Stargazers Lounge Uses Cookies
Like most websites, SGL uses cookies in order to deliver a secure, personalised service, to provide social media functions and to analyse our traffic. Continued use of SGL indicates your acceptance of our cookie policy.
Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'moon'.
Found 521 results
-
Hello Astronomers, On the 12th August, between 18:34 and 19:21 we had a occultation of Saturn by the moon. Of course I couldn't miss out of such a event so I took the day of work and setup my gear so that I could simultaneously capture the event as well as observe it. I had the SCT recording with the 618C while observing it in the dob... literally at high power it looked like a Saturn rise... massive lunar horizon filling the field of view with a big Saturn rising from under it, literally animated and visible slowly moving up... Looked amazing in the eyepiece... Photos or videos don't even come close to how good that looks live in the ep. I had my eye on the eyepiece in the 14" Skywatcher during the occultation and recorded the start and finish times as soon as I noticed them: Occultation Start 18:35.51 AEST Reappearance Start: 19:19.37 AEST Occultation Finish: 19:21.20 AEST I stuffed up the first part video, the covering of Saturn because I still had iCap set to capturing a maximum of 5000 frames left from my planetary imaging, so at 25fps I barely got a 3.5 minute video that stopped just before the actual occultation started... yes I was kicking my self... but at least I watched it... I wasn't going to do the same mistake on the re appearance on the other side... Sharing with you my photos and the video of the event... video is sped up to 400%. Clear Skies. MG Saturn Lunar Occultation 12Aug2019.mov
- 14 replies
-
- 15
-
-
- occultation
- saturn
- (and 2 more)
-
Dear all, yesterday evening, I started observing the moon and sketching crater Copernicus even 15min before sunset. The contrast on the moon wasn't perfect yet, but on the other hand the contrast on the sketching paper was better - no need for LED. Copernicus with its prominent ray system is wonderfully appearing on the full moon but this time I just concentrated on the 96km crater itself: Telescope: Celestron NexStar 127SLT Eyepiece: ExploreScientific 6.7mm/82° Date & TIme: June 12th, 2019 / 2130-2230 CEST Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: Koh-i-Noor chalk and charcoal pens on black sketching paper Size: appr. 30x30cm Looking in my filed skeches, I figured out that I have visited Copernicus five years ago. Here's a comparison of the two sketches showing some changes in technique: Clear skies! Achim
-
I'm not sure where all these odd names for the full moon are coming from? Apparently last night was a worm moon??? Regardless happy first day of spring everyone...here's my moon from last night Taken with an altair 72EDF Deluxe, GPCAM 290c and 0.5x reducer.
-
Few Moon pictures,maybe too rich color,but like it..
- 1 reply
-
- 5
-
-
Hi I have recently purchased a ZWO ASI120MC-S webcam from FLO. I wanted to try it the other night so I decided to get some test images for the moon. I was using Sharpcap for this. I manged to get the video and was using Autostakkert to stack it. On the final stacked image I can see that there are some strange vertical lines. I have attached a picture of that. There is also a zoomed in image of a region and I can see some small squares almost resembling the pixels on the sensor. Below are my capture settings as given by SharpCap. [ZWO ASI120MC-S] Debayer Preview=On Pan=0 Tilt=0 Output Format=AVI files (*.avi) Binning=1 Capture Area=1280x960 Colour Space=RAW8 Temperature=19.2 High Speed Mode=Off Overclock=0 Turbo USB=86(Auto) Flip=Both Frame Rate Limit=60 fps Gain=50(Auto) Exposure=0.001993 Timestamp Frames=Off White Bal (B)=95 White Bal (R)=52 Brightness=0 Auto Exp Max Gain=50 Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000 Auto Exp Target Brightness=100 Mono Bin=Off Apply Flat=None Subtract Dark=None #Black Point Display Black Point=0 #MidTone Point Display MidTone Point=0.5 #White Point Display White Point=1 TimeStamp=2018-06-25T23:13:22.6772909Z SharpCapVersion=3.1.5214.0 For Autostakkert (v2.6.8 ) I was not doing anything fancy. Pressed analyze and then used 50% of the frames to stack. Used 200 as the AP size. Also, had the drizzle as 1.5x My camera was mounted to a skywatcher 200pds and HEQ5 mount. I am failing to understand what is going wrong here. Is the camera a problem or stacking is an issue ? Please let me know if there is any more information that you need. Thanks and Regards, Yogesh moon_25062018_1min_00_13_20_g4_ap35_Drizzle15.tif moon_25062018_1min_00_13_20_g4_ap35_Drizzle15_ZOOM.tif -
Hi, here's my first go at imaging with my recently accuired Nexstar 11 GPS, i've used a 6.3 reducer and my Sony Alpha 6300, the second shot is a single frame using the digital zoom on the camera.
