Copernicus 24 Nov 2012

[EricB (Eric)]

Hi there,

I had a slightly better imaging conditions of the Moon tonight. Here is a quickly processed picture of Copernicus. Still haven't reached the level of sharpness I am looking for...

Cheers,

Eric

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Looks pretty good to me Eric. Lots of detail evident.

[EricB (Eric)]

Thanks Larry. Yes, there is detail, but I would be happier a bit more sharpness. I took 8GB of data tonight. Hopefully there will be some good data in the lot!

[doppler (Rick)]

Good pics and a lot better than I have been getting. I have been using a 450d canon but seem to loose sharpness through mirror/ shutter shake. I take it you are using the DMK41 for your shots. How do you find it to use. I have been looking at buying a DBK51AU02.AS.

[EricB (Eric)]

Rick, yes, I am using a DMK41. I really like it for imaging the moon. It's very straightforward to use and, with my humble 10' dobs, it gives good results (my Astrobin gallery is available here: http://www.astrobin.com/users/EricB/. All pictures except for the 1st one were taken with the DMK41. Please bear in mind that I am a beginner).

I can't really comment on the DMK51, except to say that that the resolution is, at least in my case, often impaired, by below average imaging conditions. So, on a practical level, I am not sure the extra step in high resolution makes a huge difference. I am sure other members will offered more informed comments.

In any case, I would prefer to use a CCD camera over a DSLR to image the Moon. Others may disagree with me.

Cheers,

Eric

[Marcus]

That's beautiful. It's difficult to get better resolution than that.

What I don't understand is how such a small feature (100km) can be so easily visible from Earth. If you were on the moon, even if you could remove the Earth atmosphere from the picture, surely you wouldn't be able to see the space between Melbourne and Ballarat, wouldn't the apparent size be too small?

[EricB (Eric)]

Thanks Marcus for your feedback. With a telescope from the Moon, I reckon you wouldn't have any trouble seeing Melbourne (on a clear day that is). What always amazes me is the level of details of what can see on the Moon with just a 10". The central peaks in the middle of Copernicus only rise to 1.3 kms and you can really see them like little raised lumps. That's one of the reasons I love the Moon.

Eric

[gbeal]

Crikey, it's a stunning image, how can you not be happy with that.
To me, imaging the moon or the sun is mostly seeing dependent. Get a better or worse night and the level of sharpness will change.
Be happy.
Gary

[EricB (Eric)]

You are right Gary. I have been frustrated with many night of bad seeing. I guess it's astronomy for you!

I have had a go at reprocessing the AVI. This time. I stacked in Autostakkert and adjusted wavelets in Registax (crop and levels in GIMP). Now I am happier with the result as I think there is a slight improvement in the sharpness!

Cheers,

Eric