Good time to capture a large image of the moon
 

Someone asked not long ago about the best time for capturing the
largest possible image of the moon. For a given camera, lens and
location, the coming full moon on Dec 12 is a good time. This is
a time when the moon is not only at perigee, but also close to
the nearest it ever gets to the earth in recent times. The exact
times of perigee and full moon differ by only 5 hours - full moon
at 4:39 pm and perigee at 9:38 pm, both UT. Source:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html

According to this online calculator, the moon will be at less
than 357000 km at the coming perigee, compared to more than
370000 km at some perigees and more than 400000 km at apogee.

Full moon may not be the best time for capturing an interesting
shot of the moon, but for those who want to get the moon to cover
the largest number of pixels, a coincidence of peak perigee and
full moon is the ideal time.

Re: Good time to capture a large image of the moon
 

mianileng wrote:
> Someone asked not long ago about the best time for capturing the
> largest possible image of the moon. For a given camera, lens and
> location, the coming full moon on Dec 12 is a good time. This is
> a time when the moon is not only at perigee, but also close to
> the nearest it ever gets to the earth in recent times. The exact
> times of perigee and full moon differ by only 5 hours - full moon
> at 4:39 pm and perigee at 9:38 pm, both UT. Source:
> http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html
>
> According to this online calculator, the moon will be at less
> than 357000 km at the coming perigee, compared to more than
> 370000 km at some perigees and more than 400000 km at apogee.
>
> Full moon may not be the best time for capturing an interesting
> shot of the moon, but for those who want to get the moon to cover
> the largest number of pixels, a coincidence of peak perigee and
> full moon is the ideal time.

Any advantage to a day or 2 before & after or is this a brief proximity?
I'd like to try moon rises & sets. Hmm... sounds like 10% larger than
the worst case, I suppose that would be 5% larger than average.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

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Re: Good time to capture a large image of the moon
 

Paul Furman wrote:
> mianileng wrote:
>> Someone asked not long ago about the best time for capturing
>> the
>> largest possible image of the moon. For a given camera, lens
>> and
>> location, the coming full moon on Dec 12 is a good time. This
>> is
>> a time when the moon is not only at perigee, but also close to
>> the nearest it ever gets to the earth in recent times. The
>> exact
>> times of perigee and full moon differ by only 5 hours - full
>> moon
>> at 4:39 pm and perigee at 9:38 pm, both UT. Source:
>> http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pacalc.html
>>
>> According to this online calculator, the moon will be at less
>> than 357000 km at the coming perigee, compared to more than
>> 370000 km at some perigees and more than 400000 km at apogee.
>>
>> Full moon may not be the best time for capturing an
>> interesting
>> shot of the moon, but for those who want to get the moon to
>> cover
>> the largest number of pixels, a coincidence of peak perigee
>> and
>> full moon is the ideal time.
>
> Any advantage to a day or 2 before & after or is this a brief
> proximity? I'd like to try moon rises & sets. Hmm... sounds
> like 10%
> larger than the worst case, I suppose that would be 5% larger
> than
> average.

It should still be within 360000 km for a couple of days before
and after perigee and the difference in image size wouldn't be
noticeable except by precise measurement of the diameter in
pixels.

Re: Good time to capture a large image of the moon
 

There are some of my casual moon images, and links to other sites, here:

http://www.satsignal.eu/imaging/moon.htm

Cheers,
David

Re: Good time to capture a large image of the moon
 

On Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:11:04 +0530, "mianileng"
<mianileng@invalid.invalid> wrote:

>Someone asked not long ago about the best time for capturing the
>largest possible image of the moon. For a given camera, lens and
>location, the coming full moon on Dec 12 is a good time. This is
>a time when the moon is not only at perigee, but also close to
>the nearest it ever gets to the earth in recent times. ..

Well that is something less that 5% difference. Not really all
that exciting. Well at least not to me. I would rather have a nice
cool still night with little air motion that to worry about the
difference in distance.

Re: Good time to capture a large image of the moon
 

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "mianileng"
<mianileng@invalid.invalid> saying something like:

>Full moon may not be the best time for capturing an interesting
>shot of the moon, but for those who want to get the moon to cover
>the largest number of pixels, a coincidence of peak perigee and
>full moon is the ideal time.

On an APS-C sensor, a frame-filling moon for me is with an old Novoflex
600mm f:8 and 2x telecon. Full moon brightness makes focusing no
problem, even at f:16, but it moves quicker than you think when it's
filling the frame.

