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Moon & Sun { 493 images } Created 19 Feb 2011

A gallery of images (both wide-angle nightscapes and telescopic close-ups) of our Moon and Sun. Included are shots of the Full Moon and Harvest Moon. Separate galleries are dedicated to Lunar and Solar Eclipses, and to Atmospheric Phenomena.

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Rising Cold Winter Moon v1 (Dec 19, ...jpg
Rising Cold Winter Moon v2 (Dec 19, ...jpg
Hunter's Moonrise (Oct 20, 2021).jpg
$A telescopic close-up of the full Harvest Moon rising over the Badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park on September 20, 2021. This is a single 0.8-second exposure taken as part of a time-lapse sequence, shot through a 76mm f/4.4 refractor telescope for an effective focal length of 335mm using the Canon R6 at ISO 100. Luminosity masks created with TKActions v8 applied to enhance the contrast of the foreground. A mild Orton glow added with Luminar AI.$

Harvest Moon at Dinosaur Park (SS76 ...jpg
Equinox Sunset (Sept 22, 2021).jpg
Equinox Moonrise (Sept 21, 2021).jpg
Equinox Sunset (Sept 21, 2021).jpg
Harvest Moonrise over Badlands (105m...jpg
Smoky Full Moon of July 2021.jpg
$A comparison of the Sun with Earth at perihelion (closest to the Sun) on January 5, 2020 vs. the Sun with Earth near aphelion (farthest from the Sun) on July 8, 2021, showing the slight difference in size of the Sun's disk due to Earth's changing distance from the Sun through the year. For this version I superimposed both images and split them down the middle. Earth was 152,100,527 kilometres from the Sun on the actual day of aphelion, July 5 (which was cloudy!) and 147,091,144 km from the Sun on January 5, 2020. On January 5, 2020 the Sun was at the closest perihelion of the 21st century (though by only a tiny margin), making for the largest solar disk we will see. So that made this a “supersun!” The disk was virtually spotless both days. I shot both with the same equipmment — the Astro-Physics Traveler 105mm refractor, with AP 2X Barlow for f/12 and with the Canon 60Da at ISO 100. The filter was the glass Thousand Oaks metal-on-glass filter which imparts a yellow tone to the image.$

Sun at Perihelion & Aphelion Com...jpg
$A comparison of the Sun with Earth at perihelion (closest to the Sun) on January 5, 2020 vs. the Sun with Earth near aphelion (farthest from the Sun) on July 8, 2021, showing the slight difference in size of the Sun's disk due to Earth's changing distance from the Sun through the year. Earth was 152,100,527 kilometres from the Sun on the actual day of aphelion, July 5 (which was cloudy!), and 147,091,144 km from the Sun on January 5, 2020. On January 5, 2020 the Earth was at its closest perihelion of the 21st century (though by only a tiny margin), making for the largest solar disk we will see. So that made this a “supersun!” The disk was virtually spotless both days. I shot both with the same equipment — the Astro-Physics Traveler 105mm refractor, with AP 2X Barlow for f/12 and with the Canon 60Da at ISO 100. The filter was the glass Thousand Oaks metal-on-glass filter which imparts a yellow tone to the image.$

Sun at Perihelion & Aphelion Com...jpg
Rising Strawberry Moon (June 24, 202...jpg
Rising Strawberry Moon (June 24, 202...jpg
Rising Strawberry Moon & Clouds ...jpg
$The Full Moon of June 24, 2021, colloquially called the "Strawberry Moon," just rising over the distant hill at McGregor Lake in southern Alberta. The disk of the Moon is flattened by atmospheric refraction and tinted golden from atmospheric absorption, as is the case for all rising and setting Moons, and Suns. This is an exposure blend of two images: a long one for the sky and water, and a shorter one for the disk of the Moon, to prevent it from being overexposed. This was with the Canon EOS Ra and 200mm L lens and 1.4x Extender for 280mm focal length.$

