Contains:  Solar system body or event
Moonrise M44 Conjunction of August 28, 2019, Jim Lindelien

Moonrise M44 Conjunction of August 28, 2019

Moonrise M44 Conjunction of August 28, 2019, Jim Lindelien

Moonrise M44 Conjunction of August 28, 2019

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Description

Lunar conjunction with the Beehive Cluster M44 of August 28, 2019 as it rises over Mt. Charleston.

Not sure what to expect of the sky conditions ahead of time, over a span of about 15 minutes before start of nautical twilight I sequenced hundreds of exposures at a variety of camera gains and exposure time combinations. After reviewing all of them this single image (at gain 0) seems a good compromise that captures the lunar earthshine and star field with a lucky little meteor; I really like the earthshine too.

I'd calculated that exposures needed to be under about 10 seconds to avoid more than one-half pixel of lunar motion blur at this image scale.

The scene was only about 11 degrees above artificial horizon and had only just cleared the local ridge line, and the hot late August desert air was turbulent. Colors in the individual stars' pixels speckle in various hues due to prismatic refraction from this turbulence.

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Revisions

  • Moonrise M44 Conjunction of August 28, 2019, Jim Lindelien
    Original
  • Moonrise M44 Conjunction of August 28, 2019, Jim Lindelien
    B
  • Final
    Moonrise M44 Conjunction of August 28, 2019, Jim Lindelien
    C

B

Description: A Rule-of-Thirds composition from some minutes later after the moon and M44 had separated a bit. Single 2 sec exposure at gain 0.

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C

Description: Raised the sky brightness to differentiate the ridge line better.

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Histogram

Moonrise M44 Conjunction of August 28, 2019, Jim Lindelien