Blog --- Mooncrater Plato

22.04.2025 - 11:00 pm

Celestron C8

Back in the 90s I had a really nice Celestron C8 reflecting telescope with a diameter of 20 centimeters, and I drove it quite often to the Eifel at night. This resulted in an image of the crater Plato on the Moon, which I recently rediscovered on my hard drive.

From January 2025 onwards, I used Povray to create 3D renderings of the Moon, including one with almost the same image section. The difference is huge, no matter how satisfied I was at the time.

However, the comparison is not entirely fair. The photo was taken with a good telescope and a theoretically good camera (Nikon F-90x), but the camera does not have a mirror lock-up. Every time the mirror flipped up shortly before the photo, the telescope wobbled, despite the heavy mount.

With an exposure time of an estimated 1 to 4 seconds, this small fact spoiled every shot. Nowadays, digital cameras have not only become much better, they also contain no moving parts that could mechanically mess up a shot.

I found the original photo by the way and just wanted to present the comparison briefly.

Further renderings can be found on the page Astronomy - Moon-Renderings - First Results.

Auf Wiedersehen :)
Martin

Photography from the last millennium

Povray-Rendering from 2025

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