More Moon Images for comment

[Dennis G]

I'm sure to be shot down after this, but I have had such encouraging comments from my previous images I thought it is time a few details wouldn't go astray. Size of craters and particularly their imense depth is truely mind boggling.

Pic 1 What a breathtaking sight crater Capernicus presents to the telescope with its sheer sides, 91km dia and mind boggling depth of 3,810 m with central peaks rising to 610 m. The 51m dia crater Eratosthenes, just a mere 3,810 m in depth with central peaks exceeding those within Copernius by 1372 m and who said that Dinosaus never walked on the moon? Note their tracks between these two craters, but please do not tell Charlie Wood (Aust Sky and Tele) :whistle:

Pic 2 The magnificent Apinnine Mountains.What a sight the 5 km high peaks and sheer bluffs viewed from the rim of the 80 km dia crater Archimedes. These, and the Archimedes Mountains a mere 2 km high, make one of the most interesting moon scapes to photograph and so different when recorded in the early morning hours when the moon is waxing and the mountains are lit from the East. See Pic 3

Pic 3 The Apennines recorded at dawn with a waxing gibbous moon. The eastern light provides a different view of the mountain terrain.

Pic 4 The mountainous ridge dividing Mare Imbrium and Mare Figoris in the moon's northern sector, provides another interesting area to photograph. Plato's 101km crater with a depth of 2,400m and the 2.5 km Teneriffe Mountains to the south - above in this upside down view - with the 2 km high Straight Range on the right, leads to Cape Laplace and craters Maupertuis and La Condamine, 37 and 43 km dia.
Partly rimming the northern shore of Sinus Iridum are the Jura Mountains, their 420km long, 4km high peaks catch the sun far ahead of the terminaror.
Thanks to all for their comments. Dennis G

The member who asked can ithe pic be made larger. Tell me how and I'd be happy to try. The instructions limits it to 150kb

[iceman]

Hi Dennis

Very nice images of the moon, and thanks for the details. Feel free to post your imaging threads in the Solar System section, you're getting much better at this. Well done.

How long do you capture each avi for? What framerate do you use on the ToUcam?

How many frames do you stack in registax?

[Dennis G]

Sorry folk. I hitched onto the wrong pic when submitting the post.
After viewing Mike's terrific lunar shots I'm rather hesitant to submit any more.
A footnote to my previous 4 pics: The depth of Lunar craters, at the risk of ofending, mixing metric and imperial, are more impressive if given in feet. Imagine standing on the rim of crater Copernicus and peering down its 12,500 ft sheer sides!

[Dennis G]

Best I detail my set up, but Please remember I'm no Computer Wiz!
Mid afternoon when conditions look like being OK I wheel the scope out and select a spot in the yard where the moon will be visible between trees for an hour or so. I have a small folding table and stool and these are placed on the left and forward of the scope where I can reach the focuser and sight the finder and see the object in the computer screen without slewing around. The barrel of the focuser is marked for straight Toucam recording and for added Barlow x2 focus, so that focus is very close and only needs the final tweeking.
When the light is satisfactory for recording I set up the laptop computer, fit Toucam and Barlow to the scope, which has been previously balanced for the expected viewing angle and following your suggested method Mike, I rotate the Toucam until the image travels across the screen, set the exposure values and focus and save the AVI image using a date and number for identification and start Capture. Locate the area required and when its on the screen, click OK Capture.
A good recording depends not only a clear sharp picture, but it must also be an interesting well balanced presentation if its to interest others, so I try for this with each recording. Visualise what it will look like when finally processed and once the moving object has passed beyond that point I stop the capture.
Five or ten FPS depending on conditions wil provide sufficient frames to process. When I've completed my motor drive I'm hoping to hold the image for 15 / 20 seconds and use all the frames.
The next recording is saved and the scope moved and the process repeated. If conditions permit, I try to capture 30 AVI recordings, which will include numerous repeats from which the best will be processed.
Multipoint processing in Registax is my preference and if I am able to get 20 frames stacked, a good AVI recording will produce a reasonable pic. I do not like to use any more than a wee bit of the top slider of the Wavelet process and save it to Photoshop. (early addition) First it is changed to 8 bits and the level of brightness is adjusted with levels. A good recording needs little more than that, but If noise is bad, I despeckle and maybe sharpen using unsharp mask, but the end results can only be as good as the original AVI recording.
If only 10 frames are usable - using the section of the recording that provides the best visual balance - I'll use the Registax default process and only select sharp frames before aligning, this method gives good results. But do remember my opening words. I'm no computer wiz!
A good picture is worth a thousand words. I'll attach a pic of the set-up next time I'm recording.
Thanks for your encouragement and to those who have enjoyed the pics. I hope there's more to come. One Question Mike. Is there a special section to IIS for lunar pics? I cannot find it.:)