UPDATE! I'm having so much fun seeing your results that I decided to extend the contest to June 22nd so more people can find the time to participate AND I am going to award two prizes---only right since I added a week!

Click any image to see the full size.

Rick Montoya, Sacramento, CA

I took this moon shot about 9:45pm on 6/6/08 in my backyard in Sacramento,CA. I used a Bushnell North Star 3" Reflector Telescope and the camera is a Samsung Digimax D53 digital camera. I used the 9mm lens I got from Chris.

This picture is kinda of a mistake as it was the 1st shot I took and the flash went off that is why it looks like an eyeball with the moon as the pupil. I think this shot came out really good, when the flash went off I was kinda pissed, but I do like the shot alot.

Robert Wyatt, Gilbert, AZ

The picture(moon 6-8 012) was taken at 03:03 6/9/2008 UTC from my backyard with a Cannon Cyber-Shot 3.3 megapixel camera, through a Bushnell Northstar 114mm Reflector with a 20mm lens.  I just finished rebuilding this hand me down ”gently“ used telescope that still needs some work to stabilize it but it was fun.  I am buying the steady camera mount as I found it very difficult to hold the camera steady for a good shot.  Thanks for the lesson Chris.

Nick Gull, Herndon, VA

That thing called the moon is in there...along with the ISS/Space Shuttle complex.  These were taken last night around 9:30 EDT (01:30 UTC).  Moon, Mars, and Saturn and even an airplane.   I had to compensate for the brightness of the Moon compared to the usually bright (but no competition for the moon) ISS, so the moon is obviously washed out. If nothing else feel free to share these on another part of your site.  I will take some "Moon" only pics this week, never hurts to have fun in contest with prizes.  ;)

Ben Waranowitz, Prince Frederick, MD

Here's my entry. Last night (6-8-08) the photo was taken with a dewed corrector! That made the Moon less bright and killed contrast. I tried smething different with the version of PIXELA, free with my old Fuju Finepix. Fairly simple basic photo editing program.

Equipment:

Celestron C5 SCT 125mm f.l. F:10 on CG3 EQ mount

Kodak Z730 5MP camera, zoom lens with accessory hood, Scopetronics digital camera adapter and ring

Knight Owl (eBay seller) 30mm Plossl

Exposure 1/15 sec. ISO 80

Cropped, resized to width 640.

Range adjusted, fiddled with balance. No sharpening used.

Reversed to correct aspect as I use a diagonal on the SCT. Without a diagonal focusing moves the primary away from the secondary and I don't like the results in photos. 

Alex Pulley & Daughter, Indiana

I used an old Tasco 851TR 60mm scope with a 20mm filtered eyepiece.

This is the first picture I have tried to take through a scope, and after 2 nights

and about 80-100 shots, this is what I came up with.

I held a Sanyo digital camera up to the eyepiece, and made no enhancements,

other than flipping the pic horizontally.  It was taken on 6-10 at about 10:00-

10:30 in Indiana.

Mike Balinski, Jr.

One of my favorite subjects to shoot!  I love to search out different areas of Luna to look for distinct areas but this scan caught a cratered scene that I liked.  I use a 6" reflector scope with a camera attaching device for my point and shoot Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS.  Without the adapters I tried just holding it up to the eye peice until a friend at OPT told me to try the camera attach device.  Much better and timed shots are great now.  The lens was a 10mm and the camera was set on the "micro" setting-like shooting closeups-so I could get the picture right off the eyepiece. 

Robert Franklin

Robert sent two images...I couldn't pick (Chris)

Taken with Nikon CoolPix 4300

Another Submission from Robert Wyatt

The first picture(moon 6-13 001) was taken at 04:31 6/14/2008 UTC from my backyard with a Cannon Cyber-Shot camera.  I like how some of the mountains in the middle are reflecting the light of the sun and are showing much brighter.  Also how some of the major craters on the bottom of the moon are showing.  I need look into a filter that flips the view so what I am seeing is actually right side up.  I am using a  Bushnell Northstar 114mm Reflector with a 20mm lens and a 25% moon filter.  I used the camera mount Chris sells on his sight but I need to work on a way to counter balance the extra weight the mount and camera place on the front of the Bushnell.

The second shot (moon 6-13 006) was taken at 04:35 6/14/2008 UTC from my backyard with the same telescope and camera.  This shows some of the larger craters and the crater pattern on the bottom of the moon.

Jeff Eppinette, Forest City, NC

I was going through the different "scene" modes on the camera, and, on this particular one, the flash activated. At first I was aggravated I had forgotten to check for the flash. But it turned out looking something like the moon entering a wormhole. Sort of. At least, that's the way I would imagine it! Interesting, if nothing else...

