Imaging with the moon out

[PKay]

Hi All

I just wanted to find out what happens if you image with the moon out (99%).
Aimed about 45 degrees away from it.
First thing I noticed I had to decrease the gain (compared to a dark night).

I just happened to be awake when the moon finally set and the histogram peak moved right across the graph (to the left) in a few seconds.

Quite interesting really.

Anyway I did get a result on NGC2237.
120 of 60 sec. subs with guided OSC.

[sil]

yep, you can easily image under moonlight but not ideally. You're losing dimmer stars with moonglow present and getting a brighter image. Worst is the loss of contrast/SNR which you found improved the look in preview by reducing the gain( so losing even more fainter stars). You're only ever seeing an approximation on screen of the signal in the data you capture, so in this case you chose to sacrifice total stars and some nebulosity detail to try to improve contrast on the spot. Full moon just means you have to make adjustments, it doesn't mean its impossible to image. Same with skyglow, I've pulled mag13 comets from next to a full moon and in dawn light with just dslr, the glow can be removed in post leaving black space and stars and a glowing comet easily visible.