See one of the most detailed photos of the moon ever taken

The union between astrophotographer and planetary scientist has created one of the most impressive photos of the Moon ever taken!

Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy and astronomer and astrophotographer Connor Matherne formed a successful partnership. They had already taken another photo of the Moon two years ago. But compared to the new success of the two, the first, despite its beauty, does not come close to the new image in terms of richness of detail.

The impressive 174-megapixel photo is a composite of 200,000 images taken in a single night! The photos were taken to capture every single part of our satellite forming a highly detailed composition.

Inspired by the launch of the Artemis I mission, the duo decided to photograph the Moon again. While McCarthy was in charge of the details, Matherne stuck to the colours.

Two years ago, I teamed up with an astrophotographer and planetary scientist friend. @MatherneConnor to capture the most ridiculously detailed image of the moon we could get. In the last few months, we’ve put our heads together again to come up with something even clearer. watch: pic.twitter.com/SebeDRJx2h

– Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) 20 August 2022

But does the moon have colors?

As photographer McCarthy explains, some oxygen atoms escape from the Earth’s atmosphere and interact with the iron and feldspar molecules found on the lunar surface, causing oxidation and therefore colors.

But with the interference of the atmosphere, terrestrial and lunar we cannot distinguish it with the naked eye. Also, special attention was paid to photography so that the colors could be emphasized.

Take a look at this photo??? emoji @AJamesMcCarthy and I took our moon photos together. pic.twitter.com/NcmVaG7NPI

— Connor Matherne (@MatherneConnor) August 1, 2022

They use basic equipment for photography such as a camera, tripod, star chart and clear sky night for recordings. The rest is hard work and hours of editing.