Mysterious Blue Moon Photographed!!!!!!!!
Did you get a chance to see the blue moon? (July 31, 2015)
No?
You missed out on something absolutely incredible! A blue moon is indescribably rare—in fact—it’s one of the most rare astronomical phenomenon in the entire universe! Every 700 years, gravitational perturbations cause the moon’s orbit to become highly elliptical, resulting in a closer than normal lunar perigee. Reflected sunlight bounces off Earth and paints the moon an odd blueish hue—much like Rayleigh scattering, which explains why the sky is blue, as well.
Glad you missed the blue moon?
Luckily…
…I’m…
…Only…
…Joking!
Haha! Did you believe me? Don’t lie! Damn I’m good.
**Truth be told** I took this image with a blue planetary filter, which you can read more about—here. Blue moons are not as rare as I described and they are not that special. If you visually investigated a couple of full moon photographs (side-by-side), you wouldn’t be able to distinguish a blue moon from a regular full moon, unless, of course, the blue moon was actually blue.
So…what the hell is a legitimate blue moon?
I don’t know.
Well, I do. Kind of. Sort of.
Personally, I always described a blue moon as the second full moon in a given month. It’s easy to remember and explain, but is this technically right? Nope. Well…kind of. This mistake can be traced back to a Sky & Telescope Magazine article, which was published in the 1940’s. The article proved to be an oversimplification and it’s ultimately incorrect. Damn!
A true blue moon involves astronomical seasons and the number of full moons within each season, which is normally 3. If a particular astronomical season is scheduled to have 4 full moons (instead of 3)—the third full moon is considered “blue”.
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Here I was, minding my own business, fully under the belief that blue moons are a magical events that only occur when the planets align. You’ve popped my astronomical bubble sir.
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Haha I love popping bubbles!
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Alas and alack, bubbles are made for popping.
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I got my tripod out, tried to put it out on the balcony, a second later every bit of the moon got cloud covered. Glad to know that it’s not that big of deal now though!
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Don’t worry about it — if you seen one full moon…you seen them all haha (kind of). Blue moons occur fairly often, so you’ll have another opportunity, in about 3 years.
The next blue moon will appear on January 31, 2018.
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I suppose the saying “once every three years ish” isn’t quite as punchy as “once in a blue moon” eh?
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You got me there for a moment 🙂
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Gotcha! Hahahaha Personally, I like my blue moon definition ( despite its sever inaccuracies!)
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I am upset all week waiting and theres this sinister storm here and well is sooooo cloudy no picture turns out right is just sooooooooooooooooo upsetting😒 one day one dayyyyyy lol
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I know what you mean! I missed a handful of lunar eclipses, the transit of Venus, numerous meteor showers — all because of clouds!
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isn’t that upsetting heheh I got a couple pf shots but the sky wasn’t clear so it not great I will try to post them soon is
and the twiners are very very active today hehehehehe
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I didn’t even see the blue moon — the image I posted was taken a long time ago! Haha.
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Im about to upload them but i have to figure out why the noise keep coming on manual mode i have read blogs ask photographers friends and try all and they still came
With noise is a bit frustrating for a perfectionist like me lol
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In terms of lunar photography — try to keep the ISO at 100. If you already shoot at a low ISO — try experimenting with an ISO reduction.
RAW Therapee has a nice noise reduction feature, but you will need to experiment. It’s very easy to blur-out your images and make them much worse. Use with caution.
Here’s the link:http://rawtherapee.com/blog/list/13
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Yeah i had it in manual shutter speed 4000 and iso 6400 flas exposure -2 auto correction off because my friend did it that way same camera and lens and they came out perfect
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ISO 6400 is really excessive — especially for lunar photography. You can certainly expose the moon with a variety of ISO levels, but the lower — the better — considering resolution will take a beating at that high of an ISO.
Unless you’re including the moon within a landscape portrait — don’t worry about the ‘sunny 16’ rule. It works, but it’s not ideal, or efficient.
Since the moon appears flat in the sky, you won’t need any depth. Try opening the lens aperture as far as it allows, keep the ISO at 100, and gradually increase the exposure time. Compare your images and toss out all the under and over exposures.
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Yeah i did as she did and for some odd reason hers was amazing and mine wasnt and we both have the same
Camera w same lens yet she was in Japan clear sky and I was here w a storm sooo im just going to beleive it was that lol
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Noise and clouds don’t mix well haha — try using those specific camera settings once the sky is clear.
Perhaps her image was processed? Some people are really skillful at making noise less noticeable.
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yo fly trap
thanks for the follow
BTW a real blue moon i think is the second full moon of the same month
still, i believed you
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No problem — “a true blue moon” refers to the third full moon in an astronomical season, which is scheduled to have 4 full moons.
Check out this link: http://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/blue-moon.html
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We still have a few hours before our moon makes it’s grand entry this evening.
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I still have a few hours as well — the image in this post was taken a long time ago Haha.
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Ha! I thought maybe you were over the ocean somewhere.
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I’ll tell you another secret — in the photograph — the moon is only around 98% full! Oops.
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Ha, I won’t tell anyone. Looks plenty full to me.
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My moon wasn’t blue – Dammit!!! 😕
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Hell…the moon didn’t even rise where I live! It’s too early! I took this photograph last year (I think)…don’t tell anyone!
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Your secret is safe with me! 😉
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