This image isn't finished yet, but I'm so excited I had to post what I have so far.
There was a stretch of really good seeing this morning at around 4.30am when I was browsing across the moon and spotted this wonderful crater (Theophilus).
It's going to take me a couple of days to fully process all the data (I took about 15,000 frames lol!) but here's a taste, this is just the first 2000 frames aligned and stacked in Registax.
Dennis imaged the same crater as well! Well done mate, great minds think alike.
10" f/6 newtonian @ f/48 via 5x powermate and extension
Lumenera LU075M camera, Red Astronomik bandpass filter
stack of 2000 frames.
That is a superb image of Theophilus, with excellent technique in capture and processing. The image scale is awesome and detail is fantastic. Can’t wait to see your other stuff!
Have you tried to track down the ejecta of the Apollo space vehicle impacts? I understand one of the Apollo's crashed a part of the Saturn V rocket section into the Moon, to measure the seismic effects? With the resolution you are obtaining, I would assume that a disturbed area of say, 200m to 300m would be just discernible if you knew where to look?
Have you tried to track down the ejecta of the Apollo space vehicle impacts? I understand one of the Apollo's crashed a part of the Saturn V rocket section into the Moon, to measure the seismic effects? With the resolution you are obtaining, I would assume that a disturbed area of say, 200m to 300m would be just discernible if you knew where to look?
Cheers
Dennis
G'day Dennis. Just between you and me, I have some Grand Plans for lunar imaging, but it might be a while yet before I can get to the required resolution...
G'day Dennis. Just between you and me, I have some Grand Plans for lunar imaging, but it might be a while yet before I can get to the required resolution...
That would have to be among the finest amateur lunar images I think I've ever seen especially for a close up. Unbelievably good contrast and resolution. Very well done..the seeing must have been excellent from your site!
Are you sure that is taken with a 10" telescope? I didn't believe it. The resolution is much better than my 12.5" telescope!
Good job.
LT
LT, I believe that most larger scopes around the 10" to 14" are not used close to their resolving limit due to thermal currents near the primary and in the tube. I've paid very close attention to the problem of cooling all parts of the scope to exactly the same temperature so - when seeing permits - I can get images that are very close to the resolving power of the mirror.
There are articles about this on my website, I think it's the most important thing that you can do to improve the image quality.
I just did a quick calculation and if I understand correctly the focal length was equivalent to 12,000mm and your camera is 640X480 with 7.4 micron pixels, then the field of view is 1.44X1.14 minutes of arc. That is 0.024X0.019 deg. That is very amazing! What resolution would you estimate you are getting Bird? No wonder a 0.5 deg temperature variation has an effect.
