Noticed a huge color shift in my moon shots over 8 months, any ideas why?

I've been photographing the moon from my backyard in Tucson since February, same telescope and same camera settings every time. Last week I put my August and April images side by side and the moon looks noticeably more yellow-orange now compared to the cooler gray-blue tones I got in spring. I checked my white balance and it hasn't budged, so that's not it. Could this be from dust in the atmosphere after the summer monsoon storms we had, or maybe the lower angle of the moon this time of year? I've also read that wildfire smoke can scatter light, but we didn't have any major fires near us. Has anyone else seen this seasonal color drift in their lunar photos, and what did you do to fix it?

2 comments

2 Comments

shane_wilson4d ago

Buddy in Flagstaff swore smoke did it, same rig, same blame.

garcia.cameron4d agoProlific Poster

The whole "smoke did it" thing keeps coming up, and it's just not true. Smoke can't cause a mechanical failure out of nowhere. If your buddy's rig was running fine and then died, something else was already wrong. Maybe a sensor was going bad, or a wire was corroded, or the fuel system had a clog. That kind of stuff shows up when the engine's hot or under load, which is exactly when you'd be driving through smoke. The smoke is just the timing, not the cause. I've seen plenty of people blame the smoke, but when you actually pull the codes or look at the parts, it's always something else. Next time he brings it up, ask him what the shop found. That answer will tell you everything.