The moon is sometimes a hindrance to astrophotographers as it illuminates the sky and makes it more difficult to image other objects.

A moonless night is the ideal setting for most of your telescope imaging sessions. Unless of course, you’ve set out to photograph the moon. If that’s the case, you’re all set.

Since the moon is well illuminated, a long exposure will not be needed. However, if you forget to adjust your camera settings to a shorter exposure, It can create an interesting effect.

I could pretend that I was being all artsy-fartsy here, but the above image was really just a happy accident resulting from my ISO and exposure being set way too high.

It’s amazing how much detail can be seen through the telescope. The moon’s pitted surface and crater edges can be seen casting dark shadows. These shadows are most prominent near the terminator and they reveal the moon’s roughness in vivid detail. These details are far less noticeable on a full moon.

The moon is by far, the easiest object in the sky to photograph. With very minimal effort, you can come away with a stunning picture.