Miguel Claro is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a European Southern Observatory Photo Ambassador and member of The World At Night and the official astrophotographer of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, he specializes in astronomical "Skyscapes" that connect both Earth and night sky. Join Miguel here as he takes us through his photograph "A Golden Beaver Moon Rises above the Fields of Dark Sky Alqueva."
This dreamy night-sky photo features a golden full moon rising above the landscape of Alandroal, Portugal, in Dark Sky Alqueva, the world's first "starlight tourism destination."
I captured this single shot after the end of Mercury's transit in front of the sun, just a few hours before the moon was officially full.
The fields of Alandroal, located in Portugal's Central Alentejo region, are full of olive, cork and holm oak trees, as well as sloping terrains providing beautiful scenarios for photographic compositions.
Related: Golden moon rises in a pink sky over Niagara Falls (photo)
The full moon of November is also known as the Beaver Moon. According to Time and Date, the full moon of November "is named after beavers because this is the time they become particularly active building their winter dams in preparation for the cold season. The beaver is mainly nocturnal, so they keep working" under the moonlight.
To capture this shot I used a Nikon D850 DSLR camera and a Sigma Sport zoom lens set to 460mm with an aperture of f/6.3 and an ISO set to 500. The exposure time was 1/30 seconds.
To get a print of Claro's amazing astrophotography, visit his fine-art prints store at www.miguelclaro.com/prints. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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