WestCoastCannuck

OH.... I meant the rille in the Vallis Alpes of course..... oops

AARRRGGH. You are NOT helping my treatment for Aperture fever. hehe. I have my eye on one bigger. But cannot afford. Maybe one day. I expect your background will take brushwork in LR or similar to fix. Been there..... about half the time for my mosaics. Just posted my stuff from 28th. Was a lovely morning. Best Mike

Hey all. Managed to image on the early mornings of the 28th and 29th. Here are my 28th efforts. First... a single panel at prime with APM140 and 183mm in green. Next an attempt at a mosaic critically sampling with a 1.7X barlow in green..... seeing did not quite support so reduced to the view of a 1.4X. (F9.8) Next, some efforst with my Vixen 200L and a 1.4X Barlow , 520nm filter and 290MM camera. Best 150 of 10000 frames each. And a few shot at prime with 610nm Clear skies!! As always C&C appreciated. Mike

Lots of detail in there!

These are outstanding Neil!! So nice to see that bad boy in action again! You caught more than I have ever! The rille in Rima Hyginus is well defined. Something I have yet to do..... can see just a trace of it in a couple of mine from the same night. A fruitful night! You make me want bigger...... but I keep thinking I am not maxing what I have... so no point. Cheers Mike

Thanks Mark!!

Great feedback thanks!! And VERY interesting to me! I NEVER view at higher than 100% lol Something I will be sure to do from now on just to see how things look! Thanks again Neil! More great info. This is just what I needed. Well.... its 3:16 AM and I can see the moon through very light clouds/haze. Fog is forecast. Scopes outside cooling off. See what I get. Now to make a coffee and setup. Cheers!! Mike

Thanks Neil. Your feedback helps tons. I don't see any noise or artifacts... and believe me I look for them! Lol I am certain were I to look at your screen that I would agree with your assessment. Its simply because my pixels on my screen are so small. Will have to ponder this. As to my game... I am pretty happy with smaller scope results! But my efforts with bigger need more work and practice on all aspects! It's such a great thing to to with free time. I feel your pain on weather. Seeing is the problem for us. Get some good seeing here yes! But rarely. 😆 With TWO new scopes the crap weather and seeing would be tough to take. Hope we both have good conditions tonight! I am aiming for sleeping very shortly and being up before 5 to catch meridian. If I can see it. Lol Cheers Mike

I don't know a lot about current monitors.... I am pretty happy with this one though. Was on sale. LG 27UL500-W 27-Inch UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS Monitor.

IT all comes down to what we are viewing with.... makes it really hard for us to share our stuff the way we want! Things simply willl look different depending on the screen of the viewer. My current monitor is not calibrated yet. Your images in this post seem fine for brightness..... on the low end of average to me on my monitor. Contrast also is a bit low for me on full discs - but also has advantages. Contrast seems good to me on closeups. Mike

Thanks much for your very considered reply Neil! It is as I suspected. My processing IS different.... and it is now obvious why to me after chatting with another friend. The pixels on my 27 inch 4K monitor are one HALF the size of my former 24 inch 1080P monitor. I used to agonize over processing.... was extremely difficult to get results I was satisfied with. Now, not so much. I must find a way to hook up my old monitor as well. I know it can be done easily... I just have never done it before. I will continue to use 4K...... but I will have a quick peek at the result on the old monitor. Hopefully that does not cause me too much stress! LOL In answer to your question on processing, I used to use Astra Image almost exclusively. The third image I only partially reworked.... it was done with Astra. The first two were done with Astra originally, and I reworked them using IMPPG. I still prefer the look of Astra Image for most full discs...... though I seem to be mostly switching over to IMPPG. For closeups I use IMPPG almost exclusively. Great free program worth playing with if you have never used it. The simplest prgram out there I think.... but yet still very powerful within its narrow scope. lol IMPPG is SO fast to use. If I have a lot of data to crunch through.... its a no brainer - I will process with IMPPG. I can get a result I am satisfied with very quickly. Astra Image is a vastly more powerful program with seemingly infinite options for what to do.... but it is also slower and its "preview" is not as friendly and useful as the one in IMPPG. For images I think are really good..... I will process in both - and pick which I like better. Cheers Mike

I just today started my first of 12 days off... naturally in the wee hours this morning with a lovely high moon it was totally socked in. So... I went over some of my old stuff and re-did them. 3 piece mosaics shot at F9.8 on my APM140/7 on April 16th and 17th. I am also sharing a redo of a mosaic from April 19th I reworked a couple weeks ago for a virtual presentation I gave to the local RASC. Hope I get a chance to do more like these soon. I still feel that my recent 4K monitor switch has resulted in oversharpening my stuff. Would like feedback on that. Thanks! Mike April 16th - 3 piece mosaic April 17th 3 piece mosaic April 19th 4 piece mosaic Clear skies to us all! Mike

This is realy nice work Neil. I love the views with Petavius... actually I love all the closeups. For the Mosaic, I like the larger 75% view best. Interesting info on the filters!! Look forward to more! Mike

In spite of being at this a while, I feel the same way. The way we see things changes too.... which does not make it easier for me. lol

Thanks Reggie! It may get another chance tomorrow early AM if I find a clear spot in the forecast clouds. lol Mike

Nice work Trevor!! Looking forward to us all posting again soon! I like the processing. :)) Very best Mike

They indeed look great on my big screen! Moon was looking lovely last night when I peaked out my window. Hoping for some moon time this weekend. Weather lookiing iffy. So, this is also a new scope for you? Mike

Just looking on my phone before work..... but WOW! Looks really good!

Looks great! Pretty sure you have found yourself a lovely little yard cannon that will nearly always make you happy with results. I expect that when you pop it up on a nice high moon you will be thrilled with it. At F11 the view should be pretty darn clean and close to Aprochromatic? :)))

Once again I missed your reply! Thanks Trevor! Yes, a four inch scope is capable of quite a surprising amount of resolution with today's sensors!

Thanks Kim. A 4 inch refractor is a lot of fun! Thanks much Craig! Yes, I find it compares pretty well with the 100ED I had, but in a smaller package! It will be my grab and go mostly..... but for sure I will image with it again on occasion - was certainly pleased with this first image! Cheers Mike

Yes, 28-30 degrees certainly not optimal, and transparency could have been suffering too. I would expect that your 120 should be able to produce the same detail as a120ED . The optics are totally fine for lunar! We just need some nice high phases at night for you to really be able to enjoy shooting and get the kind of results that are possible. Hope you get your oscillating sorted. I have my own issue to figure out with the 102ED shots. You may not have noticed, but the right extreme side of my shot is soft. All three of my clips came out like that. Something in my image train is out. Hopefully not the scope! Was quite extended from focuser, and included a modular barlow with 5 pieces. I expect the image circle from the barlow is the culprit - have a self centering 2-1.25" adapter I will try using next time to attach. camera/barlow. (After checking scope collimation). Cheers Mike

They all look pretty good to my eye. I rather like the second best - possibly just because the orientation is so easy to view - makes me wish I had posted the same way! :)))) Mike

Night time certainly IS more enjoyable! Great you were out! We caught the same phase. I like it in its more natural orientation here - I was rotating my sensor to fit it all in the frame and it was easier to just leave it that way. lol Oh... I am so looking forward to crisp fall skies and more time to shoot!! Clear skies Mike

Thanks John! Thanks Neil! Looking forward to having this ready as a grab and go. But... it will still go up on the moon sometimes for imaging. Very best Mike