Moon and Barlow Afocal!

[ballaratdragons]

After Paul (1ponders) placed his great pic of a close-up of the Moon I was determined to give it a go!

We finally had a fog free night for a change so I pulled the scope out and gave the new Barlow a test run.

These Moon pics are all with the Barlow. You will have to excuse the 4 posts I use up to show them to you as I don't know how to get more than one pic in each post. All pics are untouched, just reduced in size to fit on here.

<b>Pic 1.</b> 2" 30mm SuperView Barlowed to 15mm and Kodak digital pocket camera. 12" GS Dob.

[ballaratdragons]

<b>Pic 2.</b> Same EP etc.

[ballaratdragons]

<b>Pic 3.</b> 15mm Plossl barlowed to 7.5mm

[ballaratdragons]

And the last one. This one was hard to catch in the camera as I used my 9mm Plossl and the Barlow. I am very surprised at how well it came out!!

Comments welcome.

<b>Pic 4.</b> 9mm Plossl barlowed to 4.5mm. (pushing the limit of an f5)

[[1ponders]]

WooHoo:cool: :cool: :cool: Your offically an astrophotographer Ken. Nice shots. You'll be amazed how they will come out in photoshop if you have a play with the levels, contrast and brightness. Nice job.

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Paul,

I don't have Photoshop. Just PaintShop Pro.

I still need to make a mounting bracket. These are all hand held.

[seeker372011]

well isnt your first astrophoto a real buzz..nice pictures btw

and now before you know it you will be heading down the slippery slope of astrophotography..aka the bottomess money pit

[ballaratdragons]

LOL, not until I get a job I won't.

Had a good laugh tonight. While Cheryl (the missus) was looking at Jupiter she said "and there's Ios, Phobios, Peebos and Domesticus".

Don't ya just love 'em.

[Mick]

Nice Work Ken. The Moon is a fine subject and your off to a good start.

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Mick.

No matter how many times I look at the Moon I can't get bored with it.
There are too many features to study and each night the terminator creates more interesting shadows and highlights differing from the previous night.

[astro_south]

I love the 4th shot Ken - very erie right at the terminator...could be the view out of the porthole on the LEM as its coming down (I can only dream :D)

[ballaratdragons]

Hey Yeah! never noticed that before Andrew.

Looks like a snapshot from the window of a Lunar lander!

p.s. That's not the terminator Andrew. It is the edge of my EP! LOL. Unless you mean the ghostly looking craters at the top of the pic.

[RAJAH235]

Nicely done Ken. Great first shots. Now, if you can only find that darn 'Money tree'! :P :D L.

[iceman]

Well done Ken, wait till you have a go when the moon is much less than full - you'll get a lot more detail along the terminator. The full moon is best to shoot in its entirety, that is, use a 32mm eyepiece (or your GSO 30mm) and shoot the whole thing. It can look really pretty if the rays come out properly.

Nice work.

[ving]

nice one ken. you just have to get to making that camera holder. make life alot easier :)
you can use the LCD screen to align your shots and to focus :)

once i network my laptop to my desk top I'll have to upload some of the shots I have taken recently of the moon :)

btw, I use paintshop pro to process my pics so give that a shot ken, it works just as well as photoshop :)

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Guys, will do. Hopefully clear sky tonight? Light rain forecast but we need it.

At least I know my Barlow works very well after the long wait to try it.

[xelasnave]

Good one Ken. Now all you need is a guide scope, an equatorial fork mount, an illuminated reticle, a guide camera etc etc and of course the tree..without which nothing will move. Great work.
alex

[ballaratdragons]

Ha! Even if I had the money tree, this drought would kill it. Murphy's Law.

[ving]

or a flood... I need one of those money trees! :D
but I kill plants

[xelasnave]

Money trees being harvested by heicopter????

[h0ughy]

great effort those shots :thumbsup:

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Houghy. No chance recently to try more due to weather.

[Dennis]

Hi Ken

Great images! I had a quick play with one of them, applying a technique called curves (to even out the light and dark areas) and unsharp masking (to sharpen the data you captured) and here is the result.

Hope you approve!

Cheers

Dennis

[ving]

looks good dennis :)

[Striker]

Great shots Ken....

Ken is now officially a astrophotographer...congrats

[ballaratdragons]

Go for it Dennis. If you can make them look better, great!!

Tony, I'm really only a Lunartographer so far! :reindeer: