vineyard

Also tried some tinkering - on one I've upped the levels to see what could be coaxed from the shadows. On the other, I tried some RGB alignment in ImPPG (inspired by @Yawning Angel Wolf Moon) - I don't think it really worked (too magenta?), again could be insufficient data, or weird filters. Have gotten so used to seeing mono data on my laptop!

I didn't do much imaging on the 14th - just a short stint. Here are two from that night - needed to have collected more data, but didn't have enough time.

Exquisite. The last image is definitely sharper & frankly breathtaking. 👍🏾👍🏾 (It may just be my eyes but in the last image is the crater field just above & to the right of Rupes Recta slightly more 'bleached' or paler than in the earlier image - did you tweak the levels a bit?)

Thanks @Rusted this is exactly the type of constructive feedback that I welcome & that is so helpful. Yes you're right about the sharpening "journey" - when I look back at my earliest images, I sometimes wince - but that's how one learns I've noticed w my lunar images as well that less is definitely more - I need to continue that on the solar side. Luckily am sitting on lots of data from the last week or so that I have not yet looked at 😂 That's pretty neat on fitting the GPC into the camera nose itself. I have yet to get my head around when to (or when not to) try upping the scale based on seeing & my chip sizes. Something to work on over 2022 hopefully! Thanks again - hope the skies have been as kind to you as they have been here lately!

Thanks Dave @F15Rules yes I'm v fond of it - it's just got something special about it hasn't it (& is a bit of a hand grenade!). I don't really use it as much as I should, mostly b/c its been a while since I did so much visual - need to change that this yr. And ooh that's good to know about it barlowing well - 5mm w 82 degree, now that has to be tried - cheers! Vin

Adding to this thread w some more images from the 12th - all w the TM2 - as well as a colour inversion of the mosaic (just for kicks). (Btw thanks Alex, your Wolf Moon colour combination is gorgeous. I can't get my head around registering mono-channel images of the moon - maybe that's a future learning curve for later in 2022!)

That's gorgeous. Was it tricky aligning the mono channel images for the combination?

An other-worldly night last night sitting under the luminous Wolf Moon, w the STF7 and going on a double-star trail across Auriga. Used an old Nalger 12T2 for much of the time until about 3" separation & then switched to a 9 Delite or Nag zoom. The 12T2 was just lovely - a real porthole feel and pin point stars. Gave a more intimate feel at the EP vs the Delite. Seeing must have been v good indeed as managed to resolve 0.9" separation, a first for me. PS @Nik271 thanks for that video link - those must be the Leibnitz mountains I caught in the second image here then (I was wondering whether they were mountains or just crater rims).

Hello, Haven't yet looked at all my data from the 12th but here's a 2-panel mosaic. That night I'd set up w an old Telementor 2, so this is taken with that and an ASI178MMcool. If I remember correctly I think I used an old Meade 4000 green filter for these images. Cheers, Vin (PS - I actually had to do a double-check on Rupes Recta that that wasn't a stacking artefact, the way it came out!)

Thanks @neil phillips yes the conditions have been v kind haven't they. A lovely start to 2022. My AP rig is out of action (needing a replacement belt) so this last week I've gone back to visual (& some lucky imaging ) w an old go-to alt-az (lunar, solar, double stars) & its been such fun. So easy to overlook the joys of visual. Last night sitting under the Wolf Moon doing an Auriga double-star trail was other-worldly.

Thanks @MoonNut that's v kind. I like how the Rimae Hippalus come out in that one, as well as the contours in the Mare Humorum basin itself. Must admit that in the second one I like how the mountains (or is it crater rims?) along the limb are silhouetted bumpily against the blackness of space.

Hello, Here are some images from the 13th. Yet to process any data from before or after that. What a cracking period of seeing. Cheers, Vin

Fwiw, I'm a v happy owner of a double hybrid TV scope (not just "is" but "iis"😂 - TV102iis). It's a lovely scope & I can't see what circumstances would make me want to let go of it. I think only about 100 or so of them were made (based on a CN thread), and its basically the "is" system but with a shortened tube so that you can BV natively (no need for GPC). I can use it for imaging (with a flattener), monocular (with an extension that comes with it), or native BV. Its brilliant & what I like most about it is its versatility. I've even used it as the front end of a solar frankenscope. Granted I've never looked through a Tak or a TEC or an AP, but tbh I have no complaints about what I see. Pair it with some Delites or Naglers & its outstanding. A bit heavy but that doesn't bother me. I think versatility is a v good thing. I suspect its like fine wine - I'm sure a rare Barolo is an amazing purist's wine, but would you really turn down a Sassicaia b/c it was originally viewed as a Vino da Tavola?

