This image of the Full Moon (well, almost full – it was 99% illuminated) was taken on the 8th May 2009, using my Canon 20D attached to my ED80.

I took 136 photos @ ISO100, 1/125s exposure. All photos were stacked in Registax. The image was processed in Photoshop to reveal the different compositions of the geological formations on the Moon.

Saturated Colour Full Moon. Click for desktop resolution.

Continue reading for more information about the capture and processing of the image.

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It’s that time of year again, when the emails and powerpoint presentations start going around about Mars being as big or as bright as the Full Moon on August 27th. I’ve received several emails from people asking about it in the last couple of weeks.

It’s a hoax and email spam. You can safely ignore and delete it, and don’t propogate it by forwarding it onto people

Mars, by Hubble

On August 27th 2003, Mars was at its closest to Earth for some time – still a distance of 56 million km, but some communication at the time hyped it up a bit more than necessary (it was never as bright or as big as the full moon).

Every year since then, an email has been circulated around the internet claiming various things like:

• “no human being has seen in recorded history”
• “NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN”
• “The Red Planet is about to be spectacular”
• “Mars will look as bright as the full moon”
• “It will look like the earth has 2 moons”

and that on August 27th everyone should race outside and look at Mars.

It’s all not true. Mars reaches opposition in late January, 2010, and even then it will still just look like a medium-brightness red star.

So tell your friends it’s a hoax and it’s spam, and wait until this time next year when you start receiving them again

Last night was the largest full moon of 2009. The Moon is in an elliptical orbit around the Earth, and we say it’s at Perigee when it’s at its closest point to Earth, approx 356,000km away, versus approx 406,000 km when it’s at Apogee (the furthest point in its orbit).

That means the full moon was larger and brighter than usual, and it was the largest and brightest it will be in 2009.

Unfortunately it was raining last night, but it had cleared this morning so I went for a drive before heading off to work to capture the moon setting over Brisbane Water at Yattalunga Wharf.

Yattalunga Moonset

You can see how bright the moon is by the shadows cast on the wharf! It was a beautiful morning, and the view of the Moon from on the train, setting very low in the West was just amazing.

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