-
Hi folks, Just wanted to share my bloodmoon experience with you in this blog. It was quite challenging, ice on my balcony, camera falling out of telescopes and tracking challenges. But in the end it was a wonderful experience, you can read it here: https://www.astroforum.space/blog/my-first-bloodmoon-experience and i've included a (gittery) timelapse + final image. Please let me know what you think, should I keep the stuff that goes bananas for myself or share it with you folks? Clear skies!
-
Another image of the Moon, Venus & Spica yesterday morning. Pentax K5 / PENTAX-DA 12-24mm F4 ED AL [IF] lens @24mm / f9 / iso 1600 / 5 sec exp.
-
- 7
-
-
- conjunction
- moon
- (and 2 more)
-
One shot (live photo) with iPhone 8+, not sure which EP I used... 32mm Plossl? 10" Dob, processed to enhance details on the phone with Photoshop Mix (adjusted contrast, clarity and saturation up, shadows down) and crop.
-
Hi, The link below is for the night sky next week, in the Southern Hemisphere. Because the Moon will be up, it focuses on the Moon, Jupiter, Mars and a few clusters. The night sky for 22-28 January 2018
-
Photo of this evening’s moon, taken with an iPhone 6. No filters or edits. -
An image of the mighty Clavius. One of the larger craters at 225KM in diameter. A very impressive walled plain that contains an arc of addition craters diminishing is size from 55KM (Rutherford) down to 12KM (Clavius J). Moretus is further towards the pole, and is around 114KM. It has a great central peak rising to 2700m) and numerous terraces. The tops of other craters can be seen towards the horizon, and the south lunar pole. Captured with a ZWO174mm (using a 642IRBP filter), on a Celeron Edge1100HD and CGEMDX mount. Image capture was via OACapture, stacked in Autostakkert2, Sharpened in Registax, finished in photoshop. This is an inverted image, as I find I can make out more detail this way. Full Size viewable on Flickr -
A shot of Tycho (to go with the other close up) and an exaggerated partial view of the ray system that surrounds this young formation (you can see the lines of ejecta material which form the rays moving away radially from the crater). This image was captured on the 28th December at 19:12:57 and comprised of a single capture of 2063 frames, of which only 236 were used in the stack. It was captured using a ZWO174mm camera (with a 642IRBP filter), and a televue x2 barlow). This was mounted on a Celestron Edge1100HD, in turn held on a Celestron CGEMDX mount. It was captured using OAcapture, stacked in Autostakkert2, Sharpened in Registax6 and finished in Photoshop. The full size version is on Flcikr
-
One of a few shots of Tycho that were ok. One of the youngest formations on the surface (in terms of millions of years), it is one of the brighter objects to image. at 52KM its not the largest of course, but it has made quite an impact on our local neighbour. The crater is starting point of the largest ray system on the surface, and is easily seen in binoculars. This image was captured on the 28th December at 18:31:56 and comprised of a single capture of 3080 frames, of which only 285 were used in the stack. It was captured using a ZWO174mm camera (with a 642IRBP filter), and a televue x2 barlow). This was mounted on a Celestron Edge1100HD, in turn held on a Celestron CGEMDX mount. Flickr link to full size image.
