January Earthshine Crescent Moon by Robert Pettengill, Austin Astronomical Society

Sunlight reflected from the earth illuminating the moon is a sublime sight, but extraordinarily difficult to capture because of the wide range of contrast.

• Questar 3.5 inch telescope (1350 mm, f14) and a Sony a6300 camera at prime focus.

• Crescent exposed 2017-01-31, 1/25 sec at ISO 400, best 8 of 105 images stacked in Nebulosity.

• Earthshine exposed 2017-01-30 for 5 sec at ISO 400, best 16 of 30 images stacked in Lynkeos.

• Deconvolution of stacks in Lynkeos. HDR composite, exposure adjustment, and final crop in Photoshop. The day-lapse technique allows realistic terminator detail without glare.