Moon with asi1600mc

[m11 (Mel)]

Hi all,

First try with video and stacking with the moon with no focal reducer from my 16inch dob. I think i have the focus not right?

Stacked with 40secs of video.

Happy with any suggestions and feedback.

Thanks,

Mel

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Mel, for a first try it turned out really nice. I think your focus is pretty good. I'd say there are a couple of reasons why it looks a bit soft. Generally it comes down to the seeing, so that may not have been good to start with and secondly, the top of your image appears to be a bit sharper than the lower section and I suspect your camera may not have been sitting square to your optics. Check your colmination to rule that out first then when you've done that, make sure the camera sits soundly in the eyepiece holder. I'd still be happy with the result you've achieved, well done!

[m11 (Mel)]

Hi Mickoid,

Appreciate your time to review and provide feedback. Always good to get another's persons perspective as I am a total noob with ccd cameras and making them work with my scope.

Will definetely check the collimation again and also to make sure the camera is in the focuser correctly.

Do you reckon its not enough exposure as i am not sure if its a bit dark?

Thanks again,

Mel

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Originally Posted by m11

Hi Mickoid,

Appreciate your time to review and provide feedback. Always good to get another's persons perspective as I am a total noob with ccd cameras and making them work with my scope.

Will definetely check the collimation again and also to make sure the camera is in the focuser correctly.

Do you reckon its not enough exposure as i am not sure if its a bit dark?

Thanks again,

Mel

Mel, the moon is always a tricky one to make it look like the way we see it with our eyes. It's a matter of preference and compromise because some like to see more definition in the more lit areas, at the sacrifice of losing detail in the darker areas, while others will expose for the shadow areas and lose the detail in the lit areas as a compromise. I think it's up to you really, from my point of view, I think you're on the underexposed side so I'd be giving it more (or just lighten the one you have in post processing) to make it look more natural, although you have great detail in the lit areas.

I've tried to combine an underexposed and overexposed image in PS to maintain the best detail in all areas but blending the two is difficult, a kind of manual HDR. I'm not sure whether your CCD camera has the facility to shoot in HDR but that would be an option if it did.

[m11 (Mel)]

No problems, thanks for the explanation. I have definetly have a better understanding now.

Will keep plugging away and test with different settings and post processing options.

Thanks,

Mel

[m11 (Mel)]

Taken with Celestron 6se with 20sec video stacked.

happy with any suggestions

[m11 (Mel)]

pic attached as gif.