Lunar challenge - you up for it?

[mental4astro]

The Moon.

Sooo many people bemoan its presence in the sky.

But it also offers a degree of imaging challenge that is extraordinary.

I've taken inspiration from Martin's suggestion of a Lunathon from a few months back to start this thread.

No, I don't do imaging.

Yes, I do sketching.

But what I am rarely seeing is lunar photos that rival what I can see through the eyepiece.

There is one mob that have been producing some of the most amazing lunar photographs I have ever seen. And they are based in Belarus! Not just one-off images, but also very considered projects spanning several months to produce stereoscopic, 3D photographs. The pics below is their 3D image using the cross-eye technique:

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Think that the Moon has nothing to offer feature wise?

* Mons Rumker, a huge cluster of volcanic vents smack bang in the middle of Oceanus Procellarum
* Alpine Valley, huge scar on the Moon, but have you spied out the wee rile that runs down its entire length?
* Crater Alphonsus with its various pyroclastic deposits and multitude of volcanic vents
* The lace-like network of riles within and outside of Gassendi.

Here's their pic of Posidonius

240666

It goes on and on.

Happy with a lunar pic you took? Post it here!

Throwing down the gauntlet with a red hot pic? Post it here!

Amazed by a feature you didn't anticipate? Post it here!

Those Belarus boys have laid down a challenge. What can we do?

Alex.

[Wavytone]

Now there's a challenge ! You really are daring me to bolt the camera on, eh ?

[mental4astro]

Yes! I am :)

This is the home page of that Belarus site's lunar page. Note, it is in Russian, so you'll need to use the translation feature:

http://www.astronominsk.org/Moon/Moon.htm

Alex.

[mental4astro]

Oh, don't have a scope? Only do wide field photos? Think this Challenge offers nothing for you?

Think again!

The Moon also offers much for wide field photography!

Moon Dogs.

Lunar halos.

Conjunctions.

Dramatic cloud and landscapes.

Let's see what you can do with Luna! :)

Alex.

[raymo]

There's one to start it off. 8" f/5 Newt single frame image'
Eyepiece projection.
raymo

[Startrek]

Now you have me searching Raymo
Here’s a couple of lunar surface images from last year using Televue powermates
6” f6 newt on HEQ5 mount and Canon 600D
Martin

[raymo]

GNAAAAH! Thats not fair, I only had an el super cheapo eyepiece.:)
raymo

[Saturnine]

Interesting challenge Alex, you may have opened a can of worms though. Prepare to be inundated by images, may have a few of my own even.

[mental4astro]

Thanks for starting the contributions Raymo, Martin and Jeff! :)

Here are some pics I've taken using my phone with eyepiece projection using an 8" SCT. I thought these are pretty good for handheld phone pics. Need to work on my technique to match Raymo though...

Mountains and craters along the limb:

240687 , 240688

Two lunar X's:

240689

Can you see Australia?

240690

A near full Moon:

240692

Alex.

[Saturnine]

Another one, from last lunar cycle

[ChrisV]

I'm rubbish at planetary, so with my mobile phone. Taken one night last year at the opera

[raymo]

Oops! Must have pressed the wrong button.:lol::lol:[ best viewed at 50% screen].

Love the near full moon Alex; it has that hanging in the inky black effect.

Here's another, almost identical to one posted here the other day by Martin
I think it was, but it is one day different light angle wise.
raymo

[JA]

https://youtu.be/Wwbm_OY7G4s

Best
JA

[raymo]

You shouldn't smoke whilst imaging, JA, does nothing for the images.:)
raymo

[JA]

Very clever on more than one level:D

Best
JA

[mental4astro]

Ooohhh, that's given me some ideas JA!! :D :D :nerd: :nerd: :painting: :painting:

[Startrek]

An image of capturing the Moon last week using BYEOS planetary mode
BYEOS may be an entry level or beginners application but boy is it easy to use , heaps of intuitive functions, very reliable and gets you great results
I can’t wait until the planets are higher enough to image again. Thumbs up for BYEOS !

[kljucd1]

I was finally happy with the focus on this one I took this month with my WO ZenithStar 66 + Pentax K20D

[Outcast]

I've posted this one before but, since you asked...

8"SCT, ZWO ASI294MC, 30 sec video, stacked & processed...

[Sunfish]

Those craters look like you could touch them Alex. So crisp. I should try again.

Here is an old shot from when I first used a 0.63 reducer and was excited to see the big moon would fit in the C8. Had not worked out the collimating at that point and a little fuzzy . So bright it hurt.

And that eye the sky as our Tim would say.

[JA]

And The Moon turned red ...... like blood.

Best
JA


31st January 2018 Lunar Eclipse. Heavily cropped from 400mm.

