Starscapes by moonlight

 Last night the moon was 8.9 days old (time since new moon) and 66% illuminated.  The bright moonlight presents a challenge for normal astrophotography. However, it also provides an opportunity for some interesting starscapes because the surrounding landscape is lit up while the stars are visible.

Capella setting over Bristol Head:

Sony A7iii + Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 @ f/2.8 + softon filter.  ISO 800, 20 s.

Sony A7iii + Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 @ f/2.8 + sparkle-6 filter.  ISO 800, 20 s.

Capella is the sixth brightest star in the sky with a magnitude of 0.1.  The only brighter stars visible from Creede are Sirius, Arcturus, and Vega.

The sparkle filter is really too strong to use at this focal length.  It works better with focal lengths of about 30mm and shorter. However, because of the way it spreads out the light it does a remarkable job of preserving star colors.  The red star top center is Pi Aurigae, a red giant star.  The color is much more obvious with the sparkle filter than the softon filter. 

Turning south, it was possible to see the giant globular cluster Omega Centauri gliding along above Piedra Peak.  Omega Centauri has about 10 million stars and contains about the same mass as the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.

 

Olympus E-M5iii + Canon FD 300mm f/4L + Metabones speedbooster.  ISO 1600, 20 s.  Effective focal length = 213 mm f/2.8.

Toward the southeast, Antares and the constellation Scorpius were rising above the southern flank of Snowshoe Mountain.  Antares is the orange star left of center.  The globular cluster M4 is right of center.  Antares is the 15th brightest star. M4 contains about 100,000 stars and is the closest globular cluster to earth (about 6000 ly).

Canon FD 300mm f/4L + Metabones speedbooster.  ISO 1600, 30 s.

Three globular clusters captured last night with the Canon FD 300mm:

M13 (left), M4 (center), Omega Centauri (right). 1-deg FOV.

The background in the M13 image is much darker because it was opposite from the moon, where the sky was darker.