Paul Cézanne's Astronomy Observing Reports

I’ll say I got lucky on this one. I noticed what compass point the moon would rise it, saw where I wolud need to be on the road in the dunes to see the moonrise and the Pilgrim Monument (yes, the Pilgrims land in Provincetown before moving onto Plymouth!) and then I headed out since the horizon was clear.

The dunes are hilly and there are hills between the road and the monument, but I was able to find just one gap in the trees. I thought I’d be way off and the moonrise wouldn’t be anywhere near the monument. I was wrong and I got the shot.

I used a Canon PowerShot S3 IS. It isn’t the best low light camera we have but it is the one with the biggest telephoto lens. 1/20 second at f3.5. ISO was not recorded but it was probably 200. (Any more on the S3 and the noise is unbearable.) I used spot metering and took the light reading off the moon. If I took it off the tower the moon was very over exposed.

It was very windy so I tried to block the camera from the wind. I took about 50 shots, only a few were good, this was one of them. The colors are not manipulated in Photoshop, but I did play with the tower some, it was too dark so I brought out the shadows.

Next, I’d like to have a bigger telephoto but also get the moon right next to the monument, but that will mean a hike back through the dunes at night, I don’t relish that idea at all. I’ll let somebody else get the shot.