Rising Strawberry Moon (June 24, 202...jpg
$This is a comparison pair of the Full Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth for the year) at left, and at perigee (closest to Earth) at right, with the perigean Moon being a so-called "Supermoon". This apogee Moon was shot on Halloween, October 31, 2020 and was the smallest, most distant Full Moon of 2020. It was also a “Blue Moon,” as any Full Moon on the 31st of a month has to be, meaning it was the second Full Moon of the calendar month. The perigee Moon was the "Pink" Moon of 2021. With the apogee Moon, the Moon was actually full about 12 hours earlier, so there is a slight phase on its disk, with a terminator visible on the Moon’s eastern limb at right. With the perigee Moon, the Moon was officially full just 2 hours prior to this image, so that disk is very fully illuminated. In this pair the perigee Moon is about 15% larger than the apogee Moon. This shows an example of the lunar disk size at its extremes. Most Full Moons appear midway in size between these two examples. The two Moons also show the effect of libration where, in this case, more of the southern limb is tipped toward us on the perigee Moon, and more of the northern limb toward us on the apogee Moon. Being Full Moons, the bright rays emanating from “recent” impacts, particularly from large craters such as Tycho (bottom) and Copernicus (left), are prominent on each disk. Both are single exposures with the same equipment — the Astro-Physics 130mm EDF refractor with the 2x AP Barlow lens (for a focal length of 1560mm) and Canon 6D MkII camera at ISO 100. I developed both images for increased contrast and colour saturation to bring out the subtle colour differences in the mare areas. Slight haze on the Oct. 31 night mutes the contrast slightly.$

Full Moon at Apogee vs Perigee Compa...jpg
$This is a comparison pair of the Full Moon at apogee (farthest from Earth for the year) at left, and at perigee (closest to Earth) at right, with the perigean Moon being a so-called "Supermoon". This apogee Moon was shot on Halloween, October 31, 2020 and was the smallest, most distant Full Moon of 2020. It was also a “Blue Moon,” as any Full Moon on the 31st of a month has to be, meaning it was the second Full Moon of the calendar month. The perigee Moon was the "Pink" Moon of 2021. With the apogee Moon, the Moon was actually full about 12 hours earlier, so there is a slight phase on its disk, with a terminator visible on the Moon’s eastern limb at right. With the perigee Moon, the Moon was officially full just 2 hours prior to this image, so that disk is very fully illuminated. In this pair the perigee Moon is about 15% larger than the apogee Moon. This shows an example of the lunar disk size at its extremes. Most Full Moons appear midway in size between these two examples. The two Moons also show the effect of libration where, in this case, more of the southern limb is tipped toward us on the perigee Moon, and more of the northern limb toward us on the apogee Moon. Being Full Moons, the bright rays emanating from “recent” impacts, particularly from large craters such as Tycho (bottom) and Copernicus (left), are prominent on each disk. Both are single exposures with the same equipment — the Astro-Physics 130mm EDF refractor with the 2x AP Barlow lens (for a focal length of 1560mm) and Canon 6D MkII camera at ISO 100. I developed both images for increased contrast and colour saturation to bring out the subtle colour differences in the mare areas. Slight haze on the Oct. 31 night mutes the contrast slightly.$

Full Moon at Apogee vs Perigee Compa...jpg
$The close Full Moon, dubbed the Pink Supermoon, of April 26, 2021, with it low in a blue twilight sky about 30 minutes after moonrise, and with the Moon still reddened by the atmosphere. The top limb is red and bottom limb green with atmospheric refraction. This is a single image, 1/20 second at ISO 100 with the Canon 6D MkII through the Astro-Physics 130mm EDT refractor with a 2x Barlow for f/12 and 1560mm focal length.$

Perigean Full Moon in Blue Twilight ...jpg
$The close Full Moon, dubbed the Pink Supermoon, of April 26, 2021, with it rising above my prairie horizon to the southeast this night. The Sun was still up and illuminating the foreground. This is a focus blend of two images — one focused for the distant landscape and one focused for the Moon, each 1/25 second at ISO 100 with the Canon 6D MkII through the Astro-Physics 130mm EDT refractor with a 2x Barlow for f/12 and 1560mm focal length.$

Rising Pink Supermoon (April 26, 202...jpg
$The close Full Moon, dubbed the Pink Supermoon, of April 26, 2021, with it high in a dark sky and about 2 hours after the moment of actual Full Moon but this was about 10 hours before the Moon reached a close perigee. I've processed this to enhance the contrast and colour differences in the lunar seas, the mare. This is a single image, 1/250 second at ISO 100 with the Canon 6D MkII through the Astro-Physics 130mm EDT refractor with a 2x Barlow for f/12 and 1560mm focal length. Topaz Sharpen AI applied very mildly, as it added artifacts if set too high or on Auto.$

