'Ridiculously Detailed' New Image of The Moon Is A Masterpiece of Space Photography

(Image - Andrew McCarthy/Connor Matherne)

Two astrophotographers have just dropped what they call "the most ridiculously detailed picture" of the Moon

(Image - Andrew McCarthy/Connor Matherne)

the result of a painstaking, neck-craning effort roughly two years and over 200,000 frames in the making.

(Image - Andrew McCarthy/Connor Matherne)

For millennia, humans have looked up and seen the same silver orb traversing the night sky – but never quite like this.

(Image - Andrew McCarthy/Connor Matherne)

As space photography enthusiast Andrew McCarthy says of his collaboration with planetary scientist Connor Matherne, "behold" this stunning image

(Image - Andrew McCarthy/Connor Matherne)

While you feast on this 174-megapixel beauty, you can see the Moon tinged red and gunmetal blue, illuminated on the right-hand side as it faces Earth.

(Image - Andrew McCarthy/Connor Matherne)

The red patches are iron and feldspar oxidized by errant oxygen atoms from Earth, McCarthy explained to inquisitive viewers on Twitter.

(Image - Andrew McCarthy/Connor Matherne)

Though the colors may look false, they are technically the Moon's true hues

(Image - Andrew McCarthy/Connor Matherne)