The Moon Like Most People Have Never Seen

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Apollo XX
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The Moon Like Most People Have Never Seen

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Admittedly I have a tendency to do some unusual things. Not bad things mind you, but sometimes off the beaten path you might say. Take today for example; I went outside this morning and was enjoying the outdoors like I usually do, and I looked at the Sun with my solar telescope like I usually do - nothing weird for me there - but then I said to myself 'hey I wonder if I can find the moon and view it?' Now finding the moon and viewing it is not at all unusual for an astronomy enthusiast and could hardly be called off of the beaten path, except that today's moon is just one day short of being new and fairly close to the Sun, and getting closer by the minute. This sounded like fun to me.

There's somewhat of a sub-culture out there in astronomy where enthusiasts are vying to see the youngest or oldest moon possible and this feat that I accomplished today doesn't come anywhere near any sort of record in that regard. The one I saw and imaged today was just about 36 hours from new - a far cry from Thierry Legault's achievement of capturing an image of the thinnest possible crescent moon at the remarkable phase of exactly new https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentia ... visibility - but I consider myself to be just a recreational hack who's out to enjoy himself and have fun with it, and so I broke out my old 4.5" homebuilt Newt/Dob and had a go at it.

I have a neat little set of setting circles on this particular scope, so finding the moon was simply a matter of dialing in the position of the Sun and referencing off of it to get to the moon. The clouds that are building in for tomorrow's promised rain where a bit of a problem, but I got some holes to work with. The view was cool. There wasn't any detail like craters or anything like you can see with a 3% waxing crescent, just a curved white line penetrating the blue sky. I slid my old pocket camera into place and took a bunch of shots at various exposures. I was happy to see that I got it. 8)

WanCresc3%Oct26'19.jpg
WanCresc3%Oct26'19.jpg (61.99 KiB) Viewed 2430 times
Screenshot Sun-Moon Oct26'19.png
Screenshot Sun-Moon Oct26'19.png (292.15 KiB) Viewed 2430 times
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
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AstroGeek
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Re: The Moon Like Most People Have Never Seen

Unread post by AstroGeek »

This is a really cool write-up, Mike.
I enjoy hearing about your little "projects."

Steve
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NGC7000
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Re: The Moon Like Most People Have Never Seen

Unread post by NGC7000 »

It's this kind of adventure astronomy that inspires me to get out there, Mike. You've got all the elements here that make it so much fun and at the same time intellectually rewarding. And like Steve said, it's a great write up.

Tom
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"Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence." - Louis Pasteur
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AndyG
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Re: The Moon Like Most People Have Never Seen

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wow! :shock:
Andy
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Apollo XX
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Re: The Moon Like Most People Have Never Seen

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Gentlemen, the kind comments are appreciated. Thank you! 8)
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
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