Per Tiny Crater On The Moon Is Captured In An Ultra High-Definition 85-Megapixel Photo

Andrew McCarthy an astronomer has returned with a new high-definition view of the moon. The 85-megapixel photograph was taken in McCarthy's backyard and contains all of the stunning details one would expect. One might spend hours poring over the chart picking out all the craters and geographical marks on the moon's surface.

Surprisingly, the final product isn't quite what it appears to be. It is in effect the product of 24,000 images rather than a single shot. McCarthy used a telescope mounted at 2000mm to capture these photographs over 45 minutes. He then used only the right frames with the least amount of ambient noise in post-production.

“I use a special camera designed for very high frame rates so I can take hundreds of thousands of shots in minutes,” McCarthy tells The Eyota. “Processing is a bit longer, just because it's so much data. I use software that I upload the RAW frames into that aligns and stacks it spitting out stacked files that I stitch together in Photoshop. I also run various sharpening programs on the data and since the stacked images are so high quality I can get crisp details from sharpening without producing noise and artifacts. Processing started late in the evening and ran until I shared the image around 3 pm the following day.”

The picture is another tribute to one of McCarthy's favorite celestial bodies and it's a lovely addition to his astrophotography portfolio. McCarthy has had a lot on his plate lately.COVID-19 hasn't had much of an effect on his job as a backyard astrophotographer. In reality, he's had it easy for the past few months except for the California wildfires which are obstructing visibility. He believes that by continuing to share work like this people will be inspired to see the moon in a different light.

McCarthy has posted the complete 85-megapixel edition of the illustration on his Patreon page if you want to see it. You'll find astrophotography tricks and a look behind the scenes of his job there. Prints of his work are now available for purchase.

Andrew McCarthy's 85-megapixel shot of the moon has some close-up information.

Andrew McCarthy: Website | Instagram | Patreon | ImageKind

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