Great big Moon is shining…

Part of a lullaby my mother used to sing to us

When I was somewhere around seven or eight, my parents opened an upstairs window and we all climbed out and sat on a flat part of the roof to watch a lunar eclipse.* Also around that time there were actually people walking around on the Moon occasionally (maybe again soon?). We bundled up one winter and went out to try and see Comet Kahoutek - try being the operative word. We did, however, watch in wonder as a large, bright satellite went from horizon to horizon. Satellites other than the Moon weren’t very common fifty years ago, so it was an unusual sight. We found out later it was Skylab. My mother was the only one who actually saw Kahoutek, and I believe it was after she got out of her car after sliding into a snowdrift. I think I come by my interest in astronomy (and astrophotography) honestly.

*My brother remembers being inside and watching out a window, but he was pretty young, and my parents might have been concerned that he might wander off the edge unnoticed in the dark.

Nikon Coolpix B500

In the previous post, I talked about my Nikon Coolpix B500 and its sudden demise. One of the pre-programmed settings on it was “Moon.” I thought, “COOL!!!” and tried it out as soon as I could. When I went back to look, I realized I apparently take Moon photos fairly regularly. All the photos were edited in either the Photos app on my iPad, Adobe Lightroom, or both. Moon photos tend be pretty small unless cropped - even with the zoom.

Click to enlarge and scroll through the images. You can return to this screen by clicking the tiny not-very-obvious ‘x’ in the upper right corner.

Waning Gibbous 24 March 2019

Diaz Lake Campground near Lone Pine

Waning Gibbous 24 March 2019

Diaz Lake Campground

Waxing Crescent 26 May 2020

Waxing Gibbous 27 August 2020

From the Boat

Moonrise over Mount Rainier from the Boat

28 September 2020

Waxing Gibbous 29 September 2020

From the Boat

Waxing Gibbous 29 September 2020

From the Boat

Waxing Gibbous 26 February 2021

Near Tucumcari, AZ

First Quarter 21 March 2021

From Gilbert Ray Campground, AZ

Waxing Gibbous 22 July 2021

From the Boat

Waning Gibbous 19 July 2022

From the boat on the way to Canada

I apparently mostly take Moon photos moored somewhere in the boat or while we are traveling. This camera shot the moon pretty darn well…. And because it was technically an overachieving point-and-shoot, all I had to do was change the setting to “Moon,” zoom in, and it did the rest. It didn’t always focus right away, so I have an LOT of blurry white blob photos, but when it did focus, the photos are not bad. Also, these photos were all handheld, which always introduces camera shake.

Sony Alpha 7C

When I got this camera, I wanted a telephoto lens for wildlife photography, but I also had the Moon in mind. I actually got the Tamron 70-300mm lens before I got the camera, since we waited so long for it to come in (see previous post). I got the camera on 5 October, and by 8 October I was out on our balcony taking Moon photos. Again, all the photos were cropped and edited in iPad Photos, Adobe Lightroom, or both.

Click images to enlarge

Waxing Gibbous 8 October 2022

10:40pm 98% Illumination

Waning Gibbous 13 October 2022 8:02pm 80.75% Illumination

Tree branch slightly obscuring the bottom right. I was propped on my elbows shooting up through a tree.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Waning Gibbous 14 October 2022 8:43am 83% Illumination Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Waning Gibbous 14 October 2022 9:42am Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Waxing Crescent 28 October 2022 Des Moines West KOA Holiday, IL 5:02pm 12% Illuminated

Waxing Crescent 30 October 2022 Cedar Pass Campground, Badlands NP, SD 6:11pm 30% Illuminated

This camera is not point-and-shoot. I looked up what settings might work best on the internet. It takes a bit longer to set up and I have to manually focus it. After watching a YouTube series on photography and taking two online classes I feel as though I’m getting more of an idea of what I need to tweak on the settings to get the photo (or at least sort of close to the photo) I am envisioning in my head but I’m still not quite there. I also probably need to use my tripod more. Most of these were taken with me propping or leaning the camera against something solid (a pillar, a fence, the car), but holding the camera and pressing the shutter manually. Even though the camera has really good internal stabilization, It will still get sharper images with a tripod.

The Golden Handle

We were out camping in the rain recently (not uncommon in the PNW), and were just hanging out in the van. The rain stopped, so we got out, and there were scattered clouds scudding across the sky in front of a very bright moon. I thought that might make a good photo, so we dug the tripod out, and I fiddled with it trying to set it up in the dark. Bob kept hearing the swearing and coming out with a headlamp to help with each problem.

  • First I couldn’t get the camera mounted on the top of the tripod securely so he came out to shine a light on it.

  • Then the top came off the tripod, and I caught the camera as the whole thing started to tip off. It is a combination tripod/monopod we bought just before this trip, and I had apparently not put it back together correctly after using the monopod earlier. He came out and helped me screw it back together. I put the camera strap around my neck after that.

  • Then the tripod was too short, and I had the camera strap around my neck, so I couldn’t reach far enough, so he came out to help me lengthen the legs.

  • Then the Moon went behind a cloud, and I thought it was too late, so I grumpily started putting everything away.

Then the Moon came out…

I took a few photos and fiddled with the camera settings. I kept seeing this weird bright thing that looked like a loop of hair sticking out of the left side of the Moon, especially through my viewfinder. I thought, “well that’s weird. Maybe there’s something on my sensor. No, it must be some sort of feature on the moon.” When I got back in the van and looked more closely I could see that was what it was.

Golden Handle of the Moon

Waxing Gibbous 72% Illuminated 31 March 2023

ISO 1250, 300mm, f/6.3, 1/400s

The Golden Handle, sometimes called the Jewelled Handle of the Moon, occurs when the sun is shining on the peaks of Montes Jura, a semi-circular 3,800 meter (12,500 ft) tall mountain range, but the plains of Sinus Irrideum, a flat basaltic lava flow below them, are still in shadow. The phenomenon occurs every month ten or eleven days after the new moon phase for about two hours, but it isn’t always visible; the Moon may be below the horizon, still in the daytime sky, or it may be cloudy.

A few minutes after I took everything apart and got back in the van, it started pouring with rain again.

This photo, as with all of my Moon photos, isn't as sharp as I would like. Next time I take a lunar photo, I think I need to reduce the ISO, increase the f-stop, reduce the shutter speed, and turn off the internal stabilization if I have the camera on a tripod. It is a tiny motor running, after all. I also was thinking back to my first online class where the instructor said that telephoto lenses tend to work really well in the middle range, but are often not quite as sharp at either end, so I should reduce the focal length to slightly below 300mm. I am also manually focusing, so it may also at least partly be my eyes…. Now I just have to figure out the next time the Golden Handle is visible! And buy a lens with a longer focal length……………

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