Full Moon at Close Perigee (April 26...jpg
$The close Full Moon, dubbed the Pink Supermoon, of April 26, 2021, with it still low in a purple twilight sky shortly after moonrise, and with the Moon still reddened by the atmosphere. The top limb is red and bottom limb green with atmospheric refraction. This is a single image, 1/20 second at ISO 100 with the Canon 6D MkII through the Astro-Physics 130mm EDT refractor with a 2x Barlow for f/12 and 1560mm focal length.$

Perigean Full Moon in Purple Twiligh...jpg
$A single shot of the 6-day old Moon with the Lunar X and Lunar V formations just visible late in their apparition at this lunation, as the peaks and ridges that make up the apparent formations, and the area around them, were beginning to light up fully, so the effect was being lost. They X and V (the latter just above centre) were more obvious a few hours earlier. This is a single 1/100th second exposure with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 100 on the A&M 106mm refractor at f/6, with the image size doubled and the frame cropped, and Topaz Sharpen AI applied. Taken March 20, 2021 from home in Alberta at 9:37 pm MDT.$

6-Day Moon with X & V.jpg
$The rising Full Moon of February 27, 2021, the "Snow Moon" of the year. The Moon was technically fullest earlier in the day, some 16 hours before I shot this, and so was slightly past full when it rose for me this evening in southern Alberta. This is a composite stack of 9 short exposures for the Moon, blended with a single longer exposure for the ground and sky taken at the start of the moonrise sequence. But using the same exposure for the moons as I used for the sky would have resulted in vastly overexposed moons. As it was, I adjusted the exposures for the Moon from 0.6 seconds for the first (lowest) Moon to 1/30 second for the last (highest) Moon, to keep the moons properly exposed through the sequence, as it brightened as it rose. But it remained very yellow throughout due to atmospheric absorption of the blue wavelengths. The background exposure for the ground and sky was 2.5 seconds. The sky was much darker than the Moon, because it rose nearly 45 minutes after sunset this night, so the sky had darkened quite a bit by moonrise. All shots were through a SharpStar 76mm EDPH apo refractor with the matching SharpStar 0.8x field flattener/reducer, for an effective focal length of 335mm at f/4.4. The camera was the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 100. I shot images every 5 seconds, for possible use in a time-lapse. But having images spaced that closely together in time made it possible to select images with the Moon's disk just nicely separated to be touching. While the Moon moves its own diameter every 2 minutes due to Earth's rotation, the effect of atmospheric refraction will make it appear to rise at a different rate when it is closer to the horizon than when it is higher. Having lots of frames to pick from made it possible to pick just the right ones for the correct spacing. As it was, the time between the frames used for this composite was about 2 minutes.$

Rising Full Snow Moon (Feb 27, 2021).jpg
Moon, Mercury & Jupiter (Jan 14,...jpg
Moonrise at Dino Park Composite (85m...jpg
Moonrise over Dinosaur Park.jpg
Moonrise at Dinosaur Park Panorama (...jpg
Cold Moon Rising over Dinosaur Park.jpg
$A large sunspot group, the largest in many months at the time, on December 1, 2020. Taken with the 105mm Traveler refractor with 2X Barlow for f/12 and Canon 60Da camera at ISO 100 for 1/800 sec with the Thousand Oaks glass filter.$

Sunspot Dec 1, 2020 (105mm 60Da).jpg
$This is the partial penumbral eclipse of the Moon (eclipse magnitude 83% — ie. only 83% of the lunar disk was in the penumbral shadow) of November 30, 2020, taken at maximum eclipse about 2:40 a.m. MST. The Moon was in fast-moving low cloud which added the colourful lunar “corona” around the Moon’s disk, caused by water droplets in the clouds diffracting the moonlight. This effect was obvious to the naked eye and in binoculars, though I have increased the contrast and saturation to bring out the colours here. The contrast increase also brings out the very subtle difference in brightness across the disk of the Full Moon, with the top (north) edge of the Moon embedded most deeply into the penumbra and darkest, and the bottom (southern) edge not in the shadow at all and brightest. But the gradation is subtle and obscured somewhat by the clouds. The Moon was precisely and completely Full here with no terminator or shadows along the limb. This is a single exposure (not HDR) with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 100 through the Astro-Physics Traveler 105mm refractor at f/6 for 0.4 seconds. The clouds dimmed the Moon enough that a single exposure could take in both the Moon and clouds.$

