Details

• Rig: Player One Ares-M Pro + Sky-Watcher 200PDS + EQ6R-Pro
• Software: Sharpcap v4.1
• Filters: Altair Astro Planet-Killer 685nm IR Pass
• Integration time: Lucky imaging: best 25% frames from 500 video frames.

Notes

The seeing has been exceptional (for the UK) for the last few nights. This combined with the IR Pass filter seems to have helped to create the sharpset Moon photo I have ever made. Additionally, a monochrome camera was used and the combination appears to have made a significant improvement over similar images taken with a OSC camera. This is in fact two photos, the first being one of this evening’s shots of the illuminated Moon and the second another image with a different exposure providing the Earthshine. In reality, at this phase of the Moon the Earthshine would not be visible. However, the boost in aesthetic effect of working this way justifies compromising some of the purely scientific aspects of the scene.

It should also be said that converting the image to jpg format for the web has removed a lot of the subtlety, sharpness and clarity of the original.