Luna Mosaics

[StarLane]

Does anyone have any experience creating luna mosaics??

I really want to make high res, high detailed images of the moon. I have seen samples on the net from overseas photographers and the detail is amazing. One sample I saw was made up of 45 or so images from a web cam but the detail and res was excellent. I like the fact that the image was sharp from the centre of the moon to the edge with no colour fringing on the edge.

What programs are the best to use for image stitching??
Should I use a web cam or a DSLR?

Cheers.

[sheeny (Al)]

G'Day Paul.

My recommendations would be to use a web cam to capture at about 25 to 30m focal length. With your scope a 5x powermate would be a good start for high res work, but I would suggest you make your first few mosaics at the native focal length of your scope. That way there are fewer final images to stitch, and you will encounter some problems so its a less frustrating way to learn those lessons. (I am thinking of things like parallel sweeps of images that for some reason aren't parallel so you end up with holes in your data, etc)

Autostitch is an excellent tool for stitching mosaics, there is a free trial version but it only handles JPEGs.

Photoshop CS3 is much improved over CS2 for stitching images. I have been testing it out and haven't been able to fault it yet.

Enjoy,

Al.

[Rob_K]

Hi Paul. Getting the required number of images at high res will take some time, and using your dob you will inevitably end up with a fair bit of field rotation. Lack of tracking may also impact on your image quality at very high res (ie you're shooting at a moving target).

I have an alt/az mount & find this problem, even though I've never tackled anything as ambitious as what you're proposing. I have stitched up to 15 moon images together to create mosaics though (I use a NexImage webcam BTW). Photomerge in PS is good and you can rotate individual images to match up.

I've just started using another stitching program, Serif PanoramaPlus1, which I got free on a CD 'giveaway' with the May "Sky at Night", a British astro mag. It's an older version (hence the giveaway!), but it has some amazing features including being able to bend and otherwise manipulate component images. The latest version apparently has heaps more features. Link to web site is:
http://www.serif.com/panoramaplus/panoramaplus3/

Good luck with your project!

Cheers -