Eclipse failure; high res success - Aristarcus

[Dennis]

Hello,

I was out practicing for tomorrow's total lunar eclipse using the Tak Mewlon 180 and Pentax *ist DS DSLR. Sadly, the results were not very good as the mirror slap caused too much vibration, even with the 2.5 sec delay set on. It seems you really do need a mirror lock up function on shutter speeds less than 1/500.

So, I plugged in the DMK and was pleasantly surprised with the seeing – I’d put it around 7/10. Managed to grab a few AVI’s before a thin layer of cloud rolled in, creating quite an atmospheric, mottled effect to the skies.

Here is Aristarchus; slightly pumped, as I’m a little rusty with processing right now.

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman (Mike)]

Excellent result Dennis, nice control of the highlights and shadows while capturing and processing this difficult target.

[sheeny (Al)]

Dennis! That looks impressive - even on my dodgey dark monitor at work! I'm looking forward to having a proper look at it at home!

Al.

[h0ughy (David)]

dennis try the camera on the full 12 second delay with the timer, that works

[robin]

Wow! Thats a flyover perspective Dennis.Well done

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

dennis try the camera on the full 12 second delay with the timer, that works

Hi Dave

Wow – that could be the answer – thanks! However, before I get too excited, when I read the Pentax manual, I thought the 12 sec timer was just that; a count down timer. Don’t tell me that it flips the mirror, then counts the 12 secs, then exposes the ccd?

The 2.5 sec timer definitely does flip the mirror, then counts 2.5 secs, then exposes the ccd.

Cheers

Dennis

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by Dennis

Hi Dave

Wow – that could be the answer – thanks! However, before I get too excited, when I read the Pentax manual, I thought the 12 sec timer was just that; a count down timer. Don’t tell me that it flips the mirror, then counts the 12 secs, then exposes the ccd?

The 2.5 sec timer definitely does flip the mirror, then counts 2.5 secs, then exposes the ccd.

Cheers

Dennis

try it i think it did from memory

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

try it i think it did from memory

Boo hoo – just tried it and it goes:

• Press release
• Count 12 seconds
• Flip mirror
• Expose ccd

So, no go buddy. The 2.5 second option does the following:

• Press release
• Flip mirror
• Count 2.5 seconds
• Expose ccd

Hmm, wondering if anyone has hacked the Pentax software yet?

Cheers

Dennis

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by Dennis

Boo hoo – just tried it and it goes:

• Press release
• Count 12 seconds
• Flip mirror
• Expose ccd

So, no go buddy. The 2.5 second option does the following:

• Press release
• Flip mirror
• Count 2.5 seconds
• Expose ccd

Hmm, wondering if anyone has hacked the Pentax software yet?

Cheers

Dennis

Dennis would the camera control software allow you to set it up from a laptop?

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Beaut image Dennis.

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

Dennis would the camera control software allow you to set it up from a laptop?

Hi Dave

Thanks Dave, but tried that already and there is no functionality to lock up the mirror, or increase the delay.

I did have a minor scare when I installed the latest Firmware 2.02 as it disabled the PC software, Pentax Remote Assistant, so I had to roll back to 2.0. Luckily I kept a copy of V2.0!

Cheers

Dennis

[Dennis]

Thanks for the nice words Mike, Al, Robin & Jeanette. I felt a little rusty out there last night, due to lack of practice since the Qld Astrofest.

Cheers

Dennis

[Robert_T]

Hey Dennis, lovely image, that rille valley looks spectacular! Great to see you're still putting the Mewlon to good use.

cheers,

Rob

[Dennis]

Hi Rob

Great to hear from you, you old planetary dog you!

The Mewlon came along at a very nice point in my astronomy journey. I was getting a little jaded with the size, weight and handling of the C9.25, corrector plate dewing battles and the less than refractor-like stars, when this top bloke from Brisbane turned up with the M180.

I must say, for an impulse purchase, it has easily exceeded my expectations and it has become my ‘scope of choice. It is likely that when I upgrade again in a few years time, it will be a 210 or 250 Mewlon.

Cheers

Dennis

[Robert_T]

Originally Posted by Dennis

It is likely that when I upgrade again in a few years time, it will be a 210 or 250 Mewlon.

Hi Denniis, So you're not tempted by the new VIXEN VMC 260L F11.5 open tube 10.25in cassegrain? I started a thread in equipment to see if anyone knew anything bout it but no bites so far...
cheers mate,
rob

[mill (Martin)]

Excellent image Dennis, but how do you make that border?
I have been trying that but i am a noob in paintshop

[Dennis]

Hi Mill

Oops – made a mental note to reply but managed to temporarily misfile it! There are 3 components to the photo:

• The photo itself.
• A black background layer.
• A thin line around the photo.

In Photoshop CS3, what I do is as follows:

• Select the (un-bordered) original photo and copy it to the clip board.
• Use File New to create a blank background with a fill colour of e.g. black, but make the background say 100 pixels longer and wider than the photo.
• Paste the photo into the black background as a Layer.
• Use the CS3 “outer glow” function to add the thin line around the photo Layer.
• Add text and then flatten the entire image.

Cheers

Dennis

[John K]

Very nice Dennis, lots of very fine detail there to see, thanks for sharing.

[Dennis]

Thanks John!

The seeing was quite puzzling at times, as there were real moments of solid 7/10 stuff, yet when I came to punch the avi’s through Registax the next day, only between 70 and 200 ish frames were being selected for stacking?

Cheers

Dennis

[RB (Andrew)]

Wow, what a wonderful shot Dennis !!!

Like Mike said, you've controlled the highlights/shadows beautifully.