ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

American Stargazer Takes Amazing High Resolution Shot Of The Moon

American Stargazer Takes Amazing High Resolution Shot Of The Moon

Incredible work.

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Space. The final frontier. We spend all Monday morning staring into it, but yet we understand so little about it.

Well, not all of us.

One stargazer has helpfully provided us with an exciting glimpse into space through a massively high resolution photograph of our closest neighbour in the celestial community, the moon.

The photo - which is at a resolution of 81 megapixels (that's a lot) - was then posted onto Reddit by Andrew McCarthy, from Elk Grove, California.

The moon, in all it's high definition glory.
Andrew McCarthy

What makes this interesting - except for the fact that it's a mad detailed photo of the fucking moon - is that NASA has recently announced plans for the next trip to the moon.

The space agency is planning on staying there for a while too.

On Valentine's Day, one of NASA's administrators, Jim Bridenstine, said: "This time, when we go to the moon we're going to stay,

"So, we're not going back to the moon to leave flags and footprints and then not go back for another 50 years. We're going to go sustainably. To stay. With landers and robots and rovers - and humans."

Aye, that's all very exciting, but how long until I can pop up to the moon for a week on holiday, or even a long weekend?

2028? That's no use to me now, though, is it?

NASA plan to get back up to the moon in the coming years.
PA

Seriously though, it takes a long time to plan an excursion to the moon. Especially if you're planning to stay up there for any length of time longer than just a short run about. NASA plans to take the extra time preparing the next trip to really get the most out of it.

Consider the first trip like a stag do and the second one like a full lad's holiday.

As for the intrepid astronomer who actually shot this stunning insight into our largest satellite, he works for a software company and is a serious stargazer. He also has some bloody expensive sounding equipment.

He shot the photograph using his Orion XT10 telescope, through a Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro mount, and two cameras called the Sony A7ii and ZWO ASI224MC.

Nope, me neither. Sounds dear, though. At least he understands what he's doing with it!

He then took 25 individual 'tiles' that captured the lit-up side of the moon. These 'tiles' - which consist of around 1,000 images in each - were then stitched together using Photoshop and presumably a whole heap of time and intricacy.

McCarthy told Forbes that he used: "A lot of selective masking, histogram stretching, and contrast adjustments were necessary to get the look I wanted,

"The inspiration came from when I was young looking through my dad's telescope. He showed me the planets and the moon and left me with a curiosity that has never been satisfied since.

"I spend my nights outside in awe at the wonders above us and have only scratched the surface of what I want to be able to see and image."

If you want to take in the full effect of this remarkable image, it's here. Enjoy.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Interesting, US News, Technology, Weird, space