First attempt at imaging the moon

[NightSky_Wanderer]

Hi all,

When out with the scope looking at the moon i thought i would try my hand at imaging.

I knew enough to of purchased the adaptors and that i needed to shoot in manual mode. So below is a couple of the pictures unprocessed apart from converting from RAW to Jpeg.

What do you think? And do you have any advice for next time?

Thank you

Adam

[jambouk]

Looks like a good start. Well done

What camera and scope did you use? Are these just single frame exposures?

The finer details don't look s sharp as they could be, which is probably a combination of focus and the seeing conditions. Focus is hard, but you need to do lots of test shots making very fine adjustments to focus, then review the inage and make another small adjustment until you are happy. There is less you can do about the seeing other than stacking multiple frames. You could stack many stills, or you could use your camera, if it has this, to take short videos (20, 40, 60 seconds) and hen stack the best 75% of frames in registax or something similar.

But good start, well done.

James

[Shoultsy the stargazer]

They are good. What magnification lense did you use?

[NightSky_Wanderer]

The camera i used was a Canon 500D with my SW Skymax 127 and yes they are single frame exposures.

For the second picture i used a 2x Barlow lens.

Thanks jambouk for the advice i will try that next time the skies are clear although look at the time it doesn't look like it will be dark till very late.

When imaging planets do i need filters or anything to help with capturing detail?

[jambouk]

Nebula,

You don't need filters for basic planetary work. Advanced imagers will use them, but for you and me, we can do without them.

It really is worth the time to get the focus as good as you can. There are lots of people giving advice on how best to focus, but whatever method you use, it takes time and practice, but is worth it.

What I'd also do, if you can, is run a cable from your DSLR to your laptop, and use some form of software to view on the laptop screen what the camera is seeing; some software even allows you to control the DSLR from the laptop. It really makes life much easier looking at the laptop screen at an angle that suits you rather that lying on your back looking up and squinting at a small LCD.

You won't get it right straight away, but it will come with time and make sure you keep all your images so you can watch how you progress.

You are going to love your first planetary image You will defo need to use video mode for that and if possible select the form which compresses the least. The stacking software looks daunting at first, but is actually quite straight forwards.

As always, try and get involved with a local group; there is probably someone who lives very close who is interested in these things too and always so much easier to learn sat next to someone than trying to read hundreds of forums.

Keep it up and let me know when you next post some images up in case I don't see them.

James

[Carina Lass]

Focus focus focus.

Pryetty good otherwise.

[NightSky_Wanderer]

Thanks for everyones feed back. i found out i can connect the camera directly to my mac for a live feed of what Im imaging which should make things easier. I plan to get back out there when i get my mount sorted out.