Took this pic through my sons telescope, tonight jan. 21st 2013. Is this Jupiter upper left of moon?

reply to post by Renegade2283


Hi Go to Google images and search "moon lens flare" you will see lots of images, many factors contribute to how a lens flare looks , construction of the lens ,lens coatings , angle of light to the lens etc etc.

There have been a few threads on here with UFO reports which were shown to be lens flare.

You have to remember the OP's picture was an ipad held near the eyepiece not an ideal situation for taking pictures

Here is a thread on the subject of flares but there are more.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

From another thread read this post and the one below it

www.abovetopsecret.com...

There is a lot to this subject and if you don't understand how it works you can be fooled.

reply to post by wmd_2008


Ah, thank you so much for that information. I finally found out what was confusing me after doing that google search. The reason I wasn't seeing that as a lens flare was because the moon itself in the picture was so bright that it overloaded the lens with light making the image blurry because it wasn't properly focused. Now, the smaler sphere that looked like it was illuminated was an illusion caused by the mirrored image of the moon as a result of a lens flare. The section of the moon that was lit up was now facing the moon as the lens flare from being mirrored, so it was shaded in a way that gave it the appeareance of being a smaller sphere being illuminated by the moon. The reason it looked so different was because it was smaller, and dimmer, making it more clear and solid looking than the moon.

Sorry for the explanation, but I had to point out why I was so confused. These lens flares can cause some serious confusion. Anyways, thanks again.

reply to post by Renegade2283


No problem lots of members here are keen photographers some semi-pro others are professional photographers, with me a hobby for 30+ years.

That's why I (we) get a bit frustrated at times by claims made by some members regarding photographs they find/post other times we get a good or an interesting puzzle to solve.