Photo of the Week for September 4, 2015

Best known for his superb imagery of clusters, galaxies and nebulas, Guelph, Ontario, astrophotographer Ron Brecher occasionally turns his attention to targets closer to home, even when he has other plans. “On the night of September 1, 2015, I set out to image a deep sky object, but though the evening sky was very steady, the transparency was poor, with only a few stars visible,” he recounts. In the spirit of when life hands you lemons, make lemonade, Brecher did what he could. “I wasn’t going to get any deep-sky imaging done, so I shifted my attention back to the Moon and acquired this photo.” And a fine one it is.

Brecher used a SBIG STL-11000M camera fitted with a Baader H-Alpha filter and attached to a 10-inch f/6.8 ASA astrographic reflector to acquire the image data. You can view more of his photos by visiting his web site.