Observation by Mark John Prescott: Tracking the Sun and the Moon

Uploaded by

Mark John Prescott

Observer

Mark John Prescott

Observed

2022 Apr 16 - 23:59

Uploaded

2022 Apr 18 - 11:36

Objects

The Sun

Equipment

Pinhole camera

Exposure

48 hours apporx

Location

NW Kent

Target name

Track of the Sun and the Moon

Title

Tracking the Sun and the Moon

About this image

Tracking the path of the Sun and the Moon

A 48 hour exposure was made using a simple pinhole camera, pointing towards the SW. Image processing was performed using GIMP, an open source graphics package.

Files associated with this observation

2022-04-15_16_Sun_and_moon_337.JPG (1.2 MB)

Like this image

Tim Haymes, Matt Williams, David Basey, Mr John William Hughes, Philip Jennings, Gerard Cauchi

Comments

Dominic Ford, 2022 Apr 18 - 21:43 UTC

This is a really neat idea, but I'm rather mystified by the result that you got - I would expect both the Sun and Moon's tracks to culminate directly above your southern horizon.

Instinctively, I would also expect the Moon to be rather faint in a 48-hour exposure, because it has comparable surface brightness to the daytime sky, and it only illuminates any given point on the film for an hour at most (each day), whereas the daytime sky is there for over 12 hours. Though I'm now wondering what would happen if you put a neutral-density filter over the front of the pinhole between sunrise and sunset...

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