 460EX with EFW2, Skywatcher f5.5 Esprit 100 ED refractor, Avalon Linear mount
Subframes: 100 x  H-alpha (0.001s)

From the same session as the previous image, this one also nearly didn't make it on screen. I thought I'd grab a few subs of the moon as an afterthought, so I just slewed the telescope from my previous target (NGC 6820) down to the moon, which was lurking low down in the sky at about 16 degrees above the south-eastern horizon.

I made the mistake of not checking the focus before acquiring the subframes, and no amount of messing around in Registax or PaintShop will ever get back that missing detail...

I've put the final image up anyway, if only as a reminder of my own carelessness.

Moonrise over Wouldham Common...

 

Moonrise...

Taken this evening using my nifty and rather under-used Celestron C4SE Mak afocally coupled to a Canon 450D.  Combination of 1/800s exposure for the moon and 1/8 s exposure for the background, layered in PaintShop Pro.

Moon...

Moon, 88% of full phase

Object: Moon
Constellation: Cancer
Distance: 367980 km (228652 miles)

Dates: 6th. March 2020
Equipment: ATIK 460EX with EFW2, Skywatcher f5.5 Esprit 100 ED refractor, Avalon Linear mount, guiding with Lodestar X2/PHD

Subframes: 100 x  H-alpha (0.001s), 100 x OIII (0.001s)

The H-alpha and OIII frames were stacked in Registax and wavelet sharpened. The histograms of each were carefully stretched to match each other, and then combined as HOO for RGB.  Unsurprisingly, the image is not particularly colourful: some images of the moon you see have lurid blues, greens and reds but such colours are largely artefacts.

I used the Ha and OIII filters largely as light rejection filters, as the moon is otherwise so bright it would overwhelm the sensitive CCD camera.  There was little visual difference in appearance between the Ha and OIII stacks.

Partial Lunar Eclipse...

Partial lunar eclipse, approx. 22.15 BST

Object: Moon
Constellation: Sagittarius
Distance: 398865 km (247843 miles)

Date: June 16th, 2019
Equipment: Canon 450D, Celestron NexStar 4

Subframes: Approx 30, ranging from 0.1s to 2s @ ISO800

The Moon was only 7 degrees above the horizon when I took images for the above composite.  The partial eclipse began with the moon entering the Earth's shadow at 9 pm, just as it was appearing above the horizon. Maximum eclipse was at 20.30, with the Moon leaving the Earth's umbral shadow at midnight.

The low altitude meant the focussing was tricky and a lot of lunar detail was blurred by the unsteady atmosphere so close to the horizon, along with some wispy clouds. I took a range of exposures to try and capture details on the illuminated portion of the moon and also to try and show the eclipsed area, whose glow was quite distinct in binoculars. 

I used Registax and PaintShop Pro to pull together the best shots from around 30 images taken with various exposures. With a lot of messing around, I managed to combine the image sets into something that resembled the view through binoculars.

Lunar eclipse...

Total lunar eclipse @ 05.00h, 21-01-2019

Object: Moon

Constellation: Cancer
Distance: 357730 km (222282 miles)

Date: January 21st. 2019
Equipment: Canon 450D, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED114 refractor, NEQ6 mount

Subframes: 20 x 1/2s @ ISO800, stacked and sharpened in Registax 2.1.14

The excitable UK press had billed this celestial event as a “Super-Blood-Wolf-Moon” or some such gibberish. 

During this lunar eclipse, the moon was close to perigee, the closest point to Earth in its orbit, making the moon appear slightly larger than usual. This phenomenon has been dubbed a “supermoon” by the popular press, and is not an official astronomical term.  Of the possible 12 or 13 full (or new) moons each year, usually three or four may be classified as supermoons, so they are not particularly rare. Even then, a full moon at perigee appears only about 14% larger in diameter than at apogee, a difference that is barely discernible to the visual observer.

The popular press now also seems to call lunar eclipses “blood moons” because of the way the Moon can turn a deep coppery red colour during its eclipse. The effect is caused by atmospheric dust scattering higher frequency blue light waves, but allowing the longer wavelength of red light to come comes through.  A similar effect is in evidence just as the moon rises above the horizon, where the moon’s light has to travel through a deeper layer of dust-laden air. 

