Sunday, October 14, 2018

Return of the Moon

Clouds briefly allow lunar viewing opportunities on Saturday, October 13.

Lunar seeing has been pretty lousy here the last few weeks. But last night and tonight we had a bit of clear weather that allowed opportunities to view the Moon.

Saturday, October 13, 2018, 7:48 PM Eastern Time

Sunday,October 14, 2018, 7:50 PM Eastern Time
A lot of people think that the Full Moon is the best time to observe and photograph the Moon, but it isn't. While the Moon will be at its brightest then, there are relatively few shadows to speak of, so the overall impression will be very flat. Shadows are most dramatic at the terminator, the line dividing the parts of the Moon that are in daylight to the parts that are in shadow.


Detail of the upper portion of the terminator on October 14, taken from a different image than the one above.

Detail of the lower portion of the terminator on October 14, from yet another image of the Moon.
Who can say when the next good night for seeing the Moon will be? Not me, that's for sure.

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