Thursday 26th April 2018

Only the second Moon this month.
April last year I managed nine posts!
Lots of cloud - look how fuzzy the Moon looks.

Time 21:15.
Distance 235,482 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
150 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 37.8 degrees.

Wednesday 25th April 2018

I did an experiment to compare:
optical zoom vs. digital zoom!

Optical zoom is supposed to give better detail than digital zoom. However, the picture would be smaller.

If you enlarge the optical zoom picture in Photoshop to the same size as the digital zoom image then the pixels look a lot bigger.
But the optical zoom picture looks more '3D' - the shadows are much clearer.
Perhaps this could be because the digital zoom picture is more sensitive to camera shake. Who knows?

(for both photos)
Time 20:20.
Distance 233,750 miles.
Waxing gibbous phase.
150 degrees SE compass point (azimuth).
Altitude 42.0 degrees.

1st April 2018

Spring Equinox / Easter

For Easter (spring equinox), I have put together a composite of three moons (25th November, 3rd December and 8th January).

I'm trying to show the old pagan Triple Goddess idea, where waxing moon represented birth, full moon represented life and waning moon represented death/rebirth.

Even back in the neolithic and beyond, people understood there was connection between the Moon and nature. But because they didn't have the science to explain it, they thought the Moon was a sort of spirit.

Their old idea of looking after the Moon and the environment is still important today.