Schroter's Valley

[T-WING]

Schroter's Valley aka Vallis Schöteri, believed to be caused by volcanic activity. (Sure looks so).

Also the planned landing site for the cancelled Apollo 18 mission. Touchdown was to take place in February 1972.

Nov 24

Meade LX200 + 2.5xPM

ASI224MC

Clear skies!

TW

[Knighty2112]

Very good. Might see if I can see it tonight too if it is clear!

[Blazar]

Not too bad there...you might want to watch the exposure a bit with the brighter phases. You caught the vallis, but I guess the head of the cobra  was not able to fit int he field of view? if you had a x2 barlow that might be slightly more tuned to the camera and scope. Its a difficult target alright what with one of the brightest craters nearby!

[laudropb]

Good image and some nice facts. Thanks for posting.

[T-WING]

Not too bad there...you might want to watch the exposure a bit with the brighter phases. You caught the vallis, but I guess the head of the cobra  was not able to fit int he field of view? if you had a x2 barlow that might be slightly more tuned to the camera and scope. Its a difficult target alright what with one of the brightest craters nearby!

You're right about the exposure. It's tricky. I'm gonna try using red pass filter. My hope lies there..

I'm also struggling with tracking. By delsign, the scope has a very narrow FOV, making it tough to stay on place. Things fell out due to the jumpy recording and I'm looking for a way to track the moon more accurately. Any advice on that is much appreciated..

Better luck next time!

Thanks for commenting.

/TW

[Blazar]

If its jumpy....you could try using Planetary Image Pre-Processor (PIPP) software to anchor the recording, and only pick the best frames. I was out and have used Red filters and also IR-Pass filters to remove some of the poor seeing. The IR-Pass also reduces the glare somewhat. if I'm shooting the moon, I usually only do a solar system alignment and still get a little drift, but not enough to be an issue. Allow the scope to cool down before imaging....about an hour seems to be a good rule of thumb...also try shooting without any additional magnification first. Then if that seems to be good, then up the magnification slowly. Most of the time our skies don't allow us to go above x200 anyway!

This was one I took with the IR-Pass a while back

http://stargazerslounge.com/gallery/sizes/27654-vallis-schroteri/large/

[astroavani]

Our colleague Blazar wove quite relevant comments! An IR Pass filter is crucial when we have a poor seeing. I always use an IR 685 or even 742. In the best nights use a Long Pass 610. Look for converting the photo to black and white as it is with a more pleasing appearance. The fact PIPP is great for nerve catches and at the suggestion of the same Blazar saved a mosaic I made recently.

This region you photographed is remarkable and it was really formed by volcanic activity, there are actually two Rilles one inside the other as described by me and kept full by the great Charles Wood:

https://lpod.wikispaces.com/August+6%2C+2013

[T-WING]

Thanks for the advice!

I will definitely go for the IR filters. As for "jumpy" It's more like "drifty" and because of the bad tracking and the corrections I have to make the usable area becomes smaller.

I'm also still new to the LX200 and Alt/Az mount and I'm not really as comfortable with it as with the SW200pds on EQ. That will soon change I hope:)

[astroavani]

The best option is an equatorial wedge.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice one. Always like to have a look at this feature.

[Pete Presland]

Nicely imaged, i also use the Pro Planet 742 filter on the moon.