This Lunar Eclipse Composite is so Stunning, We Can Not Believe It’s Real

We have seen some great pictures from the total lunar eclipse recently. But this one might top them all.

Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy produced this incredible composite photo, showing the Moon in different eclipse phases throughout the nighttime.

“The size and shape of the Planet’s darkness is clearly visible right here,” McCarthy stated on Twitter. “These occasions are absolutely magical to witness and quite surreal.”

McCarthy witnessed and photographed the eclipse’s totality from his backyard in Arizona. Besides the noticeable ‘band-aid’ form of the image, if you look very closely, you could see precisely just how the Moon relocated with Planet’s shadow throughout the eclipse.

The other striking feature of this compound is just how crisp, clear, and comprehensive each image of the Moon is. Exactly how did McCarthy do it?

“Generally, I shot about 150,000 pictures,” McCarthy informed Universe Today. “My method was to first take images utilizing my c11 at the native 2800mm with the asi174mm’s rapid but little sensor. I imaged the Moon in little segments capturing hundreds of frames per segment, which were then arranged, stacked, and sharpened, so when the scenery of the Moon was stitched with each other, it had extraordinary detail.”

The entire Moon captured using the Celestron EdgeHD800 telescope

McCarthy stated he did this three times throughout the night. After that, he used his Sony a7ii camera installed to a 8-inch Celestron EdgeHD800 telescope at 2000 mm to catch the whole Moon with excellent resolution at each capture, which took about 500 photos throughout the night.

After that, these images were incorporated with a formerly caught high-resolution photo of the Moon to give incredible detail to produce the final compound, which was constructed in Photoshop from these images.

McCarthy calls the picture “Shadows and also Sunsets,” as, during a complete lunar eclipse, the Moon sparkles in the colors from all the sunrises and sundowns happening on Earth.

The Moon looks reddish due to the fact that Earth’s atmosphere soaks up the other colours while it bends some sunshine toward the Moon. Sunshine flexing via the environment and soaking up different colors is additionally why the sunsets we see here on Earth are typically orange and red.

Prints of this picture are available in restricted quantities on McCarthy’s website.

“The full-size image is almost 190 megapixels, so it is insanely detailed and could print up actually big without losing information!” McCarthy stated on Twitter.

Support McCarthy on Patreon to download great-resolution versions of his photo. He stated he understands this pastime is expensive and requires gear to enhance my pictures.

“However, as I obtained deeper into this pastime, it became apparent this is my calling, so I am leaning on my clients to assist support me as I start doing this full time,” he states on his site.

McCarthy’s mission

McCarthy stated he bought his initial telescope in 2017 and came to be hooked on observing and astrophotography, stating that currently, his mission is to “link individuals with the universe and to influence a new generation of celestial travelers.”

He even moved to a recent state to have a better sight of the night sky.

“Making sure I can shoot occasions like this uninterrupted is part of the reason I recently moved to Arizona,” McCarthy explained.

“I built an easy observatory in my backyard, which has two lasting piers inside it, enabling me to safely run equipment the entire evening and easily close up at dawn (or during negative weather). While these were caught from home, I was ready to travel across the nation if the climate didn’t look beneficial.”

McCarthy has put together an incredible string on Twitter, addressing his most often-asked questions and recommending what type of gear is required to do the kind of astrophotography he does.

Read the original article on Science Alert.