a crater thing last night Aug 1st with the DMK

Robert_T · #1 02-08-2006, 08:54 AM

Hi All, seeing was poor last night, but I just received my new flip mirror so had to get out there... it works a treat and a bargain at ~$85AU.

Had a go at the moon with the 2.5x powermate and using a Green True Tech filter with the DMK firewire camera. 30fps and exposure of 1/94th sec and Gamma of 12. Gain in the 600s.(going from memory on the settings).

This is a crater, a big thing hit the moon a long time ago and made this very nice hole for me to look at.... don't know what it's called but my aint it purdy

Dennis · #2 02-08-2006, 09:28 AM

Hi Robert

Very nice image - our Moon is one of my favourite objects, I never tire of just sitting there, cruising the surface and eyeballing all the chaotic details. Which flip mirror did you end up getting?

Cheers

Dennis

ving (David) · #3 02-08-2006, 09:50 AM

thats a damn fine hole thingy in the moon there. you need to get a moon map if ur gunna do stuff like that

iceman (Mike) · #4 02-08-2006, 10:29 AM

lol what a co-incidence Robert.

I went out last night too, in horrible seeing and captured this image of the same crater. I had a longer focal length, and so at 30fps I needed a longer shutter (I used 1/30s). Gain was about 850, gamma was 12.

I imaged through the red astronomik filter.

Interesting to see the difference in focal lengths, and also the orientation of the crater. Mine was captured at about 7:30pm as the moon was just about to head behind the roof of the house. Horrible, horrible seeing! Captured 1 jupiter avi and deleted it almost as quickly

Robert_T · #5 02-08-2006, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dennis

Which flip mirror did you end up getting?

Thanks Guys - the flip mirror is a no brand cheapy, but it looks and feels solid enough and certainly does the job. At $85 it's a steal. I bought it on e-bay from Telescope Warehouse - there were a few up for grabs with "buy it now" prices.

cheers,

iceman (Mike) · #6 02-08-2006, 10:34 AM

By the way Rob, yours can stand up to some extra processing..

Here it is with LR 5/1.3 deconvolution, followed by some tinkering in photoshop.

Nice image!

Robert_T · #7 02-08-2006, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

lol what a co-incidence Robert.

I went out last night too, in horrible seeing and captured this image of the same crater. I had a longer focal length, and so at 30fps I needed a longer shutter (I used 1/30s). Gain was about 850, gamma was 12.

I imaged through the red astronomik filter.

Interesting to see the difference in focal lengths, and also the orientation of the crater. Mine was captured at about 7:30pm as the moon was just about to head behind the roof of the house. Horrible, horrible seeing! Captured 1 jupiter avi and deleted it almost as quickly

little did that crater know it would be the subject of such interest last night... mine was taken an hour earlier at ~6.30pm.

seeing was very bad, but I used the opportunity to compare image scales using my different barlows/powermates with the flip mirror and filter wheel in place as extensions. I've got a big gap in the mid-range! The 2.5 powermate gives 2.2x, the 4x powermate gives 4.4x - I had thought the 3x Orion barlow would fall in the middle, but no it spits out 5x....

Anyway, to fill the gap I've just ordered a 2x Vixen DX barlow which I should be able to use to get ~3.5x.

cheers,

Robert_T · #8 02-08-2006, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iceman

By the way Rob, yours can stand up to some extra processing..

Here it is with LR 5/1.3 deconvolution, followed by some tinkering in photoshop.

Nice image!

thanks Mike, I hadn't thought to push it further than the registax wavelets, but that LR deconvolution sweetens it up nicely

sheeny (Al) · #9 02-08-2006, 05:14 PM

Looks like Aristoteles to me.

Nice images Robert and Mike - considering the seeing!

I was out there too. Seeing was very ordinary here, but after drift aligning (to get my scope set up close to where it needs to be again) I only managed a quick look at Joops and then the moon before the clouds rolled over.

Despite the bad seeing, which seemed to me to be very jumpy, I was really impressed with how sharp the moon appeared in my scope! (even if it did seem like a bowl of jelly with a nervous tic!) I thought the seeing might have been just due to low level wind, but checking the jetstream when I got home it was around 30m/s as well.

Al.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #10 02-08-2006, 05:32 PM

Nice shot's lads. Give that ol' moon a good working over

Ahhh grasshopper Robert. This is where you need eyepiece projection for varying your image scale. Just unscrew a thumbscrew and slide the tele-extender out to go from 2.5X to some other rediculously high mag (I've promised ving the GRS fully covering the chip one night) or stop anywhere in between