Starlog July 2nd, 2025, 9:22 p.m. local time
Tonight’s session was almost identical to the prior night’s. Yes, it was kind of like Groundhog Day, but Groundhog Night. The one significant difference was in the exposure setting I used, likely correlating to the ~9% jump in total disc illumination. At the 44% crescent, 1/128 second was sufficient, and I found going much lower made the Moon too dark. But here, I went all the way down to a 3,600th of a second exposure with no visible issues; around 1/7500 second appeared to be the “too dark” threshold.
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It is not insignificant to point out that the Moon’s phase “crossed” the crescent-to-gibbous boundary overnight, and I do not think it is a coincidence that the brightness jumped by orders of magnitude now that the disc is over half visible, if barely.
Interestingly, last April I also captured the 53% waxing Moon. Check out that article and compare its Moon photo to the above image; they are very, very similar in shape and style. I was far more generous with the contrast lever back in 2024.
Equipment Used:
- 254mm Dobsonian telescope (homemade)
- 23mm eyepiece
- No eyepiece filter
- iPhone 14 Pro
- Smartphone telescope eyepiece adapter
- NightCap app on iPhone
- Apple Watch Series 10 (acting as NightCap shutter)
- f/1.8
- 1/3600 sec exposure
- ISO 57
- Focal length: 7mm
- Touchups in PaintShop Pro and AfterShot Pro
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