To study the surface flux distribution of the Moon by astrophotography from National Observatory, Nagarkot, Nepal

Abstract

We studied visual flux collected by Meade 16-inch LX200GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope in between
April and June, 2025 from the National Observatory Nagarkot, Nepal. The goal of this study was to use these data and
analyze to gain important understanding and study of visual flux emitted from the outer layers of the Moon. Five lines
through the center were drawn in the figure joining the innermost contour and variation of relative flux density along
these five lines were calculated and studied. The result showed that there was consistent decrease in the relative flux
distribution from inner to outer region of the Moon. When we move more towards the outer region, the relative flux
distribution decreases slowly and it reaches close to the background flux density value when we reached the outermost
region. The average background radiation (FB), from our calculation, was found to be 59.98 P.U. (Pixel Units). And, the
relative flux density per pixel was found to be in the range of -0.98 to -41.98 with background subtraction. From our
calculation, the relative flux density of the Moon was found to be in negative values, which indicates that the Moon is
one of the brightest objects in the night sky.