Abrams Planetarium
Moon Photo Project

By: John French
GLPA 2002

      My goal is to take about 29 « photographs of the moon.  One for each night of the synodic month. The photos are on the internet and can be downloaded.  The resolution is high enough for the .JPG files to be printed as slides.  The URL for the moon photo project is: http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/frenchj/moon

      As of October 23, 2002, I have 24 of 29  photos

      I was looking for some photos of the moon in different phases for a live school show we do at the Abrams Planetarium. The show is called Moonbeams.  I  searched on the internet and couldn?t find any good moon images. Most of the moon pictures I found were of low resolution, or the images were of just parts of the moon. I was looking for the whole moon.  I needed to convert the images to slides and the few photos I did find, just weren?t good enough. I had recently bought a digital camera and was taking a lot of pictures around the office. Then a co-worker of mine suggested (in jest) that I take the moon pictures myself.  A few days later, I was at the MSU observatory for our monthly open house and another volunteer showed me a nice photo of the moon that was taken through the eyepiece of the 24 inch telescope.  The next clear night, I set up my telescope and tried to take a lunar photo myself. To my joy, the photos came out quite nice and were relatively easy to take.  The next day at work. I announced to my co-workers that I would take a photo of the moon every night until I had a complete set of lunar phases. One photograph for every night of a lunation.  I didn?t plan on doing this in just one month.  I knew that the weather wouldn?t cooperate and neither would I for those early morning waning crescent moons.  I thought it would take a year at least.  I started this project in June, 2002 and now it?s October 2002 and I?m 83% to my goal.  Though, now that winter?s coming, I?m sure my pace will slow down.  
      The first moon phase photo I shot was the most unlikely, the New Moon.  I was able to get a photo of the June 10th 2002 partial solar eclipse.  Of course, you can?t ?see? a new moon, the photo just shows the silhouette of part the moon.  So I count that photo as my zero day old moon and it?s also my « photo.  Five days later I got the 5 day old moon photo while at the MSU observatory open house through an eight inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. We had a nice string of clear days after that and I was able to shoot several more moons in June and July.  
      I started posting the images on the Abrams Planetarium web site as soon as I could.  On the web pages, I added captions to each photo with descriptions of lunar features visible in the photos.  Using Paint Shop Pro, I added labels to some of the interesting places on the moon and linked them to the photo captions.  The web site is broken into four pages; New to First Quarter, First Quarter to Full, Full to Last Quarter and Last Quarter to New.  On each page, you can see a photo of the moon that is about 400x400 pixels in size.  If you click on the photo, it brings you to the full resolution photo. The size of the full resolution images vary depending on the image, but they are all about 1500 pixels square.  I?ve turned some of them into slides using Gamma Tech Digital Imaging in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The slides look great when projected onto our 50 foot dome. 
      Much of the information that I put in the captions on the website came from the book Exploring the Moon Through Binoculars and Small Telescopes by Ernest H. Cherrington, Jr.  It?s an invaluable resource for studying the moon. The book describes the moon night by night as the terminator sweeps across it?s face.  Exploring the Moon Through Binoculars and Small Telescopes was first printed in the mid 1960?s as the Apollo moon race was heating up.  It has been updated somewhat and now includes a few  post Apollo references. The book is available at Amazon.com for $11.17.
      It?s actually fairly easy to photograph the moon with a digital camera. I usually use an 8 inch Meade Newtonian reflector. Although some of the photos in the project have been made with other telescopes.  The camera I use is a Nikon Coolpix 885. It?s a 3.21 megapixel camera with auto and manual settings.  To take the photos, I put the camera in auto mode and just hold the camera to the eyepiece. You can frame the picture in the view screen on the back of the camera.  I usually take several pictures each night and pick through them the next day to find the best ones.  Some nights I?ve taken as many as 20 to 30 photos.  I use Paint Shop Pro to rotate, mirror and crop the photos if necessary.  Then I post them to the web noting the date and time of the photograph.
      I?ve used the photos in other ways too. One night I was holding an observing session for the public and it was the night of an 8 day moon.  I quickly created a custom map by adding labels to the 8 day photograph and printing them with our laser printer.  It was a good enough map to enable our visitors to find the Apennine mountains, the Straight Wall and several prominent craters. 
      The photos can also be used to teach other lunar concepts.  Libration can be a difficult concept to visualize.  The fact that you can see 59% of the moon?s surface comes as a surprise to many students.  By comparing photos taken in different months, the libration can clearly be seen near the moon?s limb. 
      The 14th and 15th day moons were taken when the moon was high in the sky and low to the ground respectively.  It?s easy to see the difference in color due to the scattering of light in the earth?s atmosphere.  
      The full moon photos can be used to show the rabbit, the old woman and other imaginary shapes in the moon.
      In conclusion,  the photos are on the internet and can be downloaded.  The URL for the moon photo project is: http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/frenchj/moon.  Resolution is high enough for the .JPG files to be printed as slides.  These photos are free for use in your local planetarium shows.  I just ask that you give me photo credit.  (Moon photos by John French)
