Thierry Legault is an amateur astrophotographer whose work I have admired for a long time. This lunar photo of his will serve as a good example for those of you who have never heard of him or seen his work before.
The image above is the crater Clavius, one of the largest craters in the southern highlands of the moon. I encourage you to click the image to view it on Legault’s site and spend some time luxuriating in the sheer beauty and immensity of this picture. For those who don’t know, any type of astrophotography is hard to do well. Images of the moon in particular are very tough because achieving sharp focus is virtually impossible, and you’re constantly fighting against Earth’s boiling and roiling atmosphere. I just can’t stress enough how outstanding these photos are. They look as though they could have been taken from an orbiter, or from one of the lunar landers on descent.
The linked photo contains several other examples from Legault’s September lunar shoot and all are as amazing as this one. In his note, he says, “Best view of the images with full-HD screen in subdued surroundings.” In other words, turn the lights low and enjoy!
Shout out to Bad Astronomy for the original link.
