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.
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.
The rising Full Moon of February 8, 2020, over the Alberta prairie with deer wandering across the field in the distance. This night the Moon rose about 7 hours before the moment of actual Full Moon so it was rising well before sunset, with the Sun still well up the southwest but amid some cloud so it was not directly lighting the landscape. The brighter sky meant that a single exposure could capture the sky without overexposing the lunar disk. This is a panorama of 5 images with the 200mm lens and 1.4x teleconvertor on the Canon 6D MkII camera. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw,