Penumbral Lunar Eclipse (Nov 30, 202...jpg
Moon, Venus & Mercury (Nov 12, 2...jpg
Moon, Venus & Mercury with Label...jpg
$This was the Full Moon of Halloween Night, October 31, 2020 which was also the smallest, most distant Full Moon of 2020 and was also a “Blue Moon,” as any Full Moon on the 31st of a month has to be, meaning it was the second Full Moon of the calendar month. Being a Full Moon, the bright rays emanating from “recent” impacts, particularly from large craters such as Tycho (bottom) and Copernicus (left), are prominent. The Moon was actually full about 12 hours earlier, so there is a slight phase here, with a terminator visible on the Moon’s eastern limb at right. This is a single exposure with the Astro-Physics 130mm EDF refractor with the 2x AP Barlow lens (for a focal length of 1600mm) and Canon 6D MkII camera at ISO 100, taken to be part of a pair with a perigee Full “super” Moon in six months. I developed this image for increased contrast and colour saturation to bring out the subtle colour differences in the mare areas. Taken though some high cloud.$

Full Moon at Apogee (Oct 31, 2020).jpg
$The rising of the nearly Full Moon, the Harvest Moon of 2020, on September 30, from a site near home in Alberta, looking just south of due east this night. There is a very slight green rim at the top of the Moon’s disk. Refraction distorts the disk. This is a single exposure with the Canon 6D MkII through the 80mm A&M apo refractor at f/6 without field flattener. Taken as part of a time-lapse sequence.$

Harvest Moonrise #1 (Sept 30, 2020).jpg
$The rising of the nearly Full Moon, the Harvest Moon of 2020, on September 30, from a site near home in Alberta, looking just south of due east this night. Refraction distorts the disk and atmospheric absorption reddens the disk toward the horizon. This is a multiple exposure composite of 6 images with the Canon 6D MkII through the 80mm A&M apo refractor at f/6 without field flattener. Taken as part of a time-lapse sequence with images every 2 seconds. The frames for this blend were taken 2 minutes apart, so selected from every 60 frames out of the sequence. All were at 1/8 second at ISO 100. Images stacked in Photoshop and blended with Lighten mode. The ground comes from the first image.$

Harvest Moonrise Composite (Sept 30,...jpg
$The rising of the nearly Full Moon, the Harvest Moon of 2020, on September 30, from a site near home in Alberta, looking just south of due east this night. There is a very slight green rim at the top of the Moon’s disk and red rim at the bottom. Refraction distorts the disk. This is a single exposure with the Canon 6D MkII through the 80mm A&M apo refractor at f/6 without field flattener. Taken as part of a time-lapse sequence.$

Harvest Moonrise #3 (Sept 30, 2020).jpg
$The rising of the nearly Full Moon, the Harvest Moon of 2020, on September 30, from a site near home in Alberta, looking just south of due east this night. There is a very slight green rim at the top of the Moon’s disk. Refraction distorts the disk. This is a single exposure with the Canon 6D MkII through the 80mm A&M apo refractor at f/6 without field flattener. Taken as part of a time-lapse sequence.$

Harvest Moonrise #2 (Sept 30, 2020).jpg
Full Moon and Mars Rising in Conjunc...jpg
Moon and Mars Conjunction (Oct 2, 20...jpg
ISS Passage with Moon & Mars Con...jpg
$The Harvest Moon (the Full Moon of October 1, 2020) rising almost due east at the end of a country road in southern Alberta, near home. The horizon was smoky or dusty, so the Moon was very red as it rose, and looking almost like a totally eclipsed Moon. This is a blend of 6 exposures, all 1/2-second with the A&M 80mm f/6 apo refractor (for 480mm focal length) and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 400, taken as part of a 460-frame time-lapse sequence, with shots every 2 seconds. For this composite I choose 6 images at 2-minute intervals, so the Moon rose its own diameter between frames. The ground comes from the first image in the sequence when the lighting was brightest. The Moon rose at 7:35 pm this night, about 30 minutes after sunset. A mild Orton glow effect added to the ground with Luminar 4.$

