The Bluest Moon.

Luna was a “blue moon” last night — the second full moon in a month according to popular folklore (though the term has different older meanings). She was also a micromoon, appearing slightly smaller and dimmer at her farthest point away from Earth. To my eyes she shone with her usual brilliance, but I played with editing software to turn her literally blue here.

#photography #astrophotography #moon #fullmoon #BlueMoon #micromoon

Lovely! Is that where the expression once in a blue moon comes from?
@arcturus Thanks!🙏🏽 I literally learned about all this just yesterday. The current popular definition (which spread from a mistake in a 1946 magazine article!) is that it’s the second full moon in a month, which happens every 2-3 years. An older meaning from the Farmers Almanac is that it’s the third of four moons in a season. The “rare” meaning dates back even further, to 1821, and refers to the moon being VISUALLY blue due to rare occurrences like volcanic eruptions.
Oh what a history lesson. Thank you!
Awesome! Which focal length did you use for this?
@ausdem_rahmen Thank you! This was shot with an iPhone 15 at 2x zoom, attached to a 130mm-aperture reflector telescope with a 650mm focal length at f/5. Telescope eyepiece has a 25mm focal length with 26x magnification.
Oh wow. Did not see that coming :D
Sounds like a great setup
@ausdem_rahmen Thank you! I’m guessing you can get similar results with a really good camera and telephoto lens, but I went the telescope route instead 😅
I am impressed by the quality of the smartphone camera. Why did you choose the telescope route instead of camera equipment?
@ausdem_rahmen I just fell into it, really! I fell in love with serious stargazing and moon gazing a couple of years ago, and to me that meant getting a telescope for visual observation. When I decided to try my hand at astrophotography, I was already comfortable taking pictures with my phone, so the easiest thing to do was a phone-to-telescope setup. I do also have a DSLR that I’m learning how to use, so I may take some moon pics with it someday!
Very pragmatic :)
I wish you a lot of fun exploring the camera and am curious of the resuts! 😊