Earthshine - Lunar Images - Moon Pictures -Earthshine
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Other Pictures from this night at the HAS site

Earthshine!

Earthshine on 3.27% illuminated moon, around 33 hours and 48 minutes old, Jan 30,2006, HAS site, about 7:04 p.m. You can see that it's right above the treetops. Several stars visible in this 8 second exposure at ISO 400; the brightest is 39 Aquarii at 6.04 mag. lower right. Takahashi TOA 130 (a 5" APO refractor telescope) with a Canon EOS D20a DSLR camera.

Please be sure to scroll down to check out the "thin crescent" version, and also to read more information about the moon from our local expert, Don Pearce. At the very bottom of the page you'll find links to many more "thin moon" images.

Thin Crescent!

Taken at 6:50 p.m. 1/30/2006, 3.22% illuminated, about 33 hrs and 34 minutes old. 1/100 second exposure at ISO 400, same equipment as above. Processing: The blue channel had the most detail, so I applied it into the luminosity channel in Lab at 75%. I steepened the curve and sharpened lightly in luminosity. Click Image (or here) for a bigger version.

Here is some information about the 1/30/06 moon from Don Pearce, used with his kind permission:
"Tonight I observed one of the easiest "first crescents" I'll ever see. The reason was that new Moon occurred about 8:15 am Sunday, too late for a Sunday night observation (it was totally impossible from our longitude zone (Houston, TX, USA -Dick Locke) , but very easy (and I might add visually pleasing) tonight. In fact I set up a few minutes before sunset, and as soon as I looked through the binos it was there, an enormous crescent spanning a 150 degrees illuminated arc (about 2:30 to 7:30 o'clock). The time was 5:55pm, about 2 minutes before sunset, and I observed it naked eye at 5:57 pm, right at sunset. Its age was 33hrs and 39 minutes and I was at the familiar Braes Bayou site..............Don Pearce"

More information, responding to a question about the moon's apparent brightness:
"Often, the thin crescents over 30 hrs. have the "best" earthshine because the right circumstances prevail. When the elongation is over say, 17 degrees (it was over 19 for last night's ), but less than, say, about 35 degrees, you have enough contrast to see good earthshine, but the brightness of the crescent is still not overwhelming enough to diminish the effect. Another factor in earthshine is the percent of cloud cover on the the Earth's facing hemisphere; the more cloud cover, the higher the albedo, and , consequently, the brighter the earthshine......Don Pearce"

My thinnest, youngest moon at 21h 16m	"MAIN" MOON Pictures page is here	2-day moonset from West Texas
Another Neal site moon shot 10/05	More Thin Moons here and here	Earthshine on the moon from the Neal Site in Dolen TX.
NHAC - moon and mercury pictures Lunar Images	This was the only astronomy I was able to do the week of 1/11/04. This is a morning shot of the moon setting as the sun is rising. Nikon D100 camera, Nikon 80-200 f2.8 zoom, Tamron 1.4x tele-extender, f8, 1/350s, spot metered on the moon.	3 day old moon 3/12/2005
Thin Moon Moonset at Sammy Neal's, 7:51 p.m. 9/27/03. The moon is ~45 hours old, just over 5% illuminated. Nikon D100 DSLR, Takahashi FS-102 telescope with Nikon TC-301 2x teleconverter for effective focal length of 1640 mm @f32, 1.6 sec. exposure at ISO 200 setting.	Above: A couple more from 9/2703, taken just as the moon set into the trees. The "Earthshine" is 30 sec at f8, and the red crescent is 4 sec at f32.	Moon Sets in Trees at the NHAC Neal Site 4.6% Illuminated; 10/15/2004. It's difficult to get clear shots of the surface so close to the horizon. About 8 people showed up Friday night to enjoy this very rare night of crystal clear skies. One of the top 3 nights I've had out there. Above: Nikon D100, Takahashi TOA 130 telescope prime focus.