I ran the picture through a contrast filter and an unsharp mask to correct the slight blurrines that the digital camera introduces into the picture.

Date/Time: 00:11 13Jun08 UTC or 8:10pm EDT

Telescope: Meade 70AZ

Camera: Kodak EasyShare C813

Camera Setting: Fireworks (it's a point and shoot camera)

Camera Adapter: Zhumell Universal Digi-scoping Adapter

Lens: Celestron 8-24 Zoom set on 20-24mm

Filter: none

I took this picture through an entry level Meade 70AZ that my dad bought the kids (it was on clearance for $25 at Walmart...go figure).

This was the first chance I had to use my universal camera adapter. It made a huge difference! I set the 10 second timer on the camera, and by the time the telescope stopped shaking, the picture was taken with a perfect stillness! I ran the picture through a contrast filter and an unsharp mask to correct the slight blurrines that the digital camera introduces into the picture. What you see here is pretty close to what I saw through the telescope.

Date/Time: 00:10 13Jun08 UTC or 8:10pm EDT

Telescope: Meade 70AZ

Camera: Kodak EasyShare C813

Camera Setting: Fireworks (it's a point and shoot camera)

Camera Adapter: Zhumell Universal Digi-scoping Adapter

Lens: Celestron 8-24 Zoom set on 20-24mm

Filter: none

Ben Waranowitz

You use Windows MS XP or Vista?  Ever use theme RADIANCE?

I took a photo last night that is close to it. I even left it mirror-reversed as the XP one is. Some might not notice it's different. See attachment. If I had a better CCD mine would be better. I fiddled with the range a lot.

You can notice the mountains in Mare Imbrium are spaced unevenly, but they seem to be the top peaks of a submerged inner ring. It doesn't look concentric. There's a suggestion that the Alpine Valley floor has something going on in there. Visually also.

Celestron C5 SCT. Last night before I took this photo batch (nearly 50) I was looking and resolving Epsilon Lyrae as good as this scope has ever done I rate the seeing as 8.

More from Rick Montoya

These were taken this evening 6/12/08 at about 10:00pm. I changed the setting on my camera to take the pic immediately, my hands shake to much. The first 3 pics I took back, to back, to back... The last one looks like there is a wind storm or dust blowing, Hope you like. You dont have to enter any into the contest just thought I would show ya.

Mike Balinski, Jr. Sens Us Another Image

It's not always easy to capture "earthshine" with a regular digital camera, but with the auto focus "off" you can do it.  I caught this twilight pic around June 5th or 6th with just a tripod and camera. 

I used my Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS set for distant shots and took the zoom just shy of the digital zoom zone.  I was shooting to the west of Orlando and the light was not too strong as to blur the crescent. 

A 10 second timer and a nine dollar tripod and there you go!  I like to capture a tree or structure for some reference if possible.

Jim Link, Kansas City, MO

The crescent picture was taken June 11th at 10:30PM and the 3/4 Moon was taken June 15th at 10:00P

I didn't use a Telescope just a digital camera, Nikon DX50, I swapped the standard lenses and opted to use  a telescoping lenses capable of 420MM to 800mm zoom. With the camera in manual mode, I had to adjust the ISO to 200 and shutter speed to 1/200 of a second. The moon is not a fast mover so a lower ISO is ok, even 100. High shutter speeds, above 1/400th of a sec in manual mode will cause the brightness of the moon to blur the picture with to much moon light. I did not use a tripod, the lenses fully extended is about 20 inches but if you brace it does reduce shaking. I braced against the front pillar of my house and took several shots adjusting the focus. After taking several pictures I took the chip to my computer to display, the only way to see the true focus is on a computer screen. Deleted the out of focus ones and kept what you see. It has rained alot in June in KC and the shots I took were 2 clear nights. The earlier has creator detail against the shadows and the man in the moon is smiling brightly in the other. Sometimes the simple things in life are right before our eyes, thanks for a great suggestion. I also have some great Sun pictures also taken with the zoom lenses but that's another story, I will share those too.

Jeff Eppinette, Forest City, NC

Date/Time: 23:50 15Jun08 UTC or 7:50pm EDT

Telescope: ETX-60

Camera: Kodak EasyShare C813

Camera Adapter: Zhumell Universal Digi-scoping Adapter

Lens: Celestron 8-24 Zoom set on 20-24mm

Filter: none

Date/Time: 00:04 15Jun08 UTC or 8:04pm EDT

Telescope: ETX-60

Camera: Kodak EasyShare C813 on 3x optical zoom

Camera Adapter: Zhumell Universal Digi-scoping Adapter

Lens: Celestron 8-24 Zoom, set on 18mm

Lens Filter: none

I was going through the different "scene" modes on the camera, and this mode caught the "Silver Dollar" look...

