To the Moon & Never Back

Whilst outside with the telescope and throughout every stage of processing, a powerful laptop is used for each step.

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.

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 — revealing far greater detail across the lunar surface with craters and fine textures becoming much more defined.

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Single frame Stacked & sharpened

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.

The 35 colour photographs are stacked together into a single image. The colours appear subtle at first, but through stacking they reveal entirely real colours reflecting 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.

Single photograph

35 photographs stacked

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.

All elements are then carefully combined to form the final composition — a highly detailed lunar image constructed entirely from telescope-captured data, recorded from my backyard. This process transforms raw astronomical data into a constructed image that exists somewhere between observation and interpretation.