To the Moon & Never Back — March 2026
Captured during the Moon’s First Quarter phase, the extreme crater detail along the terminator reveals a surface shaped by billions of years of time and impact.
The final composition is constructed from 33 separate panels, combining 66,000 individual images. The colours reveal the presence of metal minerals within the Moon’s soil, the blues and purples from titanium, and warmer orange tones from iron oxides, similar to rust found on Earth.
The work gestures toward humanity’s enduring desire to explore beyond our planet. Whether driven by curiosity or eventual necessity, the instinct to aim higher and push further seems universal. To the Moon & Never Back reflects that collective impulse to reach outward.
With the recent launch of the Artemis II mission, marking humanity’s return to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, this work sits within a renewed era of space exploration.
Oty
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1 Lunar Photography Project
33 Separate Panels
35 Colour Photographs
66,000 Individual Images
Each panel below is built from 2,000 individual frames, combining to 66,000 frames in the final composition when they are aligned and stitched together.
TO THE MOON & NEVER BACK
(click and pan around for zoomed view)
Minted to 'Oty 1/1s' contract - see on Etherscan
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READ ABOUT THE PROCESS
My process starts by allowing the telescope to cool down outside first so the temperature of the scope cools down closer to the air temperature allowing for better quality imaging. Physical weather conditions play a huge role in my work as even thin cloud or poor atmospheric conditions lead to less sharp images.
The Equipment
Telescope : Celestron Nexstar 8se (2032mm focal length)
Camera - details : Player One Uranus-C astronomy camera
Camera - colour : Nikon d750 DSLR
Whilst I'm outside with the telescope and for the processing, a powerful laptop is used for every step.
Capturing the Moon's Surface IN Video
Tracking is set up on the telescope mount, allowing the Moon to be followed smoothly across the sky while compensating for the Earth’s rotation.
The dedicated Uranus-C astronomy camera is mounted directly to the back of the telescope and connected to the laptop, providing a live view of the lunar surface. Software is used to tune exposure and gain settings.
The process begins by framing the upper section of the Moon and carefully adjusting focus until maximum sharpness is achieved. Each section is then recorded as high resolution monochrome video. The telescope is gradually panned across the surface, repeating this process until the entire Moon has been captured.
For this project, 33 individual video sequences were required, though this number varies depending on the Moon’s size and the level of magnification used.
(Right) - Laptop view of the live image through the telescope
(Below) - Snippets from 2 of the videos
Colour Photographs
Once the full lunar surface has been captured in video, the astronomy camera is replaced with a Nikon D750 DSLR mounted to the back of the telescope.
A series of 35 colour photographs is then captured, which are later combined through stacking to enhance the colours.
A single frame can be seen on the right — only extremely subtle colour variations are visible at this stage. These tones are processed separately later in the workflow to reveal the metal mineral composition of the lunar surface.
Stacking & Sharpening
A single frame extracted from one of the recorded video sequences. While some surface detail is present, the image remains soft and low in contrast prior to stacking.
Around 2,000 individual frames from the same video sequence are aligned and stacked together, then carefully sharpened and adjusted. This process significantly increases overall clarity, revealing far greater detail across the lunar surface, with craters and fine textures becoming much more defined.
Moon Mosaic
This stacking and sharpening process is repeated across all 33 panels.
Each panel is then carefully aligned and manually stitched together to form the complete lunar surface, a process often referred to as a Moon mosaic. This technique allows for much higher magnification during capture, while still producing a final image with high resolution by combining many smaller sections into a single composition.
Colours of the Moon
The 35 colour photographs are also stacked together into a single image. The colours appear subtle at first, through the stacking it reveals the entirely real colours which reflect the presence of different metal rich minerals within the lunar surface.
Warmer orange tones are produced by iron oxides, similar to rust found on Earth, while cooler blue and purple hues indicate areas rich in titanium.
A single of the 35 colour photographs
The 35 colour photographs stacked together and colours carefully adjusted through multiple layers
Moon Glow + Background
The full Moon effect is created by blending a darkened full Moon with the detailed lunar surface. The surrounding glow is produced using a long exposure photograph of the Moon, introducing a soft backlit atmosphere, that enhances depth and presence.
Composite
All elements are then carefully combined to form the final composition — a highly detailed lunar image constructed entirely from telescope captured data, all recorded from my backyard.
This process transforms raw astronomical data into a constructed image that exists somewhere between observation and interpretation.
