2016 Jan. 24 ~ The Full Moon with stars

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Photographed from mid-town Toronto, Canada, at 00.22 EST (Moon altitude: 61°)

* Temperature -8° C.

 

Finally we have had two clear, although cool, nights in southern Ontario.

 

This image, made when the Moon was just 4 hours 36 minutes past its full phase, is composed of the best 20 of 24 identical exposures, stacked to increase resolution.

 

I have added in several stars that I captured using an exposure that was effectively 1,600 times as long as for the Moon. The faintest stars shown (the close pair just to the upper right of the Moon) are of magnitude 11.1 and 10.9, respectively.

 

The bright star to the left side just below the title is SAO97835, magnitude 8.7.

 

For a telephoto lens view of the Moon rising on the previous evening, click here:

www.flickr.com/photos/97587627@N06/23936180683/

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Nikon D810 camera body on Explore Scientific 152 mm (6") apochromatic refracting telescope, mounted on Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ6 SynScan mount.

 

1200 mm focal length, f/8

 

Best 20 of 24 stacked frames; each frame:

* ISO 25, 1/200 sec. exposure

Stacked in Registax 6

 

Starfield exposure:

* ISO 200, 1 sec. exposure

 

Processed in Photoshop CS6

(brightness, contrast, colour desaturation, sharpening)

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Done