Hi
Two nights' ago, there was a half moon in the sky over the south of England, plus a few clouds, and I took the attached photo with my new Panasonic FZ200 just to see what the camera would do. When I put it up on my screen, I appear to be able to see the "other half" of the moon and what is presumably the shadow of our earth making the moon look like a "half moon". I certainly could not see the other half of the moon with my eyes: am I really seeing the other half of the moon, or is this just an illusion? I don't know enough about the stars and skies to know.
Half Moon and the Earth?
1st notice is that your ISO is too high and the moon reflection is way blown out.
You can certainly have a view of the other (dark) portion of the moon as slight light reflection is always there.
Try it again and focus infinity with maybe f/11 and play with your ISO while maintaining shutter speed of 125th or 200.
Sarge69
sarge69 wrote:
1st notice is that your ISO is too high and the moon reflection is way blown out.
You can certainly have a view of the other (dark) portion of the moon as slight light reflection is always there.
Try it again and focus infinity with maybe f/11 and play with your ISO while maintaining shutter speed of 125th or 200.
Sarge69
Thanks Sarge. I'll make a note of the settings for when I am seriously trying to take a photo of the moon: this time, I was just trying out the new FZ200 at various settings to see what came up. It was point-and-shoot stuff, and I didn't really care whether there was detail on the moon or not: I just wanted to see the results when I changed settings. My query wasn't about the quality of the photo, I wanted to know whether you really could see the reflection (dark side) of the moon. How does that work, if the shadow of the earth is on the moon? Is the shadow not "deep" enough to black out the dark side totally?
Probably like a dark room. You go in and close the door and in a little while you can make out some features. Could be the same as your photo of the moon.
Sarge69
Bobber
Loc: Fredericksburg, Texas
The visible "other half of the moon" is being lighted by the earth rather than shadowed. That's earth shine you see lighting up the moon's shadowed half, shadowed by it self. If the moon can shine on us, then we certainly can shine the moon up.
photosarah wrote:
sarge69 wrote:
1st notice is that your ISO is too high and the moon reflection is way blown out.
You can certainly have a view of the other (dark) portion of the moon as slight light reflection is always there.
Try it again and focus infinity with maybe f/11 and play with your ISO while maintaining shutter speed of 125th or 200.
Sarge69
Thanks Sarge. I'll make a note of the settings for when I am seriously trying to take a photo of the moon: this time, I was just trying out the new FZ200 at various settings to see what came up. It was point-and-shoot stuff, and I didn't really care whether there was detail on the moon or not: I just wanted to see the results when I changed settings. My query wasn't about the quality of the photo, I wanted to know whether you really could see the reflection (dark side) of the moon. How does that work, if the shadow of the earth is on the moon? Is the shadow not "deep" enough to black out the dark side totally?
quote=sarge69 1st notice is that your ISO is too ... (
show quote)
It is not the "dark side of the moon" that is in the picture. The gray half circle is just the part that is seen in full brightness during a full moon. On a 'not full moon' day the brightly lit part is lit by the Sun and the faintly lit part is lit by the reflection from earth.
The "dark side of moon" is actually the "far side" and it never faces earth. The "far side" is not even technically "dark", it receives approximately the same amount of light as the near side (the earth facing side) of the moon.
here is a pretty understandable explanation
This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education, the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Amateur astronomer Geoff Gaherty operates his own Foxmead Observatory in Coldwater, Ontario, Canada.
Fact or fiction? The phases of the moon are caused by the shadow of the Earth falling on the moon.
Fiction! This is probably the most commonly held misconception in all astronomy. Here's how the moon's phases really come about:
The moon is a sphere that travels once around the Earth every 29.5 days. As it does so, it is illuminated from varying angles by the sun. At "new moon," the moon is between the Earth and sun, so that the side of the moon facing towards us receives no direct sunlight, and is lit only by dim sunlight reflected from the Earth. As it moves around the Earth, the side we can see gradually becomes more illuminated by direct sunlight.
So, the moon's phases are not caused by the shadow of the Earth falling on the moon. In fact the shadow of the Earth falls on the moon only twice a year, when there are lunar eclipses.
Hi kaushikuek
Thanks for the explanation: I'd no idea! It is really interesting, I think I need to do a little research and learn. Astronomy is - literally! - a closed book to me.
ggttc wrote:
here is a pretty understandable explanation
This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education, the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Amateur astronomer Geoff Gaherty operates his own Foxmead Observatory in Coldwater, Ontario, Canada.
Fact or fiction? The phases of the moon are caused by the shadow of the Earth falling on the moon.
Fiction! This is probably the most commonly held misconception in all astronomy. Here's how the moon's phases really come about:
The moon is a sphere that travels once around the Earth every 29.5 days. As it does so, it is illuminated from varying angles by the sun. At "new moon," the moon is between the Earth and sun, so that the side of the moon facing towards us receives no direct sunlight, and is lit only by dim sunlight reflected from the Earth. As it moves around the Earth, the side we can see gradually becomes more illuminated by direct sunlight.