Harvest Moonrise Composite (October ...jpg
Rising Full Moon (July 4, 2020).jpg
Alpenglow at Icefields with Quarter ...jpg
Moonrise with Jupiter and Saturn (Ju...jpg
Moon 8-Day Terminator Panorama.jpg
$The 6.5-day-old Moon (approximately) with the Lunar X (below centre) and V (above centre) formations well lit on the terminator. This phase has an incredible amount of detail and variety of features visible along the terminator. I shot this with the Astro-Physics 130mm refractor, 2X Barlow, and Canon 60Da cropped-frame camera. Shot April 29, 2020. Thin cloud added some sky glow. Topaz Sharpen AI and DeNoise AI applied to sharpen fine detail and smooth noise in the sky. This is a single 1/30 sec exposure at ISO 100 and at f/12. There is a matching version in landscape format with the Moon just squeezing into the frame.$

6.5-Day Moon with 60Da (April 29, 20...jpg
$A collage of two images of the Moon and Venus taken minutes apart on April 28, 2020, to show the similarity in their phases this night, April 28, 2020. Both images were shot with the same focal length and camera and so are identical in image scale, to compare their apparent sizes. I have not enlarged Venus, but I have put a frame around it to emphasize that its image has been layered in as a composite. The Moon was a 5.6-day-old waxing crescent this night, 32% illuminated.. Venus was at its greatest brilliancy, or Greatest Illuminated Extent, with a disk 38 arc seconds across and 27% illuminated, so slightly less.. But the Moon was closer in phase to Venus this night than it would have been the night before with a 5-day Moon. The Moon’s disk appears about 50 times larger than Venus’s. Just to be clear — Venus was not this close to the Moon! I layered in the image of Venus taken after the Moon image, with both set in the deep blue evening twilight. Venus and the Moon were actually some 30° apart in the sky. But the composite illustrates their mutual phases and disk sizes. Taken with the 130mm Astro-Physics refractor with a 2X Barlow lens for an effective focal length of 1600mm and with the Canon 60Da APS-sensor camera. The Moon image is the full frame of the sensor, uncropped. Both images are single short exposures at ISO 100.$

Moon and Venus Crescents Compared wi...jpg
$A collage of two images of the Moon and Venus taken minutes apart on April 28, 2020, to show the similarity in their phases this night, April 28, 2020. Both images were shot with the same focal length and camera and so are identical in image scale, to compare their apparent sizes. I have not enlarged Venus, but I have put a frame around it to emphasize that its image has been layered in as a composite. The Moon was a 5.6-day-old waxing crescent this night, 32% illuminated.. Venus was at its greatest brilliancy, or Greatest Illuminated Extent, with a disk 38 arc seconds across and 27% illuminated, so slightly less.. But the Moon was closer in phase to Venus this night than it would have been the night before with a 5-day Moon. The Moon’s disk appears about 50 times larger than Venus’s. Just to be clear — Venus was not this close to the Moon! I layered in the image of Venus taken after the Moon image, with both set in the deep blue evening twilight. Venus and the Moon were actually some 30° apart in the sky. But the composite illustrates their mutual phases and disk sizes. Taken with the 130mm Astro-Physics refractor with a 2X Barlow lens for an effective focal length of 1600mm and with the Canon 60Da APS-sensor camera. The Moon image is the full frame of the sensor, uncropped. Both images are single short exposures at ISO 100.$

Moon and Venus Crescents Compared (A...jpg
Waxing Moon and Venus at Greatest Br...jpg
$The waxing 3-day-old Moon in twilight with Earthshine on the dark side of the Moon. Note the “Baily’s Beads” of bright peaks catching the morning sunlight around the lunar south pole. This is an HDR blend of 5 exposures in Camera Raw, to bring out the faint Earthshine while retaining detail in the bright sunlit crescent. Taken April 25, 2020 with the 130mm Astro-Physics refractor at f/6 and Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 100.$

Waxing 3-Day Moon with Earthshine (A...jpg
Waning Moon at Sunrise (April 15, 20...jpg
14-Day Moon with South Pole Closeup.jpg
14-Day Moon with South Pole (Apr 6, ...jpg
$The rising of the Full Moon on March 9, 2020, (sometimes known as the Worm Moon) with a deer in the foreground, and in a composite of images of the Moon taken 3 minutes apart. The sky and foreground come from the first image with the Moon on the horizon. The Moon was into cloud for the last exposure. I shot this with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 100 and through the SharpStar 76mm f/5.5 apo refractor.$