Re: Good time to capture a large image of the moon
 

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
> We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
> drugs began to take hold. I remember "mianileng"
> <mianileng@invalid.invalid> saying something like:
>
>> Full moon may not be the best time for capturing an interesting
>> shot of the moon, but for those who want to get the moon to cover
>> the largest number of pixels, a coincidence of peak perigee and
>> full moon is the ideal time.
>
> On an APS-C sensor, a frame-filling moon for me is with an old Novoflex
> 600mm f:8 and 2x telecon. Full moon brightness makes focusing no
> problem, even at f:16, but it moves quicker than you think when it's
> filling the frame.

The moon moves approximately 1 diameter in 2 minutes. At moonrise as
the moon peaks over the horizon, it will be fully visible in ~2 minutes.
At moonset, from the time the moon touches the horizon until it
disappears will also take ~2 minutes. (The same is true of the sun,
sunrise, sunset.)

So if you have the moon more-or-less "filling the frame" it will move
entirely out of the frame in about 2 minutes! If you move the camera
ahead of the moon's path so that the moon is only 1/2 visible in the
frame, it will come fully into view in about 1 minute.

jc

Re: Good time to capture a large image of the moon
 

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember JC Dill <jcdill.lists@gmail.com>
saying something like:

>So if you have the moon more-or-less "filling the frame" it will move
>entirely out of the frame in about 2 minutes! If you move the camera
>ahead of the moon's path so that the moon is only 1/2 visible in the
>frame, it will come fully into view in about 1 minute.

Much trial and many errors resulted, but it worked eventually, and it
certainly pointed up the need for rock-steady mounting. I might have
another go soon, but the weather here looks terrible for moon shots for
the next few days.

Re: Good time to capture a large image of the moon
 

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:42:37 -0600, Carl S trilled and trolled :

>> The moon moves approximately 1 diameter in 2 minutes. At moonrise as
>> the moon peaks over the horizon, it will be fully visible in ~2 minutes.
>> At moonset, from the time the moon touches the horizon until it
>> disappears will also take ~2 minutes. (The same is true of the sun,
>> sunrise, sunset.)
>
> Actually, it takes a bit longer at the horizon, due to refraction of the air at
> low altitudes. You still see the sun or moon before/after it is well below the
> horizon. Visually it moves much slower at the horizon that it does in the sky
> above you. The amount of refraction also changes with the atmospheric pressure
> in the direction you are looking. Denser air refracts light more.

Actually, you added nothing of any significant value to the
thread. As a disturbed sock puppet attempting to appear as an
omniscient troll you've failed again because you're not as bright as
you pretend to be. By not replying with something truly *helpful*
you make yourselves so much easier to ID.

Re: Good time to capture a large image of the moon
 

Burt Campner wrote:
> JC Dill wrote:
>> Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:
>>> mianileng saying something like:
>>>
>>>> Full moon may not be the best time for capturing an interesting
>>>> shot of the moon, but for those who want to get the moon to cover
>>>> the largest number of pixels, a coincidence of peak perigee and
>>>> full moon is the ideal time.
>>> On an APS-C sensor, a frame-filling moon for me is with an old Novoflex
>>> 600mm f:8 and 2x telecon. Full moon brightness makes focusing no
>>> problem, even at f:16, but it moves quicker than you think when it's
>>> filling the frame.
>> The moon moves approximately 1 diameter in 2 minutes. At moonrise as
>> the moon peaks over the horizon, it will be fully visible in ~2 minutes.
>> At moonset, from the time the moon touches the horizon until it
>> disappears will also take ~2 minutes. (The same is true of the sun,
>> sunrise, sunset.)
>>
>> So if you have the moon more-or-less "filling the frame" it will move
>> entirely out of the frame in about 2 minutes! If you move the camera
>> ahead of the moon's path so that the moon is only 1/2 visible in the
>> frame, it will come fully into view in about 1 minute.
>
> Keep in mind too that when the moon is near the horizon you'll be about 3,958
> miles (6,370 km) further from the moon than when it is overhead. Overhead won't
> provide for as interesting a photo as when it's near the horizon, but if you're
> going for the largest number of pixels illuminated by the moon then it'll help a
> bit.

Yeah I thought of that but it's more interesting near the horizon, and
it'll be nearer for that position so most dramatic then, presumably.
Also looks like we're in for cloudy weather though.

--
Paul Furman
www.edgehill.net
www.baynatives.com

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