So, the moon's phases are not caused by the shadow of the Earth falling on the moon. In fact the shadow of the Earth falls on the moon only twice a year, when there are lunar eclipses.
here is a pretty understandable explanation br br... (
show quote)
Well, how wrong I was, then. Can't think how I got to be so old, and so wrong: I thought you were supposed to get "older & wiser", but I guess it's not automatic!
photosarah wrote:
ggttc wrote:
here is a pretty understandable explanation
This article was provided to SPACE.com by Starry Night Education, the leader in space science curriculum solutions. Amateur astronomer Geoff Gaherty operates his own Foxmead Observatory in Coldwater, Ontario, Canada.
Fact or fiction? The phases of the moon are caused by the shadow of the Earth falling on the moon.
Fiction! This is probably the most commonly held misconception in all astronomy. Here's how the moon's phases really come about:
The moon is a sphere that travels once around the Earth every 29.5 days. As it does so, it is illuminated from varying angles by the sun. At "new moon," the moon is between the Earth and sun, so that the side of the moon facing towards us receives no direct sunlight, and is lit only by dim sunlight reflected from the Earth. As it moves around the Earth, the side we can see gradually becomes more illuminated by direct sunlight.
So, the moon's phases are not caused by the shadow of the Earth falling on the moon. In fact the shadow of the Earth falls on the moon only twice a year, when there are lunar eclipses.
here is a pretty understandable explanation br br... (
show quote)
Well, how wrong I was, then. Can't think how I got to be so old, and so wrong: I thought you were supposed to get "older & wiser", but I guess it's not automatic!
quote=ggttc here is a pretty understandable expla... (
show quote)
Dont feel bad...I cant remember what I had for breakfast this morning...uh...did I have breakfast this morning???
Easy way to show yourself what GGTTC said. Get a ball of some sort or even your fist. Go into a room and turn on one light source. Get as far from the light as possible and hold the ball or your fist out at arme length at about the level of your face and sloowly spin in a circle. Do not rotate the ball. You can then see how the light that is hitting the ball is visible to your eye at different poins in a 360 degree turn.
Phreedom
Loc: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
kaushikuec wrote:
photosarah wrote:
sarge69 wrote:
1st notice is that your ISO is too high and the moon reflection is way blown out.
You can certainly have a view of the other (dark) portion of the moon as slight light reflection is always there.
Try it again and focus infinity with maybe f/11 and play with your ISO while maintaining shutter speed of 125th or 200.
Sarge69
Thanks Sarge. I'll make a note of the settings for when I am seriously trying to take a photo of the moon: this time, I was just trying out the new FZ200 at various settings to see what came up. It was point-and-shoot stuff, and I didn't really care whether there was detail on the moon or not: I just wanted to see the results when I changed settings. My query wasn't about the quality of the photo, I wanted to know whether you really could see the reflection (dark side) of the moon. How does that work, if the shadow of the earth is on the moon? Is the shadow not "deep" enough to black out the dark side totally?
quote=sarge69 1st notice is that your ISO is too ... (
show quote)
It is not the "dark side of the moon" that is in the picture. The gray half circle is just the part that is seen in full brightness during a full moon. On a 'not full moon' day the brightly lit part is lit by the Sun and the faintly lit part is lit by the reflection from earth.
The "dark side of moon" is actually the "far side" and it never faces earth. The "far side" is not even technically "dark", it receives approximately the same amount of light as the near side (the earth facing side) of the moon.
quote=photosarah quote=sarge69 1st notice is tha... (
show quote)
- The original question referred to being able to see the dark[end] side of the moon in the photo when he could not actually see it with his own eyes, live. I don't think he meant seeing the "dark side of the moon" which we know is not possible from Earth.
- See the attached diagram for how the Phases are created as the moon rotates around the Earth.
AUminer wrote:
Easy way to show yourself what GGTTC said. Get a ball of some sort or even your fist. Go into a room and turn on one light source. Get as far from the light as possible and hold the ball or your fist out at arme length at about the level of your face and sloowly spin in a circle. Do not rotate the ball. You can then see how the light that is hitting the ball is visible to your eye at different poins in a 360 degree turn.
tried it..it works...my wife is staring at me in a peculiar way
Would make good UTUBE submission..LOL
ggttc wrote:
AUminer wrote:
Easy way to show yourself what GGTTC said. Get a ball of some sort or even your fist. Go into a room and turn on one light source. Get as far from the light as possible and hold the ball or your fist out at arme length at about the level of your face and sloowly spin in a circle. Do not rotate the ball. You can then see how the light that is hitting the ball is visible to your eye at different poins in a 360 degree turn.
tried it..it works...my wife is staring at me in a peculiar way
quote=AUminer Easy way to show yourself what GGTT... (
show quote)
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