The October Harvest Moon

The Harvest Moon usually comes at the end of September, but this year it snuck into October before it became a full moon. The Harvest Moon is named because it casts so much light that farmers could gather their crops in by its light. The next full moon is often called a Blood or Hunter's Moon because it coincides with large migrations of birds and animals that would be hunted in the Fall in preparation for Winter, and even by the light of the full moon.

Vancouver has been experiencing some stellar clear days this autumn and the atmospheric conditions have been wonderful for astrophotography. I shot this image with a Nikon D700 and a Nikon 600mm f4 with the Nikon 2x teleconverter. I had to manual focus, but was very impressed with the image quality and overall sharpness considering the use of the teleconverter. f13 at 1/40 and 200 ISO. Wonderful to have tripod mode in VR (vibration reduction).