[mental4astro]

Man, I'm loving the way this thread is developing! :D I really had no idea what was going to happen, but it is fabulous, and it is making the much maligned Moon the centre of attenion! I really, really love it! :D :D

I never expected a photo of a screenshot, but it really is a quirky take!

And evocative cloud shots, lovely compositions, videos and a blood Moon.

Well, that last lunar eclipse seen from Sydney, I opted for a totally different approach. I knew there would be some sensational photos taken that I couldn't take or match. So, I indulged one of my all too little indulged passions, soft pastels, to produce a couple of very different takes on the eclipse. Soft pastels are a medium that allows you to work quickly to produce an Impressionist style of piece. Fast, brash, details that are hinted at, colourful... There's no time to muck about with details when the scene is changing so fast, you need to smash it out and let the energy of the piece convey the sense of details.

The whole of Moon was done using my binos - I didn't even take a scope down to the Strickland House foreshore where I viewed the eclipse from. And the city skyline is a time lapse of sorts, with the changing Moon dipping behind the City, and trail of plane lights as they crossed in front of the scene.

240768 , 240769

I also did my own little time lapse video of the eclipse. I had carefully sought work out where the Moon was going to dip behind the Sydney skyline, and felt that the foreshore of Strickland House in Sydney's east was going to see the Moon come very damn close to Center Point Tower. Clouds threatened to spoil the party, but the Moon managed to peek through, bloody red, from behind the clouds just to the left of Sydney Tower, around the 57 second mark of the video. The bright star just above and left of the Moon was Mars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz-KTGbeUzg

Alex.

[Saturnine]

Love the time lapse sketch Alex, maybe not up there with Van Goghs' Starry Night, but a work of art no less. Should make a large print and frame it .
Here are some more of mine just for the sake of it. Plato and the Alpine Valley with the Rille just discernable and the Schickard , Schiller region.

[Startrek]

My image of a waxing gibbous moon at 85% last Saturday evening around 11pm
Captured on BYEOS planetary mode at 5x zoom to achieve close to 1:1 pixel resolution
6” f6 newt on HEQ5
Canon 600D
ISO 800
1/500 exp
1500 frames saved as AVI file
Stacked in Autostakkert 3
Processed in Registax 6

Missed out framing the whole moon at 1:1 pixel res

Cheers

[foc]

I was quite happy with this one for a C6 on an EVO this month. It gives me a fair few craters to label and describe to show potential scopers. Perhaps the only optimal thing about this image is that no aspect of the capture was optimized and so I can continue to live in the hope I will take a better one in the future!

[Saturnine]

Lots of interesting images from everyone, with a nice variety of scopes and cameras or crayons, enjoying seeing everybodies perspectives as to what catches their eye at the time.

[joelG]

Hi, This is my attempt at creating an image similar to what I see through the eyepiece, The image is a composite of a full moon and a 22% waxing crescent, The features don't line up exactly but close enough to give the jist of it

Olympus OMD EM5 Mk2
12" F5 Dobsonian
Around 300 frames stacked and processed with PIPP ,AS3 and Photoshop

[xelasnave]

Hi Joel and welcome.
Thanks for posting your image it is wonderful.
Alex

[raymo]

Great job.
raymo

[mental4astro]

Joel,

:welcome: to IIS :)

What a brilliant first post to start of with here in IIS!

Alex.

[Startrek]

Joel
Welcome
Brilliant image , gives the moon a distinct spherical view similar to 3D
Great work
Martin

[Saturnine]

Great work Joel, creative thinking to simulate visual appearance.

[joelG]

Thanks guys for the kind words and the warm welcome :D

[RyanJones]

What a great composition Joel.

Well done and :welcome:

[Startrek]

Single image of 1st quarter moon
Canon 600D with 5 x TV Powermate
Obviously no stacking
Sharpened a bit in registax 6
Kept the contrast down a bit to reduce the glare on the lunar horizon
Cheers

[mental4astro]

Stunning image, Martin!

I saw the Moon dipping behind a big gumtree this morning, with a crow just at the right position for a bit of an interesting composition. My camera doesn't quite have a smaller f/stop to allow for everything to be in focus - the tree is quite close to me. All the same, an interesting opportunity.

Alex.

[Ukastronomer]

No stacking, single shot

[Saturnine]

After a slight pause it is good to see some posts on this lunar thread. Nice shots Alex and Jeremy, thought I may as well add a few more . Taken last Thursday, just before last weeks full moon. Who said the moon is boring when near full phase. Some of my favourite areas are featured.
#1 Bailly
#2 Schickard
#3 Aristarchus

[raymo]

A saturnine place to live if you were on the far side :)
raymo

[astroron]

Alex have you seen the Moon picture in the Minsk site dated 15th September 2009
of the large elongated crater,with a very strange center uplift?
What do you think.
One for the conspiracy theory guys.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[mental4astro]

Ron,

That's the crater Pythagoras. There's numerous interesting things when looking at this crater, and not just to do with the photo you mention.

