Dark side of the Moon by stuart83
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Description
Last nights moon
Thanks for looking,
Stuart
100-400mm lens with 2 x extender
Actually, the Moon appears to wobble a bit (due to its slightly non-circular orbit) so that a few degrees of the far side can be seen from time to time, but the majority of the far side (left) was completely unknown until the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 photographed it in 1959. (Note: there is no "dark side" of the Moon; all parts of the Moon get sunlight half the time (except for a few deep craters near the poles). Some uses of the term "dark side" in the past may have referred to the far side as "dark" in the sense of "unknown" (eg "darkest Africa") but even that meaning is no longer valid today!)
The Moon has no atmosphere. But evidence from Clementine suggested that there may be water ice in some deep craters near the Moon's south pole which are permanently shaded. This has now been reinforced by data from Lunar Prospector. There is apparently ice at the north pole as well. A final determination will probably come from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, scheduled for 2008.
The Moon's crust averages 68 km thick and varies from essentially 0 under Mare Crisium to 107 km north of the crater Korolev on the lunar far side. Below the crust is a mantle and probably a small core (roughly 340 km radius and 2% of the Moon's mass). Unlike the Earth, however, the Moon's interior is no longer active. Curiously, the Moon's center of mass is offset from its geometric center by about 2 km in the direction toward the Earth. Also, the crust is thinner on the near side.
There are two primary types of terrain on the Moon: the heavily cratered and very old highlands and the relatively smooth and younger maria. The maria (which comprise about 16% of the Moon's surface) are huge impact craters that were later flooded by molten lava. Most of the surface is covered with regolith, a mixture of fine dust and rocky debris produced by meteor impacts. For some unknown reason, the maria are concentrated on the near side.
Comments (20)
thevolunteer
You take such awesome shots of the moon. I love the details. Great shot. Aloha
grafikeer
Very cool photo...was it shot through a telescope or using a telephoto lens?A great view with lots of visible details...well done!
ledwolorz
Super details and wonderful photo.
erlandpil
Good shot erland
babuci
Wow, this is sharp.
CavalierLady
W O W !!! (picking my chin up off of the keyboard)... This has got to be the best moon shot I've ever seen! Bravo, Stuart!!
busi2ness
Your 2 x extender sure does a pretty neat job, crisp and clear.
TheAnimaGemini
Wow, gorgeous close up. Stunning sharp and crisp shot.
Littlejock
Beautiful photo. Your tele worked perfectly. Congratulations for this superb shot my friend
Cytisus
Super shot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
timtripp
well shot
delaorden_ojeda
Really impressive ! it looks like a photo taken by Nasa. Excelent details and sharpness, bravo !
featherwitch
Awesome Stuart! You could've probably caught people walking on it, had they been there at the time! I'm envious of that lens!! :o)
auntietk
That's absolutely amazing. Such detail! I'm beyond impressed. It looks like you took the picture out the window of a spacecraft!
DaveDavis
Amazing shot, crystal clear too.. Outstanding Job!!
miner027
Superb shot!!!...amazing detail and so clear...Excellent Job!!!
katy555
Beautiful and superb composition, colours and moon...
deweygg
Very impressive! Wish I had a lens that long!
tommorules
Well I have a Canon 100-400L and am thinking of binning it having seen this as it won't even focus on the moon let alone pull out as much detail as this. Am deeply jealous of you for pulling off such an awesome shot!
jimken61
Dang, I shot my moon shot with basically the same set up, 100-400 with a 2x tele converter and it doesn't have nearly as much detail as yours. Maybe I need to go back to the drawing board??? This is an outstanding shot! Great Job. Heres a link to mine if you would like to see. http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/media/folder_166/file_1656790.jpg