What color is the Moon? Most people would say white, or maybe gray, but actually our satellite It has a wide range of tones that go from gray and white to blue and ocher. This new image captures those colors and enhances them so you can see the Moon like you’ve never seen it before.
The photograph is the work of Andrew McCarthy and Connor Matherme. McCarthy is a astrophotografo known for his spectacular photos of the cosmos, while Matherme is a planetary scientist and astroamateur photographer. Both wanted to pay tribute to the mvision Artemis I which will take off (if all goes well and there are no delays) on August 29 from Cape Canaveral. Artemis I marks the return of the human being to the Moon, so both photographers wanted to celebrate it with a work entitled precisely “The Hunt for Artemis”.
“In 9 days, a crewed lunar rocket will depart from Cape Canaveral in Florida,” McCarthy wrote on Instagram. “Demonstrating our capability for lunar missions for the first time in 50 years.”
The image is actually a mosaic made up of more than 200,000 photos. McCarthy took 200,000 black and white photos from Arizona, while Matherme, more specialized in deep space photos, took 500 photos from Louisiana intended not to capture details of the surface.surface, but to capture the color information.
Ambos han estado trabajando en la foto nada menos que dos años. El resultado es el color real de la Luna, solo que está realzado y saturado para que los ojos humanos puedan apreciarlo a simple vista. Los tonos reales tal y como los vemos son mucho más apagados y tenues.
McCarthy y Matherme explican que no han usado equipamiento ultraespecializado para tomar esta foto. Tan solo cámaras convencionales y un rastreador de posición astronómico para ir moviendo la cámara. Si te apetece tener la foto en tu casa, hay copias impresas a la venta en la web de McCarthy.[[Reddit via NPR]