May 19th, 2004: I was able to view a thin crescent moon in the Davis Mtns. I drove around at sunset trying to find a place with the lowest western horizon. I set up my camera/lens/tripod on a road, and scanned for the moon in 10x50 binocs. Acquired it at ~9:08 p.m. CTD, age 21 hrs 15 minutes -- and started taking pictures. Right as it was setting into the trees a car came along and I had to move. I only had it for a few minutes, and I don't believe I saw it naked eye. Hard to remember in all the excitement... The Sky says its phase was 0.75%. When I got back to the cabin (*after a long walk and a ride back to my Van, whose battery I had drained) I loaded the pix onto my laptop. I about had a heart attack when I couldn't see the moon at all in the thumbnails and the first full-sized images I looked at. On closer examination, thankfully, the moon is indeed visible on a number of the images - just barely! Photo notes: Nikon D100, Nikon 300mm f2.8 lens, 1/60s, time 21:09:30 CDT. *See below for the dead battery story... Sky and Telescope has an even younger picture here.
Moon Setting into Trees
May 20, 2004 (Next Night). Had to dodge Lightning that night!
Photo notes on above: 6 seconds, Nikon D100, Nikon 300mm f2.8 lens @ f2.8, ISO 800 setting
My main index to thin moon images is here! |
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*Dead Battery Story on the 21 hr old moon:
So anyway, I set up about 45 minutes before I got the shot because I was
chasing the sunset to a) get my bearings, and b) figure out how much time
I had before the moon set locally. I decided to put on some music to
pass the time on this isolated mountain road... I decide maybe the music
was a bit too loud so I rolled up the passenger window to help control
the volume in case anyone was in earshot... and forgot to turn the key
of the "on" position!
My clue was, just as I was wrapping up, the music stopped momentarily
when my hazard lights flashed. Dead battery, and I'm stuck a mile or two
from my cabin. And, I'm overdue to get drift aligned for a night of
astrophotography! But wait, I have a spare battery in the back (for
powering all my astronomy stuff; wasn't using it since I had power where
I decided to set up this trip). No jumper cables, though. Fine, I'll
replace the battery and be on my way in a few minutes... I found a small
multi-purpose tool in the glove box, and proceeded to disconnect the
battery and pull it out. No small task with this little tool, I should
add. Then I go to put in the new battery, and you guessed it, it's way
to big to fit in the slot. I put back the old battery, and decide to try
starting to see if the battery had recovered... Turned over 3 or 4 times
but didn't catch. I ended up hoofing it back to the cabin using a tiny
flashlight on this difficult mountain road to find my way. I imposed on
my hosts for a lift back to the van, and ended up getting quite a late
start on the evening's shooting.
So, when you're set up out in the sticks watch your power sources! (And
no good deed, e.g. rolling up the window), goes unpunished.)