June 24th, 2020, 8:45 p.m. local time
June 24th, 2020, 9:40 p.m. local time
Today’s story begins on the prior night, when the Moon was an even thinner crescent. I saw the Moon shortly after Dusk and decided to fetch my camera. By the time I had everything set up and returned outside, a batch of clouds had already covered the West sky. I thought I had had some time, but the front that later brought showers moved faster than I had anticipated.
On the following night, there were only a few clouds in the West, but with storm clouds visible much farther away to the Northwest. Around 8:30 p.m. I manage to get a few pictures in (above image).
An hour later, I took a few more of the Moon, now almost fully in dark. It is worth nothing that, although it’s not visible in the final picture, there was clear atmospheric diffraction along the edges of the Moon’s outline. This is where red, blue, and green start to separate due to a prism effect, common when trying to photograph, for example, Mercury, since it is always low towards the horizon.
I wanted to keep shooting, but the clouds finally arrived, again. Below is the best focus from the session.
Image #1 settings:
- Canon EOS Rebel SL3
- f/5.6
- 1/60 sec exposure
- ISO 200
- Focal length: 75mm
- Minor image adjustments in PaintShop Pro
Image #2 settings:
- Canon EOS Rebel SL3
- f/4
- 1/125 sec exposure
- ISO 100
- Focal length: 300mm
- Minor image adjustments in PaintShop Pro