March Full Moonrise Composite (Mar 9...jpg
$The fleeting formations of light and shadow called the Lunar X (below centre on the terminator) and the Lunar V (above centre) on the 6-day-old Moon, on March 1, 2020. Can you see them? For a few hours during the 6-day-old waxing Moon the sunlight illuminates the rims of particular raters to give the impression of an X and a V on the boundary between light and dark—the terminator—where the Sun is rising. The X is formed by the confluence of the rims of craters Blanchinus, La Caille, and Purbach, while the Lunar V is formed by morning light illuminating the rim of Ukert crater. This is a single exposure with the Canon 6D MII at ISO 100 on the SharpStar 140PH triplet apo refractor with a 2X Barlow for f/12. Topaz Sharpen AI applied. Taken through light haze moving in.$

Lunar X on 6-Day Moon (SS140 at f12).jpg
$Earthshine lights the “dark side of the Moon” on the waxing crescent Moon of February 27, 2020. Stars surround the Moon in the deep twilight sky. The brightest star is 4.4-magnitude Nu Piscium. This is a blend of five exposures from short to long to preserve detail in the bright sunlit crescent while bringing out the faint blue Earthshine from light reflected off the Earth and lighting the nightside of the Moon. Exposures blended with luminosity masks. HDR and Mean Stacking routines produced edge artifacts, a very noisy sky, and no control over the mask edges and softness to better blend the exposures. All taken with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 100 through the Astro-Physics 130mm apo refractor at f/6.$

Earthshine on Waxing Moon (Feb 27, 2...jpg
Occultation of Mars (Feb 18, 2020).jpg
Full Moonrise Panorama (Feb 8, 2020).jpg
Full Moonrise (Feb 8, 2020).jpg
Mercury, Venus & Waxing Quarter ...jpg
Mercury, Venus & Waxing Quarter ...jpg
Moon and Venus Conjunction (Dec 28, ...jpg
Observing the Moon with Binoculars (...jpg
Observing the Moon v2 (Dec 3, 2019).jpg
Observing the Moon v1 (Dec 3, 2019).jpg
$A composite of the November 11, 2019 Transit of Mercury across the disk of the Sun, on a day with no sunspots on the Sun. The temperature was about -20° C to -15° C this morning but the sky was perfectly clear. This takes in the last 3 hours of the 5.5-hour event starting at 8:05 a.m., just before mid-transit at 8:19 a.m. MST. The Sun rose at 7:50 a.m. MST this morning from my location in Alberta, Canada, with the transit in progress. But for the first few minutes the Sun’s image was so distorted from atmospheric turbulence that Mercury recorded only as a fuzzy blur. As it is, the disks of Mercury from early in the morning are soft and distorted. The 37 images composited here start at 8:05 a..m. MST, at left, 12 minutes before mid-transit, and end with Mercury just beginning its egress of the disk at right at 11:02 a.m., with images for the composite selected at 5-minute intervals. I actually shot frames every 15 seconds for a time-lapse, for 700 images in total. The images are stacked in Photoshop with the Darken Color blend mode. North is up here, with Mercury moving from left to right, east to west, across the Sun above the ecliptic which itself is angled up in relation to the cardinal directions. All were with the Canon 60Da camera, and taken through the Astro-Physics 105mm apochromatic refractor with a 2X Barlow giving f/12 at 1200mm focal length, on an equatorial mount tracking the Sun, and through a Thousand Oaks metal-on-glass solar filter. The yellow tint on the Sun is what the filter provides.$

Transit of Mercury Composite (60Da).jpg
$The very distorted rising Sun on Novermber 11, 2019 with Mercury in transit on the disk of the Sun, but only faintly visible here as a blurry spot left of centre. The top limb of the Sun is rimmed with green (not quite a green flash) while the bottom limb has a red rim. This was through a solar filter. This is a single exposure through the 105mm Traveler aop refractor and Canon 60Da camera.$

Rising Sun with Mercury Transit.jpg
$The distorted Sun low in the sky after rising on Novermber 11, 2019 with Mercury in transit on the disk of the Sun, visible here as a blurry spot left of centre. The bottom limb has a red rim. This was through a solar filter. This is a single exposure through the 105mm Traveler aop refractor and Canon 60Da camera.$

