First time shooting skyward

[Jeff A]

I will probably try my hand a bit in Astro or Celestial so I thought I would shoot the moon last night since we are one month away from the Supermoon. Thanks for looking.

• ILCE-7M3
• 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS | Contemporary 020
• 400.0 mm
• ƒ/10
• 1/100 sec
• ISO 100

 

[J.Duffy]

Did you crop this any? You make me want to pull out my tripod....

 

[Spiderx1]

Love It!! I want the Milky Way Pics!!

 

[Jeff A]

Did you crop this any? You make me want to pull out my tripod....

Any? I think a lot would be most appropriate. It started @ 6000 x 4000 and now it's 1682 x 1551. I just wanted it to look big like the Grown-Up's pictures. Supermoon is next month.

 

[J.Duffy]

Nothing wrong with cropping! Looks great.

 

[Astrnmrtom]

Very nice shot! Just for giggles, something fun to try would be to shoot the "Supermoon" at the same focal length and crop, then combine it side by side with other full moon shots.

One thing all the "Supermoon" hyping articles don't tell you is is a "Supermoon" is a popularized name for a technical event, one that really has no importance in the astronomical community. It's often quoted that a "Supermoon" is 10% larger and up to 30% brighter. Well, I'm sorry to say that's an inaccurate fact that keeps getting repeated over and over. A "Supermoon" is a full Moon that occurs near the Moon's Perigee - the point in the Moon's orbit that's closest to Earth. The quoted difference in size and brightness is compared to the apparent brightness and size of the full moon when it's at or near apogee, the point where it's farthest from the Earth, but that part is left out. The real Devil is in the details. You see, each full Moon occurrs at differing points between perigee and apogee. This means that despite the claims, any given "Supermoon" may only be a tiny bit larger than a non-"Supermoon" full moon preceding or following it or at other times of the year. These articles lead the general public to believe that a "Supermoon" will look huge and bright, but in reality, unless you have some fixed reference with which to measure the size and brightness, the Moon won't really look any different than any other full moon. People say it looks huge because that's what they expect given the hype. That's where comparative shots of several full Moons including a "Supermoon" would be fun. Sorry if I popped anyone's "Supermoon" bubble. I used to roll my eyes when I saw articles hyping it up until I realized they got people out to look at the Moon, and to appreciate how pretty it can be as it's rises., and in this case photographing it. That's a plus in my book.

What IS significant about May's full Moon is it will take place where the Moon's orbital plane crosses that of the Earth's resulting in a total Lunar eclipse. These can be a great opportunity to get some unusual photos. The internet articles are kinda' hyping this one up a bit too. They are calling it a "Blood Moon" because when the Moon passes through or near the CENTER of the Earth's shadow, it can be colored a deep blood red. May's eclipse is not considered to be a "Deep" eclipse, so only a portion will be red, but still this is a great opportunity for some nice eclipse photos, and hey, you can tell all your friends your photos are of a Super-Blood-Moon! How cool is that!? ;^)

Tom

Here's a link with the details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2021_lunar_eclipse

 

[Jeff A]

Thanks for the info, Tom.