First go at the Moon

Ric · #1 05-10-2006, 01:55 AM

Hi all,
It was a bit too bright for imaging planetary nebula's last night so not wanting to waste the night I thought I would have a go at some moon shots with my DSI II Pro.
It is the first time that I have imaged the Moon and these shots were taken at 1/1000th of a second and processed with MaximDL to enhance and sharpen the images. One interesting point I did notice with imaging the Moon is that I found it to be a lot trickier to focus through the camera than I thought it would be.
It does however give me a new appreciation of the great images that other members are posting

All the best

ving (David) · #2 05-10-2006, 10:49 AM

nice contrast there

on ya ric

Ric · #3 05-10-2006, 11:15 AM

Thanks Ving, I'll probably try the zoom feature on the DSI II camera next time and see if I can close in on some craters. Now I'll have to find a good Moon map and identify what I'm looking at.

Quite addictive this Moon stuff

ving (David) · #4 05-10-2006, 11:26 AM

yeah its fun isnt it

spacezebra (Petra) · #5 06-10-2006, 10:46 PM

Great shots - well done

Cheers Petra

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #6 06-10-2006, 11:40 PM

keep going

Ric · #7 06-10-2006, 11:52 PM

No worries there Ken, I downloaded the "Virtual Moon Atlas" at work today and set it up at home tonight. I've only had a quick play but it looks perfect for my needs.

cheers

EzyStyles (Eric) · #8 08-10-2006, 02:47 AM

great shots at the moon Ric!. btw have you updated your autostar suite to v4? the reason why i asked is because those scanlines in your moon pics are based on the older version of autostar suite. a suggestion is to use the kernel filter and set it to edge enchance Med/hard. Sit back and watch those craters sharpen

Ric · #9 08-10-2006, 07:45 AM

Hi Eric, the Autostar suite is V4 but it was set to "Align and Combine" not the "Kernel filter". I will try that next time, thanks for the tip.

cheers

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #10 08-10-2006, 10:00 AM

Excellent Ric

I can't wait to get going with some more shots too. How are you getting such wide field shots at prime focus? I stick the ToUcam on the back of my scope and see only a very narrow FOV. Ideas?

Ric · #11 08-10-2006, 02:52 PM

Hi Omaroo,
I am using the DSI II CCD camera attached to the micro focuser but between the camera and the focuser is a 15mm extension and a f3.3 focal reducer/field flattener. the setup is MF-FR-Extension-DSI. This reduces my focal ratio to f3.3 from f10, I suspect this is why I get the wider field of view. My knowledge in this area is very limited though so I may also be wrong

If the are any members with a better understanding, please let me know.

cheers

ballaratdragons (Ken) · #12 08-10-2006, 03:06 PM

I also use a focal reducer for 'Full' moon images until last night.

Last night I left the Toucam at prime focus, took 9 different sections, then stitched them together into one image in Autostitch.

It is a great way to collect more data using the Toucam Chip

Omaroo (Chris Malikoff) · #13 09-10-2006, 07:53 AM

Thanks fellas. I'll try stitching, given that that's what I have ATM in terms of hardware. I will try that device you use too Ric - Bintel.... here I come - again! LOL!

Ric · #14 09-10-2006, 09:52 AM

Hi Omaroo,
there are two versions of focal reducer a f3.3 and a f6.3. The f6.3 is for visual and CCD work while the f3.3 is purely for photographic/CCD work.
The lads at Bintel will no doubt be able to tell you which will be more suitable.

Cheers