Waning gibbous, February 20, 2022, 3:45 AM

 

Waning gibbous, September 30, 2018

Photographed about 6:10 AM, almost directly overhead. Two different exposures to bring out features in the maria and the craters along the terminator.

Waning gibbous, January 10, 2015, 6:47 AM

6:47 AM

6:47 AM

Waning gibbous, January 8, 2015, six hours apart

Images of the Moon taken before going to bed (12:28 AM) and after getting up (6:19 and 6:20 AM.)

12:28 AM

6:20 AM

12:28 AM

6:19 AM

Waning gibbous, January 5, 2015, 11:32 PM

11:32 PM

Waning gibbous, December 7, 2014

Clouds covered the Moon most of the time since December 4. We finally had some visibility the night of December 6, but by then the Full Moon had already been and gone. When I finally took these photos in the early morning hours of December 7, clouds were racing across the face of the Moon.

3:47 AM. High shutter speed, contrast and brightness enhanced, unsharp masking applied. Wispy, fast-moving clouds creating dimness in lower right.

3:48 AM, standard automatic settings. Brightness diminished, contrast enhanced, unsharp masking applied.

Last quarter amongst the clouds: September 15, 2014, 12:33 AM

Last night the Moon wasn't quite at Last quarter, but it was pretty darned close. Unfortunately it was obscured by broken clouds that thundered across its face. Sometimes it put in an appearance, as did nearby Aldebaran.

September 15, 2014, 12:33 AM

Detail of above featuring the Moon and Aldebaran

I took a series of close-up shots, but the clouds were a constant problem. Below are the best two images.

September 15, 2014, 12:35 AM

September 15, 2014, 12:36 AM

September 14, 2014, 2:43 - 2:44 AM

The Moon was at an in-between phase last night, Waning gibbous on its way to Last quarter. I find the quarter (or "half") phases most interesting, as details tend to show up more sharply due to the long shadows at or near the terminator.

I'm presenting these photos out of order. This is a regular image taken at 2:44 AM. In it you can see the remarkable shadows in the craters along the terminator, as well as sunlight reflecting off the tops of mountains beyond the terminator!

However, the "bright" parts of the Moon, where the sun is closer to directly overhead, are washed out and overexposed. They show up better with a short exposure shot at 60 frames per second. As these shots are very dim, I needed to adjust the brightness and contrast. This also brings out fine details not visible in the normal photograph. (The colors in this photo are, I believe, a side effect of this adjustment.)

This also causes some of the fine details along the terminator to get lost. Here is a close-up of those details from the first photo:

A note on the sizes of things:

The large round feature along the terminator in the top half of the photo is Mare Serenetatis. There's a small bright crater at the bottom called Menalaus, 27 kilometers across - about 17 miles. That's not even the smallest feature in this image. Not bad for a picture of something 238,900 miles away!

Here Menalaus is the bright crater on the center left. The image clearly shows many smaller craters south of it. And check out the wrinkle of Dorsa Smirnov clearly visible in the upper part of Mare Serenitatis!

August 13, 2014, 11:32 PM

Waning gibbous phase, a few days after Full. This is a late-night shot for me, taken freehand - standing on my back porch steps, trying to stabilize myself against the open storm door - because I couldn't find a spot where I could position my tripod and still have an obstruction-free shot of the Moon. It was taken at 60 fps, and contrast and brightness were enhanced. This helped to bring out all the craters along the terminator.