Hanging in the sky tonight

[Mousetoescamper]

[Easterncedar]

1. Amazing!

It makes me want, for the first time, to learn the names of all those features I can see so clearly now. Thanks for the wonderful sight!

[Mousetoescamper]

3. Thanks and you're welcome, Easterncedar!

[riverbendviewgal]

2. Wow

Such an awesome photo. Than you for sharing.

[Mousetoescamper]

4. Thanks and you're welcome, riverbendviewgal!

[KS Toronado]

5. Best picture of the Moon I've seen in years !

[Mousetoescamper]

6. Whoa! Thanks, KS Toronado!

[John1956PA]

7. Beautiful!

Is the image rotated ninety degrees clockwise?

[Mousetoescamper]

8. Thanks, John1956PA!

The image isn't rotated.

[John1956PA]

9. Here is the image of today's moon which I obtained from the Fourmilab website.

The discrepancy in rotation between the two images seems to be 90 degrees.

[Mousetoescamper]

10. That depends on when the image was taken. The moon changes inclination throughout the night.

My photo was taken at 12:13 AM today.

[John1956PA]

13. Here is photo which I snapped on December 14, 2024, at 8:30 PM from my location North of Pittsburgh.

The orientation of the lunarscape in my photo is about 45 degrees counterclockwise from the orientation shown in the above image from Fourmilab. I think that the Fourmilab image shows the moon as it appeared on midnight on December 12.

[Mousetoescamper]

14. Okay ...

What's your point with this exercise? What do you require?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Omigod, my dear Mousetoescamper!

Words fail me.

I've never seen the moon at this angle before. It looks so spherical, so luminous. I am gobsmacked!

[Mousetoescamper]

12. Thanks, Peggy!

The sky was clear and the moon was nearly full (coming Dec. 15). I don't usually try to shoot this phase because it lacks the shadows that make the craters and mountains pop. As an experiment I matched the exposure time to the ISO. The photo turned out better than expected.

ISO 100 (my usual setting for the moon)
f16
1/100 sec