Moon and Mercury - Mike's astro challenge

[Whitters]

Back is still knackered so no scope , but it doesn't stop me getting the camera and tripod out.
Canon 30D 55mm 5 second exposure

Moon 30 hours old, and Mercury.

[MarkS]

Nice one! Captured just through a gap in the trees!

[RobertM]

Very nice, it captures the mood of the moment perfectly - also shows that you don't need a telescope for a good picture !

[Rick]

It'll be interesting to see how the shots folk took at last night's observing evening compare. Not all that surprisingly, your sky looks a lot darker than the one we had...

[Mike]

Nice one Paul !

Mark and I got the same shot. I will upload mine tonight.

[MarkS]

My one is here:

Nikon D70 with Nikkor 300mm lens at F8. 
13sec exposure (piggybacked on telescope) at ISO 200.
This is full frame but 1/4 scaled.

[Mike]

Here's my one. Nikon D70 with 300mm Nikon ED at F5.6 for 0.5 seconds



It was only after seeing that Mark's picture was at ISO 200 that I checked what mine was and found I had left it on ISO 1600. Doh! That's why it's so grainy, plus my focus isn't as sharp as Mark's.

[RobertM]

Both very nice pictures indeed.  Mark has caught more Earthshine but I might disagree with you on the focus Mike, it looks equally sharp to me at this scale and you've less LP showing.  Neatimage might remove a lot of that noise...

[Rocket Pooch]

oh thats nice,,,,  i was driving back from wales at the time so i didn't get the tripod out etc, but you never know it might be clear tonight.

chris

[Whitters]

Very nice images folks.

[Rick]

Looks like someone else had the same idea... --> http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080509.html

[Mike]

Mark's photo is better than that !

[MarkS]

Thanks, Mike! 

[Fay]

Great pictures, it is behind a big tree in my garden but will have to have a go somehow.