I ran the picture through a highlight filter (like the moon filter for the lens) and an unsharp mask to correct the slight blurriness that the digital camera introduces into the picture.

Date/Time: 23:55 15Jun08 UTC or 7:55pm EDT

Telescope: Meade ETX-60

Camera: Kodak EasyShare C813 on 3x optical zoom

Camera Adapter: Zhumell Universal Digi-scoping Adapter

Lens: Celestron 8-24 Zoom, set on 18mm

Lens Filter: none

Ben Wananowitz, Prince Frederick, MD

[Ben told me he sent this in just for fun but I think is putting up some serious competition with all of entries---Chris]

Jason Norris, Smithville, TN

It's not exactly what I wanted, but the weather around hear has not been great for observing.  Taken using Orion 8" reflector, afocal (no lense used), Rebel XTi, ISO 200, 1/320 exposure.  Photo 1 (Moon2) has no editing done other than converting the RAW file to jpeg.  The second picture (Moon3) is the same picture edited in Photoshop to bring out some detail.  Photos were taken tonight, 7-21-08 at around 12:00 am. 

Scott Hughes, Follansbee, WV

I am sending you  quite a few pictures I took of the moon tonight. I don't expect to win some contest but that was one of the most incredible nights I have ever had.

I only have a Kodak digital camera and held it up to the lens and I can't believe it worked. The pictures are not all that great but I can save these and look back on them when the weather is bad LOL. Anyway I hope everyone had as much fun as I did tonight.

Thank you so much for sharing so much with us and helping us when we have no clue what we are doing.

Chris Replies:

Scott, thank you so much for your most enthusiastic note. I had really hoped this little content would encourage people to see the moon as they have not seen it before and to try taking a picture. When I hear back with notes like yours, Scott, it really gives me an energy boost! Thanks so much to you and everyone who participated!

Ben Waranowitz, Prince Frederick, MD

Sunrise on Moon at The Straight Wall.

It was good seeing at 9:02pm in Donelson, TN (Nashville)

Ray Potts & Friends

My family and I stayed up to celebrate Mid-Summer night on the 20th.  I treated them to my limited astronomy knowledge...  Showed them Saturn, Jupiter and then we took turns learning how the telescope worked while observing the Moon....  Then My brother-in-law took out his point and shoot digital camera and started taking pictures through the lens...  That reminded me of your contest..  So him, his best friend and I started a small challenge to get the best moon shot.  Mine is attached.  This is through my Celestron Firstscope 114EQ 4.5" Newtonian with a  32mm PLOSSL eyepiece lens and my Pentax Optio A10 (8MP) free handed on auto mode.  Centering the shot was the most challenging.. In the beginning I had a Moon filter on the lens, but removed if for the photos...

I told my friends that they had just experienced what is know as astrophotography...  They were really jazzed by the experience...

The second shot is with the moon filter and by my brother-in-law, Timo, he was using an 8MP Olympia... Free handed as well.

The third shot was by his life long friend Jukka.  He used a Nikon Coolpix S550.

Jukka didn't show us his photos until the next day when we loading them onto the Apple TV for viewing...  We liked his the best....

[Note from Chris: Ray, you did great by getting other people to participate! Nice job.]

Jim Link

I thought I would submit my last moon pictures. all were shot on Wednesday June 18th at 9:37PM. The full moon was rising thru the tree line. I was using my Nikon DX50 with an 800MM lenses, in manual mode f16 and 1/100th of sec exposure.

I focused on the tree leaves and the moon made a hazy reflection behind. The smaller moon was taken by pulling my lenses back to 420MM f8 and same 1/100th sec exposure. The Moon details then became a little sharper.

The Moon has an orange haze, this is not caused by the sun set but rather a church steeple with stained glass windows just to the left out of the frame. I tried to get the moon and the stained glass in the shot together but my field of view was very narrow and I did not bring my 200mm lenses. I hope everyone enjoys the shots, I had fun taking them, thanks again. Have a great week. 

Jeff Eppinette, Forest City, NC

Telescope: Meade 70AZ

Camera: Kodak EasyShare C813

Camera Setting: It's a point and shoot camera!

Camera Adapter: Zhumell Universal Digi-scoping Adapter

Lens: Celestron 8-24 Zoom set on 20-24mm

Filter: none