The Waxing Crescent Moon & Earthshine shots on 03-03-2014What is Earthshine you ask?
Earthshine is really reflected Sunlight, The Light is reflected off of the Earth. Basically, it is Sunlight bouncing off of the Earth and illuminating the darker normally unlit portion of the Moon. Earthshine is easily visible during the waxing & waning thin crescent phases of the Lunar Cycle.
I was just playing around in the brutally cold backyard Observatory with my 10″ diameter SCT Scope this past evening! I particularly like the tiny mountain peaks lit up on the left edge of the Earthshine image. Unfortunately the Focal length with reducer(1640mm) is a bit too long to fit the whole thing in. I took two shots, one Longer exposure showing Earthshine and one short exposure for the sunlit portion of the Moon to show craters and the Lunar surface.
I shot it through tree branches, and it still came out okay!
Canon Rebel Xsi DSLR & 10″ SCT at F6.3, ISO 800,
2 Sec. Exp. Earthshine, 1/30 sec. Exp. for the crescent shot.
Best Regards,
John Chumack
www.galacticimages.com
