An image circulating over the web has grabbed the attention of netizens that appears to be one of the most detailed images of the Moon. The 16-year-old Prathamesh Jaju from Pune, Maharashtra, snapped this detailed image and posted it on his Instagram handle. It is an amalgamation of 55,000 images and weighs around 186GB.
In the comments section, Jaju explained the process behind capturing such striking images. He said, “This is my most detailed and clearest shot and my best work of the third quarter Mineral Moon. I captured around 50,000+ images over 186 GigaBytes of Data which almost killed my laptop with the processing.”
Advanced gear was used
In the caption of the post, Jaju has written that to capture this amazing shot he used Celestron 5 Cassegrain OTA (telescope), a ZWO ASI120MC-S super-speed USB camera. He also used the SkyWatcher 8” Collapsible Reflector Dobsonian with a Canon EOS 90D for the colors.
For post-processing, Jaju used software such as PIPP, Autostakkert, IMPPG, Registax 6, Adobe Photoshop, and Lightroom.
“I first captured them by capturing multiple videos on different small areas of the Moon. Each video contains around 2000 frames, first, we stabilize them, then we merge and stack each video into one image. So I took around 38 videos. Now we have 38 images. We sharpen each one of them manually and then stitch them together in Photoshop like a big mosaic. Once the mosaic is done, some more adjustments are made and some final touch-ups and boom!” he added.
Colors represent minerals on Moon
While many might wonder that the color of the Moon appears to be unusual, Jaju explains that the color shows the minerals present on the Moon, which human eyes cannot see; however advanced lens on DSLR cameras and other lenses ideal for such photography can resolve these colors.
“Since childhood, I have loved watching series and movies like Star Trek and Star Wars. I have always wanted to learn more about anything related to space and astronomy. I finally got to do this when I joined the JVP astronomy club as a volunteer when I was 13,” the 16-year-old told The Print in an interview.
