Combining Two Hobbies - 3D and Lunar Imaging

How to Image the Moon in 3D

For years I have been entertaining the idea of imaging the full moon around 6pm then again at 6 am, believing I could create a stereo image (3D) of the moon. Two images 12 hours apart would give me a base of nearly 8000 miles, the diameter of the earth. Surely, I thought, at midnight the moon is almost overhead, so imaging it after sunset and before sunrise would give me slightly different viewpoints of the moon, about 240,000 miles away. Two viewpoints are needed for stereo imaging, their separation in general being about 1/30th the distance to the subject. 8000/240,000 = 1/30.

But, I am a lazy guy, and getting up at just before 5 am, betting on weather has been difficult. Then a thought came to mind, before I make all the effort, maybe I can test my idea with software.

As it happens, I have a program called Virtual Moon Atlas (Link to VMA). At any given date and time it gives me a realistic map of the moon. The idea came to me today to simulate the moon at the different times, make screen caps, then display them side-by-side to create a stereograph or 3D image.

Below are two stereographs - the full moon surface and an image of just the eastern portion. The full moon stereograph doesn't give an obvious 3D view. But the eastern moon stereograph clearly shows a 3D effect. Best viewed in cross-eyed mode.

For those 3D fans who have a pair of anaglyph classes, below are anaglyph, red/green images

I'll still plan on getting up and recording the moon at 5am some day, then 12 hrs later acquiring more video. 

Appreciate any comments... 

Have a nice day and night.

07-03-2023

Update

I figured out that I only need the 8000 miles of separation between two captured moon images for a 3D of the full moon, or 12 hours apart from my location. I can create a 3D image of parts large areas of the moon from images captured a few days apart. 

It works like this. For full moon images I need the 12 hour interval but for parts of the moon I can image it a couple of days apart at the same time. The moon circles the earth in 27.322 days. So relative to my position, it has rotated about 27 degrees (2/27.322 x 360) between two day's exposures. On earth that corresponds to 1760 miles separation.

The description of the moon's rotation about the earth is explained here:

https://tinyurl.com/mppjbjjk

Below are two images of the moon side-by-side taken from Virtual Moon Atlas simulating how the moon appears to someone at my location two days apart. I have done some alignment and cropping processing.  With Cross-eye viewing the 3D effect is obvious.

That's only after two days! 

I'll be working on getting my own telescopic views in the next few days and compare to the simulations. 

Cheers