-
Not an ideal night for astronomy, the sky did appear to clear but it was too murky for imaging deep sky objects and the seeing was pretty rubbish so imaging the moon was like peering through jelly. Still, something came out and perhaps with a bit more processing the shots can be improved. This image shows Crater Plato and Vallis Alpes cutting through Montes Alpes in the northern hemisphere near Mare Imbrium. Image made from a 1000 frame video Captured with FireCapture Processed with PIPP, Registax and Photoshop. Equipment: Celestron NexStar 127 SLT GoTo AltAz mount with homemade wedge ZWO ASI120 MC imaging camera x2 Barlow
- 2 replies
-
- 2
-
-
- moon
- crater plato
- (and 1 more)
-
Dear all, yesterday evening, I set up my Celestron 5" MAK with Baader Maxbright Bino on the GoTo-Mount (Nexstar SLT) to have a look at our rocky companion in near space. First I just enjoyed the binocular view of the lunar surface: The trio Ptolemaeus, Alphonsus and Arzachel looked great but for sketching, the terminator had already gone a bit too far. The shadows were already pretty short, especially those of the large, flat crater Ptolemaeus. So I went north and was impressed by the wonderful view of eastrn Mare Imbrium. The famous triple Autolycus, Aristillus and Archimedes looked great and the mare ridges in the low lunar morning appeared very threedimensional. Further north the flat crater Cassini and the famous Vallis Alpes were prominent landmarks. But as usual I wasn't happy with just observing, so "Hhhmm, what should I sketch now?" The whole eastern arc of Mare Imbrium would have been a wonderul target but I didn't plan a longer session. I wanted to sketch just a single crater, so I picked the largest one in the area: Archimedes (which had been on my target list for some time already). Here's the result: Telescope: Celestron Nexstar 127 SLT Eyepieces & Accessories: 10mm "Super", Baader Maxbright Binoviewer, TS diagonal Date & Time: March 16th, 2016 / 2030-2110 CET Location: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: chalk-, whitecoal- and charcoal pens on black sketching paper The flat, peakless interior reminded me of crater Plato but the volcanic material in Archimedes was a bit brighter. The shadow of the eastern crater rim covered almost half of the crater floor. The western rim shone bright in the sun. The hilly "peninsula" outside the southeastern crater rim and the northern parts of the Montes Archimedes looked pretty bright as well. The hilly area inbetween was showing a scattered mixture of brighter parts and dark shadowed areas. North of the crater, the western ridge of Sinus Lunicus was visible as dark ark in the low lunar morning sun. The small peak a the south of it produces a long triangular shadow. An hour later I had a peek on Jupiter with two moons and shadows on his clouds but the seeing wasn't good enough to see more than the GRF and Ganymede's shadow. Anyway, since Jupiter was not the main target of this evening, I wasn't too disappointed. Clear skies! Achim
-
Hi all, yesterday evening, I could do yet another lunar sketch with my tiny 3" Mini Dobsonian. Round about one and a half day before the full moon, there were still some craters at the western limb favourably lit showing fine shadows. Telescope: Skywatcher Heritage 76/300 Eyepiece: Skywatcher Planetary 5mm Date&Time: October 25th, 2120-2205 CET Place: home terrace, Dusseldorf region, Germany Technique: chalk and charcoal pencils on black sketching cardboard Size: 3" Diameter Hope you like it! Clear skies, Achim
-
Yesterday's (27.11.17) 8 day old Waxing Gibbous Moon (60% illuminated) imaged at 18:00UT using LRGB filters. Seeing conditions were fair, with some faint fast moving cloud. Altair Astro StarWave 102ED f/7 refractor Altair IMX174 mono Hypercam ZWO Mini EFW Altair LRGB filter set SkyWatcher AZ-EQ6 mount Best 15% used of 1000 frames for each filter. Captured software SharpCap 3.0 Stacked with AutoStakkert 3.0 RGB channels combined and Lum added for sharpness, post processed with Photoshop CC 2018 Can also view on Flickr - https://flic.kr/p/21WynTP
-
Hi I'm new here. Briefly looking through this site, it would seem this site is geared towards discussion regarding instruments. So in advance, I apologize if this is not the appropriate forum/website for my question. And. If at all possible, might anyone link me to a website that might be better suited for me. I looked on youtube, and a few other websites and nothing concrete came up as to where the appropriate place to post might be or what it was I was observing regarding moon activity on this early morning of 11/28/2017. So here I am and once again I apologize if this is the wrong forum for my question. I'll be brief. My knowledge of astronomy is very limited. Though I've always had a passion for astronomy. My question. What exactly was I observing in regard to the moon's orbit/position/speed in which it changed? Now, allow me to set the stage. It was roughly 12:30AM here in North East Texas on this day of 11/28/2017. On my way to the store I stopped to take a look at the night sky as I always do. The moon was roughly at a 50 degree angle above the southern tree line. Forgive my ignorance but this is the best way I can describe what I was observing. In less than one hour the moon had radically relocated to just above the western treeline. Once I got home the moon was obviously no longer visible from this viewing point. I am very curious as to why the moons position changed so quickly. I've never seen this before. Is this a common occurrence within the moon's cycles and or time of year? I look forward to hearing your responses. To hopefully shed light on what is seemingly a strange phenomenon to me. Thank you in advance!
