The Moon

I took this beauty last night from Pompton Lakes, New Jersey!

My dad got out his first telescope for my little cousins to look through. I took my normal itty bitty digital camera, zoomed all the way in, stuck the lens up to the eyepiece and tilted it around, and I got a photo that was actually in-focus!

I took a few with a few different powers of eyepieces, but this is the best one. No one else with a camera got a clean shot; I got really lucky!

OK, now for the fun part. I have a little moon globe that my dad gave me; I will now attempt to describe the geography in the photo. Woo! Forgive me if I mess up?

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In the top left there is a light round spot in a dark 'sea'. I believe this is the Crater Langrenus in the Mare Fecunditatis. The bright crater on the edge of the light patch to above and its right looks like Petavius. The streaks radiating from a bright spot to its right are from the Stevinus crater, which is quite small.

The two dark patches below Mare Fecunditatis are Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Serenitatis. The Sea of Tranquility is the Bunny's head. The large, darkly ringed crater towards the bottom of the photo is Copernicus, with the smaller Eratosthenes on its left. The large but faint crater at the very bottom further to the left is Archimedes, near the landing site of the (Soviet) Lunik 2.

Apollos 1 through 5 landed from left to right in a belt from below the bright patch below and to the right of Langrenus (between the Bunny's ears!) down and to the right above Copernicus and slightly into the shadow towards Kepler. The Ranger 6 landed above that pointy 'peninsula' between the seas of Tranquility and Serenity at the Bunny's neck.

The many long bright streaks emanating from about two o'clock are from the famous Tycho impact crater, which is a small but deep one, and the innermost of the deeply shadowed craters in the area (the Bunny's cotton tail!). It is quite dark on the left and bright on the right, and features a small bump in its center. The dark hole above and to the right of Tycho on the very edge of light is probably Clavius.

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Especially because I realize there isn't an easy and cheap way for everyone to take their own copyrighted, telescope picture of the moon, I've enabled the download option on this one. Be warned: it's HUGE.

Please enjoy it and use it fairly.

If you use this image as Stock in your own work, please give credit, link to my profile and/or this page in your comments, and comment here with a link to the finished piece.

Sigath ([link]) used this in the background of her gorgeous deviation, Sanguinity ([link])! Check out her stuff for some mystical wolves and an RP site. ^,..,^

Vevelynn ([link]) used my moon in her awesome manipulation, new world ([link])! It's like an aurora in space. ^_^

circularkey ([link]) used this in this psychedelic awesomefest, Return to Earth ([link]). I love it!

ladykraut ([link]) used it in her deviation, The dark side ([link]). If you like horses in beautiful settings, go check her out! She does lovely work.

moonywolf ([link]) has used my moon in her deviation, moon dancer 05 ([link]). This piece is modern and classic at the same time in the most lovely shades of blue and cream. Be sure to check out the rest of the series as well; she's already posted installment #6.

Check out the comments for more awesome manips! I can't keep up with you guys.