Low Sun with Mercury Transit.jpg
$A composite of the November 11, 2019 Transit of Mercury across the disk of the Sun, on a day with no sunspots on the Sun. The temperature was about -20° C to -15° C this morning but the sky was perfectly clear. This takes in the last 2.5 hours of the 5.5-hour event. The Sun rose at 7:50 a.m. MST this morning from my location in Alberta, Canada, with the transit in progress. But for the first 45 minutes or so the Sun’s image was so distorted from atmospheric turbulence that Mercury recorded only as a fuzzy blur. So images from mid-transit at 8:19 a.m. were not usable. I was not going to “fake in” images from later in the set. The 16 images composited here start at 8:32 a..m. MST, at left, shortly after mid-transit, and end with Mercury just beginning its egress of the disk at right at 11:02 a.m., with images for the composite selected at 10-minute intervals. I actually shot frames every 15 seconds for a possible time-lapse, for 700 images in total. North is up here, with Mercury moving from left to right, east to west, across the Sun above the ecliptic which itself is angled up in relation to the cardinal directions. All were with the Canon EOS Ra camera in its cropped-frame mode, and taken through the Astro-Physics 130mm apochromatic refractor at f/6 for 800mm focal length, on an equatorial mount tracking the Sun, and through a Kendrick Mylar solar filter. The image is further cropped in processing. The yellow tint to the Sun was added in processing.$

Transit of Mercury Composite (EOS R).jpg
$Mercury in transit on the disk of the Sun, at 11:01 am MST on November 11, 2019, only 3 minutes before egress. I shot from home in southern Alberta on a beautfully clear morning but with temperature a chilly -20° C at sunrise and warming to -12° by end of transit. THis was the last transit of Mercury until 2032, but the last visible from North America until 2049! I shot this with the cropped frame Canon 60Da camera on the Astro-Physics 105mm Traveler refractor with a 2X Barlow for an effective focal length of 1200mm at f/12. This was 1/500 second at ISO 100 through a metal-coated Thousand Oaks solar filter yielding the yellow tint.$

Transit of Mercury (11 am).jpg
$Mercury in transit on the disk of the Sun, at 10:01 am MST on November 11, 2019, a little less than an hour before egress. I shot from home in southern Alberta on a beautfully clear morning but with temperature a chilly -20° C at sunrise and warming to -12° by end of transit. THis was the last transit of Mercury until 2032, but the last visible from North America until 2049! I shot this with the cropped frame Canon 60Da camera on the Astro-Physics 105mm Traveler refractor with a 2X Barlow for an effective focal length of 1200mm at f/12. This was 1/500 second at ISO 100 through a metal-coated Thousand Oaks solar filter yielding the yellow tint.$

Transit of Mercury (10 am).jpg
Waxing Moon and Venus (Oct 29, 2019).jpg
Waning Gibbous Moon in the Morning a...jpg
Exiting Trollfjord by Moonlight.jpg
Autumn Waxing Moon in Twilight Panor...jpg
Low Waxing Crescent Moon (105mm-Sept...jpg
Harvest Moonrise over Wheatfield (Se...jpg
Harvest Moonrise from Home (Sept 12,...jpg
$The 7-day-old waxing Moon setting into the trees, with a colourful corona surrounding it from haze in the sky at the time, making for a colourful scene. This was July 8, 2019, a day after the Moon was at the same phase as it was 50 years earlier, on July 20, 1969 for the first Moon landing, Apollo 11. This is an HDR stack of 5 exposures through the 4-inch refractor telescope and with the Canon 6D camera. Blended with Adobe Camera Raw.$

Waxing Moon in Trees (July 8, 2019).jpg
$The 5-day-old waxing crescent Moon near the Beehive star cluster, Messier 44, in Cancer on the evening of May 10, 2019, set in the deep blue twilight sky, and with Earthshine still visible on the dark side of the Moon. From eastern North America this evening the Moon appeared in front of the Beehive, but by the time darkness fell out west the Moon had moved east of the Beehive by a moon diameter. Technical: This is an HDR stack of 6 exposures for the lunar disk, tone-mapped in Photomatix Pro using Fusion/Natural Blend, with the sky from a single exposure, the longest in the set — HDRs can’t ever align and blend the Moon and stars accurately, as the Moon is shifting against the star background slightly. Taken through the Astro-Physics Traveler 105mm refractor at f/6 and with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 400, and with exposures from 1 second in two stop increments to 1/500. As a further note, I tried AuroraHDR 2018 on this and it failed miserably, producing a very noisy image. Photoshop HDR produced a lot of edge artifacts, and luminosity masking was going to be tough to blend, naturally, so I gave Photomatix a go — it worked but only for the Moon itself.$

