The moon has always fascinated people. And although travel on its surface is not yet available to us, ordinary inhabitants of the Earth, there are other ways to observe this familiar and at the same time mysterious object. For example, through the art of photography.
Andrew McCarthy from Sacramento is a photographer and space fan all rolled into one. He studies the Moon through a telescope and takes incredible pictures. Andrew spent many days piecing together tens of thousands of photographs of the moon. What came out in the end is perhaps the clearest pictures of the lunar surface that anyone has ever taken.
Andrew posts "space" photos on his page in Instagran. Where and how he manages to take such pictures, you can guess by reading his status: "Investigating the universe from the backyard in Sacramento."
Recently, the photographer presented the result of a complex work that took many days to the judgment of Internet users. During this process, Andrew had to select the most contrasting portions of photographs taken at different phases of the moon and blend them to get one big picture. The result is simply stunning and shows the surface of the Earth's satellite incredibly clearly - hardly anyone has seen something like this.
- I haven't contacted for a long time, partly because I was out of shape, and partly because I was working on this ambitious project. From a large number of Waxing Moon images taken over the course of two weeks, I took the area with the most contrast, flattened and blended them to reveal rich texture across the entire surface.
It was exhausting to say the least. Each image had to be mapped onto a 3D sphere and adjusted to make sure the photos were aligned,”Andrew told his subscribers,“Whether I should try to do the same for the waning phases of the moon or not will be up to you: I'm waiting feedback.
Another image was later taken. And McCarthy was quick to introduce him to Instagram users as well.
“I used 20,000 pre-edited photos to show the stars, all the shades and the dark side of the moon, and then I created this image using artificial intelligence algorithms (to sharpen the details and eliminate the" noise "). This allowed me to turn the footage into a crystal-clear 100-megapixel image of our "heavenly buddy" - said the photographer.
This photo is a mixture of shots taken with a slightly different setting to show more detail and contrast. As a result, Andrew has a much more colorful look than usual.
By the way, the Moon is not the only object of interest to the photographer. Andrew takes equally amazing pictures of other celestial bodies. For example, he presented a photo of the Moon and Venus, which, by the way, led some of his subscribers to perplexity. Some of the commentators decided that the photo depicts two moons, wondering how this is even possible. Isn't it a montage? The photographer explained: the Moon is in the foreground, and Venus is in the background.
Andrew also takes unique photographs of the Sun, which delight his subscribers no less.
