Photo credit: Andrew McCarthy
Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy is known for his incredible images, and his latest one is definitely no slouch. This shot of Saturn peering out from behind the Moon was captured with a Celestron C14 telescope atop the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii and is actually a composite of 200,000 photos assembled into a 107-panel mosaic.
Here’s the highly requested behind-the-scenes of my latest photo of Saturn as it was covered by the moon, including live telescope views and shots of my setup. pic.twitter.com/yUFFmpM5Dv
— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) September 22, 2024
McCarthy really had to battle to get these images, as he caught the flu a few days before the event, so staying up until 4am wasn’t the easiest of tasks, but it all paid off in the end. For those interested in visiting the Mauna Kea Observatories (MKO), this group of independent astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories can be found at the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii.
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By traveling west, the event happened earlier in the evening so was much higher in the sky. Hawaii was really the only option, as the rest of the path was in the middle of the Pacific! Once I chose Hawaii, the top of Mauna Kea was an obvious choice to get above the atmosphere,” said McCarthy.
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