Clicking through & it is really like flying over the moon as @Kon says. Wow. Some places it reminds me a bit of flying over the more desolate bits of the Sahara w dried up rivers & geological features in the middle of nowhere. Do you prefer the Newt or the CC?

Thanks @neil phillips that means a lot coming from someone w your skills You're right it is a lovely scope - just oodles of character (properly made!) & the things it shows...I'm often torn between just gawping visually vs setting up to image. I'd never used a scope like this when I took the plunge, and am v glad I did so. Looking fwd to seeing your images over the coming days - I reckon there's going to be a deluge of lunar & solar images shared once these conditions have gone!

Hello, It looks like its going to be clear again tonight! Have a tonne of data which will get round to looking at next week I suspect. But couldn't resist a quick go while moving files across. So here's Clavius from last night. STF7, ASI290MM w L-1 filter. Cheers, Vin

Done for the night. Amazing. Mostly the moon - imaging earlier, and then BV, and then monocular w Nag zoom. The details & subtleties are mesmerising. Pushed it to 600x (!) for kicks & it was steady as you like. I preferred it at 300x best I reckon (at 600x the focus needs to be bang on, and was only using single-speed focuser). M42 - E & F as well. No chance of Sirius/Pup - low above roofs, loads of atmospheric dispersion I reckon (blue one side, red the other)? Played averted vision games around M42. Thought of printing off a sheet of double stars, but feet were freezing. All packed away but a v nice last few days & nights. Enjoy all those still out there.

Yes it was quite something wasn't it! I've yet to process anything - figure I will leave that until the weather turns 😂

Packing up now. A lovely night - v stable & good seeing. Set up w an STF7" f10 & the Moon was stupendous in BVs. First time seeing the Rimae Hippalus - they're like claw marks across the surface. Kept the BV in to look at M36,37 & 38. M36 is becoming a go-to cluster for me. A quick gander at M81 - blurry patch (this is Bortle 8 territory & lights everywhere in neighbourhood so forget about dark adaptation sadly). Could happily just have stayed on the moon but lots to do tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of the night whoever is still staying out!

I tried it out earlier this evening (when the moon was quite low), and it was interesting. I think the CZJ orthos may v well be corrected to compensate! I saw only a thin, thin sliver of blue and that was just around the top edge of the limb, and what looked like a hint of gold around the bottom bit of the limb. So I'm guessing that's atmospheric dispersion as if it was CA it would track all round the limb? (To be more accurate, Clavius was at the top, ie N-S inverted as we all E-W, so in reality the blue sliver was around the southern limb which I think is what would happen w dispersion?). When I put the Vixen 6-O in, there was a larger ring of blue all the way around the limb, which I guess would make sense as the Vixen EP is not corrected for the TM objective and so that was the CA coming through? If that is case, those clever, clever CZJ designers! Colour-free viewing through a TM 🙌🏾. Does anyone have any CZJ orthos they'd like to sell? 😂

Nice report @Stu & yes a lovely setup. I'm v much taken w my Telementor - a lovely scope. On the CA, what EPs were you using? I did a comparison with an old Vixen 6-O (0.965") and a Nag zoom at 6mm in my TM a while back (after getting a lovely V 6-O from another SGLer). I did notice more blue flare with the V 6-O than w the Nag (but equally it felt like I noticed more detail w the V 6-O which I wasn't sure might be psychological: with a more restricted FOV than the Nag maybe I was concentrating more)? Anyway, that difference in blue flare then reminded me that I can't recall noticing blue flare when I use CZJ 0.965" orthos w the TM. I will double-check that again tonight (I was doing a quick lunar session a coupe days back & expecting blue flare when I put in the CZJ 10-O & I didn't notice any). I may be mis-remembering but I think I once read that the CZJ ortho EPs were designed to work w the TM to offset any residual CA so that the combination of the two gave a colour-free image. Does that sound right? I can't for the life of me remember where I read that though (I know its the case w some types of CZ microscope EPs where those are designed to correct for specific objectives?). Will double check the colour w a 10-O tonight (sadly no CZJ 6-O in the armoury ). Nice report - yes the difference in price is such that I could never justify it (maybe an FOA-60Q though 😂...)

On a pound-for-pound basis, my money's on the Zeiss.

👍🏾 @Robert Hayes - I think I have to re-instal my Wyze as the app doesn't see my Photos so it can't upload on to them. Will try that now the clouds are here!

If you chop that into 2 or 3 vertical panels, that would make a nice diptych or triptych - Nature is an abstract painter!

Beautiful - I wonder what a starless (or perhaps star-reduced) version of that would look like!