Waxing Moon and M44 (May 10, 2019).jpg
Harvest Moon and Wind Turbine (Sept ...jpg
Halls Harbour, Nova Scotia - Tide Ou...jpg
Halls Harbour, Nova Scotia - Tide In.jpg
Halls Harbour, Nova Scotia - Tidal C...jpg
$The five day old Moon (more like the 4.5-day Moon to be more precise) on April 9, 2019, in a single image with the 105mm Traveler apo refractor with 2x Barlow lens for 1200mm focal length and f/12 and the Canon 60Da camera, for 1/15 second.$

5-Day-Old Moon with Labels (April 9,...jpg
$The five day old Moon (more like the 4.5-day Moon to be more precise) on April 9, 2019, in a single image with the 105mm Traveler apo refractor with 2x Barlow lens for 1200mm focal length and f/12 and the Canon 60Da camera, for 1/15 second.$

5-Day-Old Moon (April 9, 2019 - 105m...jpg
$The 4-day-old waxing crescent Moon (more like the 3.5-day Moon) on April 8, 2019 exposed for just the bright sunlit crescent, revealing details along the terminator. This is with the 105mm Traveler refractor and 2X AP Barlow lens for an effective focal length of 1200mm at f/12, and with the cropped-frame Canon 60Da at ISO 400, for a single exposure of 1/60 second. This is not a stack or mosaic.$

4-Day-Old Moon with Labels (April 8,...jpg
$The 4-day-old waxing crescent Moon (more like the 3.5-day Moon) on April 8, 2019 exposed for just the bright sunlit crescent, revealing details along the terminator. This is with the 105mm Traveler refractor and 2X AP Barlow lens for an effective focal length of 1200mm at f/12, and with the cropped-frame Canon 60Da at ISO 400, for a single exposure of 1/60 second. This is not a stack or mosaic.$

4-Day-Old Moon (April 8, 2019 - 105m...jpg
Waxing Moon, Mars, and Taurus Cluste...jpg
$The 4-day-old waxing crescent Moon on April 8, 2019 in a blend of short and long exposures to bring out the faint Earthshine on the dark side of the Moon and deep blue twilight sky while retaining details in the bright sunlit crescent. This is with the 105mm Traveler refractor and 2X AP Barlow lens for an effective focal length of 1200mm at f/12, and with the cropped-frame Canon 60Da at ISO 400, in a blend of 7 exposures from 1/30 second to 2 seconds, blended with luminosity masks from ADP Pro3 extension panel in Photoshop.$

Four-Day-Old Moon with Earthshine (A...jpg
$The 4-day-old waxing crescent Moon on April 8, 2019 in a single exposure when the Moon was still in the bright blue twilight. Even so, the faint Earthshine is just becoming visible. This is with the 105mm Traveler refractor and 2X AP Barlow lens for an effective focal length of 1200mm at f/12, and with the cropped-frame Canon 60Da at ISO 400, in a single 1/8-second exposure.$

Four-Day-Old Moon in Blue Twilight (...jpg
Waxing Moon over Mountains (April 6,...jpg
$A close-up of the rising Sun on April 5, 2019, from home, and shot through the 66mm refractor and 1.4x Extender for 650mm focal length. This is a blend of a short and long exposure to prevent the solar disk from being too overexposed while retaining the sky and ground. The Sun was already a bright disk at this point even at this low altitude. This was without any solar filter.$

Sunrise Closeup (April 5, 2019).jpg
Waxing Moon Series (March 13-17, 201...jpg
11-Day-Old Moon (March 17, 2019 - C9...jpg
11-Day-Old Moon (March 17, 2019 - C9...jpg
Rising Equinox Moon Panorama (March ...jpg
$The Full Moon at the equinox, on March 20, 2019, reaching full phase only fours hours after the moment of the vernal equinox, and here captured rising very shortly before the moment of the Full Moon. I shot this while the Moon was still rising and in a deep blue sky, and tinted yellow from atmospheric absorption. Even so, this is a blend of short (for the Moon) and long (for the sky) exposures to capture the dynamic range. All with the 105mm Traveler apo refractor and Canon 60Da camera at ISO 100.$

Equinox Full Moon (March 20, 2019).jpg
10-Day-Old Moon (March 16, 2019 - C9...jpg
10-Day-Old Moon (March 16, 2019 - C9...jpg