Crescent Moon with 22" SDM

[alexch (Alex)]

Hi All,

It was clear last night and could not resist taking the 22" Dob out to observe Saturn and try imaging Moon for the first time. Saturn was brilliant, razor sharp at 550x magnification and there was some detail including grey patches in the storm. Even my wife was pleased to see it 4am in the morning.

After enjoying Saturn I put Sony NEX-5 into the focuser and snapped a few images of the Moon.

Attached below is a single shot image processed in Photoshop CS5. I know there is room for improvement but I am quite happy with how my first ever Moon image turned out. Quick imaging with the Dob is good fun!

Full size here:
http://www.terrastro.com/wp-content/...416_iso400.jpg

Thanks for looking,
Alex

[Quark (Trevor)]

Nice work Alex, 22" SDM & Saturn sounds like a great combination to me.

Cheer's
Trevor

[John Hothersall]

Thats a great crescent image with very attractive colour addition. Would love to see your Saturn in that monster scope. Your Ghost of Jupiter in Deep Space Section showed amazing structure detail I have not seen before.

John.

[h0ughy (David)]

mate you are turning into a legend real quick, lovely shot

[alexch (Alex)]

Trevor, John and David - thanks a lot for positive comments. I am having as much fun with these quick snaps as I do observing. At least something to do when the Moon is up.

[Matt Wastell (Matt)]

Hi Alex - that is a great lunar image - let alone a first! Thanks for sharing......and do not forget to post all your stuff!

[iceman (Mike)]

Really nice Alex, looking forward to each of your new posts!

[Derek Klepp]

Alex enjoy your pics. Can you see any colour on the moon through that aperture if so how does it compare to the photo

[renormalised (Carl)]

Great shot, Alex

You want to have a try at the planets.

[alexch (Alex)]

Matt, Mike, Derek and Carl - thanks!

[alexch (Alex)]

Originally Posted by Derek Klepp

Alex enjoy your pics. Can you see any colour on the moon through that aperture if so how does it compare to the photo

No, none at all. It required quite a bump in saturation in Photoshop for the colours to appear.

[graffitilogic (Bill dodd)]

What a wonderful capture!
The saturation was a great addition.

So I have a Nikon and the Nex-5 and I'm thinking about re provisioning the Nex-5 for astrophotography purposes since I keep getting dust on my Nikon sensor.

What sort of camera adaptor setup are you happy with, with the Nex?
Are you doing a prime focus setup or a eyepiece-projection scenario?


Thanks again for sharing -- super work!