Absolutey awesome photo by Stacy Kissel today, which makes us want to go out and buy/rent/steal a big telescope so *we* can try taking pictures of the moon. According to Kissel's caption on Flickr, she borrowed the telescope thinking she could fit it in her Mini, along with a bunch of camping gear and some bikes, for a trip to New Hampshire. She ended up taking this shot from her porch in Somerville.
As for the photo itself, we like how much of the frame is given to the big curving mass of the moon. It gives it a dramatic, monumental feel. We like how the light areas on the moon's surface seem to explode and radiate out. We understand (thank you NASA) that the light areas are rugged, cratered highlands known as terrae, which is Latin for lands. The darker areas are called maria, which is Latin for seas. The maria are cratered landscapes that were partly flooded by lava, which then froze and formed rock.
Taken with a Nikon D90; 1/125 sec.; f/4.5; 50 mm focal length; ISO 200.
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