Last Nights Full Moon

Last Nights Full Moon is often referred to as the "Full Wolf Moon" as it was in the sky when wolves could be heard calling in the snow. Some call it the Old Full Moon.
For me the full moon always looks stunning as it hangs majestically in the sky. However its the worst time to image it. Flat and disappointing when the images are downloaded. It lacks detail because the sunlight is not casting any shadows. I've tried HDR but it looks unreal so processing this image is quite simple. Mainly contrast improvements using curves with an additional layer, its blending mode set to soft light and 20% opacity. It seem to be the best I can do without a lunar filter.

Today's Sun Spots.

A rare sight in southern England. 

THE SUN

 

I took this image of the Sun with my little 70mm skywatcher refractor which has a focal length of 500m mm. The camera was a Canon 400d shooting through the scope like a long telephoto lens.

Its nice an quick to set up using just a simple tripod. The filter was diy using Baader AstroSolar safety film.

PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T LOOK AT OR POINT ANY CAMERA AT THE SUN WITHOUT USING  PROPER SOLAR FILTERS OR YOU WILL SEVERELY DAMAGE YOUR EYES IN AN INSTANT.

Over saturated Moon

This picture was taken with a Canon 40D through my Etx 105 at prime focus .

Normally a colour image of the moon is grey with some slightly blueish areas. During post processing I often change elements like contrast  to bring out the shadows but I recently learnt from Filipe Alves that by increasing the saturation of the colours in the image, details about the Moons geology composition can be revealed.
I have not added any colours to this image, merely magnified the colours in the image.
It is often called a false colour image as this is not how its seen with the naked eye.
In 1992 NASA's spacecraft Galileo produced an image using filters that is remarkably similar. The blue colour shows titanium rich areas whilst the orange areas are lower in titanium. The Sea of Tranquillity where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in Apollo 11 in 1969 is to the right of centre and shows up really blue so its high in titanium.
Anyway all that aside, I think its good to see the moon is not just grey but a marvolous mix of colour.