Until recently I hadn’t heard of the term “blood moon”, but I guess the popular media like it because it sounds dramatic. They also threw the term “wolf moon” in there, enabling them to depict Earth’s natural satellite as undergoing some B-movie werewolf transition.

Native American Indians have traditional names for all of the full moons throughout the year: January’s full moon is called the “Wolf Moon”. If the eclipse had occurred in March, the press would have been disappointed: “NotSoSuperBloodWormMoon” doesn’t sound quite as dramatic.

The colour of the Moon during totality depends on the global state of dust in the Earth’s atmosphere; sometimes it is so dark a red as to render the moon virtually invisible.

This particular eclipse was not as dark as the one of September 2015 and was clearly visible despite the misty, damp and freezing (-4°C) conditions of the Medway valley adding to a high cloud haze.  This seems to have added its own palette to the few images I was able to get between clouds, which cleared just enough at 5 a.m. to show an unusual blue tint to the brighter edge of the fully eclipsed moon.

The next total lunar eclipse that will be completely visible in the UK is not until 20th/21st of December 2029.  Approximate timings for the south-east of England are as below:

Moon enters penumbra:             19:40

Moon enters umbra:                  20:55

Start of totality:                        22:15

Maximum eclipse:                     22:40

End of totality:                          23:10

Moon leaves umbra:                  00:30

Moon leaves penumbra:             01:40

The eclipse will be well-placed for observing (conditions permitting!), being high up on the Orion/Gemini/Taurus border. 

"Supermoon"...

Object: Moon
Distance: 356600 km
Constellation: Gemini
Date: 01 January 2018

Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor,

Subframes: 300 x 0.004s H-alpha, no flats, no darks

Images were obtained via Astroart and then stacked and processed in Registax.

A "supermoon" is defined as a new or full moon which occurs when it is at (or within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit. Supermoons are not uncommon - there are usually between four and six a year on average.

This one is unusual, however, in that it came only 4.5 hours after the moon reached lunar perigee – the moon’s closest point to Earth in its monthly orbit. 

Of the 13 full moons and 14 lunar perigees occurring in 2018, this is the closest alignment of full moon and lunar perigee for the year.  This full moon therefore represents the largest and brightest supermoon of 2018.

Lunar eclipse...

A series of shots taken back in 2015, my first astrophotos in over 5 years, what with house moves, work and life in general, etc etc...

01.10 BST

Date: 28 September 2015
Equipment: Canon 450D, Vixen ED 114mm aperture f5.3 refractor
Subframes: 16 x 1/4000s @ ISO400, stacked and sharpened in Registax 2.1.14

02.35 BST

Date: 28 September 2015
Equipment: Canon 450D, Vixen ED 114mm aperture f5.3 refractor
Subframes: 16 x 1/1600s @ ISO400, stacked and sharpened in Registax 2.1.14

03.05 BST

Date: 28 September 2015
Equipment: Canon 450D, Vixen ED 114mm aperture f5.3 refractor
Subframes: 16 x 1/5s @ ISO800, stacked and sharpened in Registax 2.1.14

03.50 BST: maximum eclipse

Date: 28 September 2015
Equipment: Canon 450D, Vixen ED 114mm aperture f5.3 refractor
Subframes: 20 x 1/2s @ ISO800, stacked and sharpened in Registax 2.1.14

04.30 BST

Date: 28 September 2015
Equipment: Canon 450D, Vixen ED 114mm aperture f5.3 refractor
Subframes: 16 x 1/5s @ ISO800, stacked and sharpened in Registax 2.1.14.

This single 5 second exposure at ISO800 at 03.50 captures the surrounding stars in Pisces down to 11.5 magnitude:

I couldn't capture the exit of the moon from the Earth's umbral shadow as it went behind my house. Bad planning on my part.

The next total lunar eclipse visible from the UK will be during the early morning of 21st. January 2019. Exact times will depend upon your location, but will be approximately as follows:

Moon enters penumbra:  02:30

Moon enters umbra:       03:30

Start of totality:              04:40

Maximum eclipse:          05:10

End of totality:               05:40

Moon leaves umbra:       06:50

Moon leaves penumbra:  07:50