Full Moon

Image Title: Full Moon

Copyright: Raffaele Calcagno & Francesco Nesc

Date image was taken: July 29, 2026

Location: Faggiano (TA) Italy

Data Acquisition Method: Personal Telescope Setup

Description and Details:  Full Moon

 On the night of July 29, 2026, while chatting and enjoying a few beers with Francesco Nesca, we came up with the idea for a new project. We decided to dedicate the entire night to our natural satellite, creating a high-resolution lunar mosaic that ultimately reached 425 GB of data, spread across 30 videos of 4,000 frames each, from which 1,500 of the best frames were selected and stacked for every single panel.

It was also the perfect opportunity to capture the first light of this fantastic SVBONY MK127 at its native 1500 mm focal length. The Moon was about 25° above the horizon, the night was pleasantly cool, providing moments of steadier seeing, and under these conditions we successfully completed the acquisition.

From there, the longest and quietest part began: processing every single video, frame by frame, until the final assembly of the mosaic, which was entirely processed by me.

I hope you enjoy it!

 Technical Data

Telescope / Mount: SVBONY MK127 on HEQ5 Pro
Camera: ZWO ASI224
Filter: SVBONY UV/IR Cut 1.25”
Acquisition Software: SharpCap
Location: Faggiano (TA), Italy
Bortle Class: 6
Acquisition Date: July 29, 2026
Processing Software: RegiStax, Photoshop
Type: Lunar Mosaic
Panels/Videos: 30
Frames per Video: 4,000
Stacked Frames: 1,500 per panel
Gain: 150
Exposure: 3.0 ms
Total Data Size: 425 GB

Name: Raffaele Calcagno