Shooting the moon

Well, the moon shooting was not as expected from top to bottom. A very difficult shoot. After fixing my error message I ended up setting up in the middle of my horse pasture in the dark, wondering what kind of bug or serpent would come along to join me?

Turns out that the moon actually came up so late over the mountain that there would have been no point trying to get the shot up on Vista Del Rio either.

It finally peeked over the hill at 8:50, way after sunset.

Not sure how I did but shooting was hard. 

After my initial volley of shots I went back in and came out around midnight. 

It was approximately 222,043 miles from earth, its zenith in transit or culmination at 12:14 a.m.. 

Moon was bright, at 99.99% illumination.

It was so difficult at the extreme angle. 

I have never shot my heavy lens at an object so high in the air and even with the gimbal shooting and focus was less than optimal. Pain in the keister (and shoulder.)

I took a lot of shots, this might have been my best one in terms of definition. I saw Saturn nearby, just didn't have enough light to capture it this time.

 11:55 p.m. 8/30/23 Nikon D850 - Nikkor 400mmƒ2.8 fl E - 400mm iso 100 ƒ4.5 at 1/400th

Not my greatest effort ever but not bad. I'll take it. By the way Luna doesn't resemble cheese to me. More like a moldy orange that went bad on the counter,