Posted on 05/04/2015 11:40:20 AM PDT by Heartlander
It’s amazing the kinds of space photos that amateur photographers can create from their own backyards these days. Case in point: the high-resolution moon photo above was captured last week by Polish photographer Bartosz Wojczyński. It was stitched together using 32000 separate photos.
Wojczyński tells us that he used “advanced image acquisition and processing techniques,” mapping violet and infrared images of the moon to blue and red channels in the final shot.
It took him about 28 minutes to shoot 32000 photos weighing 73.5 gigabytes using his ZWO ASI174MM monochrome camera, a couple of filters, his Sky-Watcher HEQ5 mount, and his Celestron C9.25 telescope (which is equivalent to a 2350mm f/10 camera lens) — equipment that cost him about $3500 total.
The photography was done from the balcony of his apartment in Piekary Śląskie, Poland:
The equipment a few hours prior to when the photos were shot.
After the thousands of images were captured, Wojczyński spent 5-6 hours processing and stitching the images together into the 14 megapixel final image. Click here to see the original image in all its full-res glory. Here are some crops showing the details of the photo:
“Thanks to the enhanced coloration, it’s possible to examine the differences in the chemical composition of the lunar surface,” Wojczyński tells us. “For example, the bluish tint of several areas indicates a titanium-rich soil.”
P.S. Wojczyński is the same photographer that made the six-hour exposure of the celestial north pole that we featured last month.
Wow that is freakin’ amazing. Incredible how many times the surface has been hit.
Mr. Wojczynski should be given time on some really big telescopes.
That is something else. Awesome job.
He does realize that the picture he took was of the Death Star and not the moon?
Awesome pic.
I kid. Awesome sauce.
At 20,000mph or more, too.
The first one looks like a potato in my fridge......
That is really cool.
bump for later
When you think about it, how many of those hits would have struck the earth if the moon wasn't in the way?
He was apparently able to do it “on the [relative] cheap”, too.
The ZWO ASI174MM ASI174MC Monochrome camera only costs about $600.00. The telescope runs about $1,200, as does the mount.
Not too shabby considering the end product he was able to achieve.
Most of the surface marks are from the late heavy bombardment. 3.8-4.1 billion years ago.
That is one of the amazing things. The earth WAS hit that many times and more. We just have weathering to make those fade over the billions of years. Very cool photos.
Even more awesome when you realize that the Moon's gravity is 1/6th that of the Erf's.
I reckon we were hit about six times more often...
Thanks, never thought about that....
You mean because our gravity being more, it pulled in more strikes than what the moon is capable of doing?
;’)
Yep. More gravity and a bigger target.
The universe is a scary and indifferent place.
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