First foray in AP - Moon

[mental4astro]

Ok, ok, I've dipped my toe into the soup of AP... :lol:

Seeing was not much chop for sketching, so took the chance to use my Rising Cam 224 camera to see what it and I can do. I know better seeing conditions also helps AP, but it is what it is.

Alright, roughly 30seconds of AV captured using the 224 on a 9" Mak (3100mm native focal length). Stacked using AutoStakker, and narrowed the selected frames to just 5% due to the poor seeing, followed by wavelet adjustment with Registax 6. Little tweak with Photo Gallery, as I am having to learn about other image processing software. Learning how to use wavelets, and it is a learning process.

Many thanks to Carlton for guiding me through the process from image capture through to rudimentary processing. Ta mate! :thumbsup:

I'm pleased enough with this start. Hell of a learning curve to climb. Would have been finished up for the night a lot sooner though if I had just been sketching...

Alex.

[Atmos]

Oh no Alex! It’s a slippery slope! First it’s random captures of the moon and before you know it you’ve dumped $100K on a new mount, telescope and camera chasing fainter and fainter galaxies!

[Startrek]

Really nice sharp lunar images Alex
Well done !!

[Retrograde]

Looks like you've dipped more than just your toe Alex - at least half your leg judging by those images. 😀
Nice pics - well done!

[Mickoid]

A great start Alex! You can still sketch but now you can sketch by viewing your shots on the computer monitor. The bonus for you, is this can be done within the comfort of your home and the image won't move while you're sketching. :lol: Add to this, there will be nice pictures you've taken to compare to. Well done! :thumbsup:

[xelasnave]

Well done Alex.
Very nice images.
Alex

[Saturnine]

Oh no Alex, what have you done joining the rest of us sheep in the astro photography pasture. And using an 9" Mak is tantamount to cheating, but in all seriousness, your images do reflect what I was seeing at the eyepiece last night. The seeing was 4/5 out 10 at best but watching the shadow play of sunrise over Clavius was worth th effort. Seeing was much better the previous night where I was counting craterlets on the floor of Ptolemaeus, and not just Ammonius, which at 9 km dia. is hard to miss, that was using the 10" newt .

[Outcast]

Nice shots Alex, happy to help where I could, made for a bit of a change from me asking you for guidance....:D Although, in this instance, I think it was a case of the blind leading the blind...:rofl:

Beware though, this gets addictive....:eyepop:

Cheers

[mental4astro]

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement :)

Yes, it could be a slippery road... :rolleyes::rolleyes:

If this is what I can produce under dodgy seeing and with total newbie processing, it excites me the prospect of what can be achieved under good seeing and with better processing skills!

Alex.

[morls]

Great pics Alex,



It's addictive but a lot of fun!

[BruceG]

Great work Alex,
I tell you your AP is a damn side better than my sketching!
Doesn't hurt that you make REALLY nice scopes :)

[Wavytone]

Just wait till the seeing is 9/10... that scope is very, very good.

[RyanJones]

Welcome to the dark side Alex. :lol:

I showed a friend some of your sketches the other day too and they were blown away !

I look forward to seeing your AP work :thumbsup:

[Ant0nio]

Welcome to AP Alex, & congrats on your very decent first images. :thumbsup:
As others have already suggested, it's a bit of a rabbit hole & judging by your enthusiasm you're done for. :) However you are in excellent company.
Looking forward to seeing more Alex.
Cheers,
Tony

[RobF]

OMG, I've woken up in the wrong parallel universe!! :eyepop:

Nice going Alex :)

[mental4astro]

No, you haven't :lol:

I'm not entirely new to this. The stacking and post precessing, yes. But I've had a camera to a scope for several years with video astronomy. The same camera I used here I've been using with VA for some time now. It's one thing that's really impressed me about this camera - video, AP, and guiding, it can do it all. Yes it has a small chip, but it has served me well.

Heck, I've been able to pull the arms of NGC 1365 with this camera coupled to my 8" f/4 Newt from my home in Sydney using it for VA - something I haven't been able to do with other VA cameras.

[DarkArts]

Ah, that first taste is exhilarating, isn't it? It won't be long before you're snorting narrowband and mainlining 30 min guided subs. :eyepop:

Nice shots, by the way.