The curious multiple central peaks is nothing more than a digital processing & data collecting artifact. At first glance it looks like there are three parallel ridges, with the middle one have an odd spike halfway along it. Look a little more closely and you will see several more "echo" ridges that are a result of the very brightly illuminated ridge. Yes the conspiracy theorists would have a field day with this, but only if they are ignorant about contemporary digital imaging. The link below is to the picture you refer to:

http://www.astronominsk.org/Moon/Moon2009/Moon_20090915_Pythagoras.htm

This photo is also a fantastic example of lunar libration when seen beside the sketch I did of Pythagoras. The photo has the crater well clear of the lunar limb, yet my sketch has the crater right on the limb itself. And no, I didn't see the same striated central peak. Just the one. Makes for an interesting comparison the relative position of Pythagoras between the above photo and the sketch I made of the same crater.

241956

This libration, or wobble that the Moon has allows us to see nearly 60% of its surface, not 50 if this wobble did not occur. The gif below is greatly accelerated, but the file is small enough for the IIS file manager to allow. Gives the idea anyway of the libration the Moon shows in a single cycle:

241957

This is one thing I've forgotten to mention in the thread about observing the Moon and planets. I'll add a post to that thread shortly. In the meantime, if you would like to learn a bit more about the Moon and what it has to offer (not just craters an lava fields, but also volcanoes, singular and clusters, collapsed lava tubes, pyroclastic deposits, weathering (no atmosphere or water, but weathering still happens!)), and the fantastic photo opportunities that all this offers, you might like to look through that thread:

Observing the Moon & planets - the good juice & cheats... (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=170511)

Alex.

[Capt_buscemi]

Hello everyone!



Beginner astrophotographer here, first post on the forum, blood moon from February 2019. Pretty happy with the result, tried to maintain the natural colour I was seeing on the night.


Sony A6000 unmodded
40 images stacked

Celestron 8" on HEQ5
Stacked and processed in Photoshop
No noise reduction

[Saturnine]

A very good 1st effort Mark, nice and sharp and well exposed, preserving the detail. Can't ask for much more than that.

[brian nordstrom]

Luna , hand held Google pixel2 phone over 15mm TV Plossl in my ED110mm f6 refractor giving 44x , I really enjoy the moon .

Single shot only cropped .

Brian.

[Outcast]

Taken this evening on a whim... observing conditions aren't particularly good in FNQ at present... first time I've ever been grateful for clouds whilst doing AP in any form...

Sony RX100 on tripod...

[LostInSp_ce]

Animation of the moon's reveal from last year's eclipse. Not the best quality due to file size limit but you get the idea. :)

[Sunfish]

Cool video.

[OzinOz]

We like tha moon
But not as much as a spoon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY6insZjCfU

[mental4astro]

Something a little different again. The 12th of August lunar occultation of Saturn :)

1,First pic is of the Moon approaching Saturn.

2, Going... 3, going... 4, Gone!

5, 6, & 7 And Saturn re-emerging from behind Saturn.

Done using my Intes 715D Maksutov, pointing my phone into the eyepiece - 25mm plossl (1), 14mm Vixen SSW (2, 3, 4, 5, 6), and 7mm Vixen SSW (7).

[Sunfish]

Very cool. Thanks for posting that. I went out just in time to miss it.

[bigjoe]

[QUOTE=mental4astro;1440801]Something a little different again. The 12th of August lunar occultation of Saturn :)

1,First pic is of the Moon approaching Saturn.

2, Going... 3, going... 4, Gone!

5, 6, & 7 And Saturn re-emerging from behind Saturn.

Done using my Intes 715D Maksutov, pointing my phone into the eyepiece - 25mm plossl (1), 14mm Vixen SSW (2, 3, 4, 5, 6), and 7mm Vixen SSW (7).[/QUOTE
Not bad for a mobile phone Alex..
Was it my imagination or did the banding just stand out more clearly tonight.
Against the Moon...the seeing nothing special at,all..soo much detail in my 130mm Apo too.
Bigjoe

[mental4astro]

Thanks Ray & Joe :)

The sky was very transparent after this big blow we've had the last few days. I think that's gone a long way to bringing out the detail. I also noticed the detail seemed to POP. The colour of Saturn compared to the Moon was also striking.

Alex.

[LostInSp_ce]

Nice one! :thumbsup: