I took some images of the Moon through my new 500-1000 mm (which on my camera acts like an 800-1600 mm) camera lens around 4:30 AM because I wasn't sure a 5% full moon would be capturable during daylight for my observing project (I'll be posting today or tomorrow about that) ... and I'm glad I did, since the 5% full moon was not visible once it had reached an altitude of about 26 degrees and visible in the 16" telescope here since the Sun was only 26 degrees away and 4 degrees above the horizon. I am quite pleased with the results, which are attached in the first image.

I also took a compilation of the "conjunction" of the Moon, Venus, and M45 (Pleiades) with a 104 mm lens (I say "conjunction" because the Moon and Venus were about 8-9 degrees apart, and M45 was around 7 degrees away from Venus. I'm not going to go into processing details unless folks ask, but needless to say there was a lot of background subtraction and image normalizing as the Sun rose throughout the ~10 minutes I was shooting. I'm attaching two versions of that, one without the diffraction spikes and one with (though removed for the Moon).

I'm heading out soon to test out a new camera the Observatory bought, and then to try to get some better shots of M45 and Venus as they rise.

Comments/Compliments/Critique/Constructive Criticism/Questions/Etc. are welcome.

Attached Images

	moon_20060623.jpg (105.8 KB, 16 views)
	conjunction.jpg (50.3 KB, 12 views)
	conjunction_diff.jpg (97.9 KB, 11 views)

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"Why do something now when you can put it off 'til later?" -- me :)

Very creative presentation, Well done!

Thanks, Jaicoa.

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"Why do something now when you can put it off 'til later?" -- me :)

Hey stu, good job man!

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