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Is there a resource online of images of the moon (taken from the Earth) suitable for processing with a computer: I.e. taken with the same camera, optics, location, etc, over months/years?

Purpose: This paper looks at reconstructing the image of the Earth by looking at earthshine on the moon, but only considers a simulation. I was wondering whether it would actually work. Also I feel that there is a lot of info that the paper didn't use (and also I wonder what some machine learning techniques might achieve). One would also need historic images of the Earth (for training the system, re cloud cover).

If such a dataset doesn't exist, would it be something that could be collected? (the telescope clearly doesn't need to be very powerful, the photo exposure wouldn't take long, etc).

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I occasionally view the Earth illuminated side of the new and old moons with my Mallincam electronic eyepieces. Unlike the sun illuminated side there are no shadows in the view but the features do stand out quite clearly.

There is little if any contrast across the view that the eye can perceive. Other than looking with the eye I have never attempted any processing of an image so anything is possible.

I think I understand the concept. The earthshine should be different based on what part of the earth is facing the moon.

Unfortunately the Earth's cloud cover will probably have more effect on the earthshine than the surface itself.

There are thousands of astro images on the Mallincam.io forum. Ask the group if there are any earthshines in the files. If not someone might provide you with a few.

https://groups.io/g/MallinCam

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  • $\begingroup$ The cloud cover is what I think I'm interested in (this is why I'd need Earth observation data from satellites to train the system). I found this ref today: academic.oup.com/astrogeo/article/49/3/3.15/218632 "Bakos [performed the] first sustained attempt to measure correlations between albedo and weather [using the moon's earthshine]" Also the wikipedia page on albedo is useful: ocean=0.06, cloud up to 0.8. But also that the specular reflection from the oceans is an issue. $\endgroup$
    – lionfish
    Commented Feb 28, 2020 at 23:50

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