New Moon picture?

artk · Post by **artk** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:02 pm

Has anyone ever taken photos of the New Moon from orbit at a time when there is sufficient angular separation from the Sun....or with the Sun occulted?....a sufficient time exposure would show the "black hole" of the moon against the background star field..... might make a good APOD...

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:28 pm

Sounds to me like you are essentially talking about imaging a Solar Ecllipse but from a point that is closer to the moon such that the moon also blocks most of the solar corona as well as the disk. Considering that during the ecllipse, the moon is at it's newest phase, you would need to be in space in the lunar shadow at the time you took the image or else it would be just another solar ecllipse image. As for (Has it been done before?) I haven't seen any images like this but would agree that it would be awsome

artk · Post by **artk** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 6:42 pm

Actually, I'm thinking more of when the new moon coincides with the inclination of the lunar orbit reaching its maximum deviation from the ecliptic.....I understand that it's about 5 degrees....~10 apparent solar diameters....so the moon itself would be either above or below the Sun while lying on the same celestial meridian....it'd truly just be background stars other than Sol....artk

goredsox · Post by **goredsox** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 10:59 pm

Remember to factor in earth-shine, which would really light up the new moon as viewed from space and mess up your exposure....

Here's another angle:

Go to the dark side of the moon during a full Lunar Eclipse, and position your camera at an elevation of about 20,000 km above the surface of the moon. Now the moon is occulting the sun and the earth at the same time, and so earthshine is not a factor. Position the camera so that the moon is in front of the Milky Way. That would be an APOD for sure.