Full moon 10/11/11 - first one with the Bigma

I gave up taking pictures of the full moon some time ago, since with the sun shining straight at it, the visible detail is inevitably less.

I thought it might be a decent test for the new Bigma, though, so I had a go last night.




For comparison, this was probably my previous best full moon:




I should probably re-edit it to pull the brightness back so that it's a better comparison, but even so, it's nowhere near as detailed.

Certainly is a difference.
For another comparison this is my latest shot using 150-500 OS @440mm;
Taken 5 days ago so not quite full, you can see some Earthshine on the rim.

I really hate the way the forum software seems to mess with image sizes. Yours looks a lot better if you click the link and let it display in a separate tab on its own.

You should have another go, I think - if the 150-500 is as good optically as the 50-500, you could expect better than this, I think.

By the way, if you're referring to the bright rim on the right, I don't think that's earthshine.

Earthshine is seen on the dark side of the moon, not the sunlit side.

I notice you've got some of the colour though. I haven't managed that yet in any of my pictures.

you should see the shots I binned
My difficulty mainly is getting the focus spot on, some sort of electronic "no contact" foccusser would be usefull.


Have read somewhere that it is visible at certain times, don`t want to fallout over it though

That`s enough talk for now, off for a nice pub lunch.

Davex.

I just let the AF handle it for my one, I thought it did quite well.


Eh? I'm not falling out We can have friendly discussions can't we?

I don't know much about this sort of thing, but the sunlight on the moon must be many times brighter than any earthshine. I don't see how you could possibly see earthshine on the bright side.

Anyway, doubtless someone that knows about these things can shed some light ( pun intended).

Quite right Chris.

Earthshine is what enables a new moon to be seen, lighting (very slightly) the portion of the moon away from the sun. It is similar to seeing at night from moonlight, and will be most visible when the moon is darkest.
(The red glow seen on the moon during a lunar eclipse is different being due to refracted sunlight)

There may be instruments that would be capable of measuring the earthshine on the bright side of the moon but they'd have to be in space - all the surface of the moon visible from down here will be lit be earthshine & it can only be measured againt a reference portion that not got it.

I suspect the bright rim is more likely to be an artifact from sharpening.