The Moon

I thought I would have a go at photographing the moon using the telescope and modified webcam. Quite an easy subject – large, bright – but the size actually causes a problem.

The webcam can only see about 5% of the moon’s surface so the technique is to take many pictures trying to make sure that all the visible surface has been captured. This proved harder than it sounds so I finished up with some shots which overlapped by 50/60% and some which only just made it.

The images were then pasted as transparent images into PaintShopPro. A bit tedious but surprisingly successful. Some touching up was necessary particularly extending the black background. And this is the result:

I’m really pleased – much more satisfying than my pictures of Saturn!