The Magnificent Moon: Amateur Astronomer Captures Stunning Photo of Lunar Surface

Moon 44% Illuminated by Miguel Claro
This photo shows the moon one day before it reached “first quarter,” with the disc 44 percent illuminated by the sun. Miguel Claro of Lisbon, Portugal captured the image on March 7, 2014. (Image credit: Miguel Claro | www.miguelclaro.com)

The delicate play between light and shadow brilliantly reveals the surface of the moon in these images recently sent to Space.com.  

Astrophotographer Miguel Claro of Lisbon, Portugal, captured the stunning photo one day before the moon reached "first quarter," with the disc 44-percent illuminated by the sun.

"In this phase, we could see a lot of craters due to the game of light and shadows on its surface," Claro told Space.com in an email. [More Stunning March Night Sky Photos by Stargazers]

This photo shows the moon one day before it reached “first quarter,” with the disc 44 percent illuminated by the sun. Miguel Claro of Lisbon, Portugal captured the image on March 7, 2014. In this annotated version, Claro changed the inverted position of the original photo caused by the mirrors in his Maksutov telescope. (Image credit: Miguel Claro www.miguelclaro.com)

Claro took the image on March 7 using Canon 50D and Maksutov telescope F=1250 mm, and a Vixen GP2 Photo Guider S tracking mount (ISO 1000; f/ 13.8; Exp: 1/80 sec. in 07/03/2014 at 23:08. Median Sum of 10 images in Maxim DL).

He also included an annotated version of the image, seen at a different angle. In this version, Claro changed the inverted position caused by the mirrors in his Maksutov telescope.

12" Moon Globe. Buy Here (Image credit: Space.com Store)

"It's very interesting to see the difference when we look at the same picture, but at a different angle," Claro wrote.  "We can easily see some craters in the original captured position and others in the corrected inverted position."

To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by Space.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.

Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo or video that you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please send images and comments to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

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Contributing Writer and Producer

Nina Sen is a freelance writer and producer who covered night sky photography and astronomy for Space.com. She began writing and producing content for Space.com in 2011 with a focus on story and image production, as well as amazing space photos captured by NASA telescopes and other missions. Her work also includes coverage of amazing images by astrophotographers that showcase the night sky's beauty.