Full Moon Puckering Up!

[bartman (Bart)]

Here is a shot of the full moon with I think the Neper crater ( bottom left) looking like the moon is puckering up for a kiss ( with a bit of imagination!)

I was actually trying to get my guidescope/webcam/PHD to work. Got sick of PHD telling me RA cal failed. I think I have found the prob- see Mario's recent post-.
So da moon was starting to take prominence and decided to do some shots. Not really trying..... as you can see, twas a bit unfocused. I also tried my HA filter on the moon, and this is the result.
In PE8 I converted it to BW (portrait) and adjusted contrast etc.
However I have a lot of artifacts around the moon. Is / was the possibly due to dew? or not focused or over exposed?
Any Hints/Tips?

Shot with Nikon D90|Raw|ISO400|1/2 sec exp|ed80|HA filter

Let me know....
Bartman

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

For a test shot looks really good. did you process the shot at all, look a bit over sharp around the edges, difficult to see though.

[bartman (Bart)]

yeah just contrast, brightness and sharpening....

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

I am thinking that two possible ways the artifact can occur, one is "magic wand selection" I occasional use it to remove unwanted pixels outside an image. I usually apply a feather to it to stop this type of artifact. The second could be the conversion from PE8 which I wouldn't have a clue about.

[Matt Wastell (Matt)]

Hey Bartman
Thanks for the images - the Moon is an awesome target - well done!

[michaellxv (Michael)]

Gee, if that's not trying I'd love to see a proper shot from you.

[M54 (Molly)]

Beautiful!

[bartman (Bart)]

Well Thanks peoples....
Ill take a bit more time in shooting the ol' moon next time round and see if I can get a bit sharper