-
On the morning of October 14 the sky in Germany was clear and the seeing was between average and good. I wanted to test the new release of my MoonPanoramaMaker software, so I set up my telescope in the garden. In fully automatic mode the 30 videos for a high-res panorama were captured. Here is a "thumbnail picture" of the panorama: You find the panorama in full resolution here. Make sure to view the picture at 100% zoom. The inidividual video files were taken with an ASI120MM-S camera through a 685nm red filter and my C11 telescope. If you are interested in the technical details, you can see here two pictures of my setup. First the whole thing: And then a closeup of my laptop with all the necessary software running: Best regards, Rolf
-
Hello everyone, It has been a while since I posted here. I was waiting for my telescope but unfortunately my friend could not bring it along from UK Anyway since that happened I decided to continue my search for a telescope and in the meanwhile I decided to get myself a nice binocular and carry on until I get hold of a good scope. Perhaps, I could continue with a bino for some time and gain experience and then if the passion doesn't die I can get a scope. Anyway, I went to a hill station where my father-in-law has a couple of flats (at a height of 6,000 feet) and so they spend every summer there. I usually go for a few nights with my wife and kids for vacation and then come back. I had noticed in previous years that the sky is a delight in the balcony of that flat if clear. However, in those days I looked up at the stars and well that was that. So this year I wasn't able to wait to go there and observe it rather than seeing it like before. It mostly rained however I had two clear nights to myself and I cant tell you how lucky I was in those two nights. I enjoyed myself a lot and learnt and also thought quite a lot. I also have a couple of questions from my first night that I would like to ask in order to ascertain my understanding. Anyway, during the first night I did not have the binocular that my father-in-law has as I had forgotten about it. So I just went there and saw things and tried to make sense out of them. I knew it was a pre-night to the Perseid peak but I had no idea that I will see the shower with my naked eye and that it would be that much. I saw the shower with my boy in my lap who would point out at every flash with excitement. However, there are my questions: 1. I saw the shower where different (shooting stars) kept coming. they were like little balls of fire having a head a trail of light following them. But then I also saw something else during the same time and it happened more than the shower. I saw little flashes of light in the sky. One after the other and there were about a dozen of them coming from the same part of the sky more or less. Those were like little tiny dots of lights igniting at a spot and then going out in a second or less. However, they did not have any trail or streak in the sky they were like little spots that would shine in a spot and then go out. what were those ??? 2. I also spotted a satellite that was a very bright and moving very fast. However, some website suggested that it was the ISS. How does one differentiate between a satellite and the ISS ? How to know what you are beholding ??? It was during the next night that I remembered the binoculars. When I got them from him those were a 12x25 not that good but not bad either. So I gazed at the moon and enjoyed its majestic beauty. Seeing the moon not as a disk and as a spherical object with your own eyes have n effect on you ... it was just lovely. Then I also spotted the Cassiopeia and observed it for some time. And then in the end the last thing was the seven sisters in the Pleiades and that was mesmerising. the distinctive question mark in the sky that made me think and contemplate on many things including, on a lighter note, the fact that I observed the sky and had questions in my mind but the sky responded with a question mark telling me that there is more that there are things even they don't know of I shall be writing an article about it soon. cheers, Sidd
- 12 replies
-
- 12
-
-
The weather has not been kind to us here in the South West of Western Australia and when there has been clear skies, seeing conditions have not been great. But I'm still at it! Here are a handful of lunar images that I've captured this month. October 1st. Hand held afocal, Celestron Nexstar 8i SCT with an Unbranded 40mm Plossl and a Fujifilm 10mp A170 compact digital camera. October 4th (I think). Celestron Nexstar 8i SCT with the ZWO ASI224MC with Celestron UV/IR cut off filter. Captured in SharpCap, aligned and stacked in AutoStakkert3, wavelets in RegiStax6 and edited in PaintDotNet. October 5th Harvest Moon. This is what the camera spat out, I didn't add colour. We've had some fires further down south so quite fitting I thought. October 8th. First light with the Antares 6" refractor. Prime focus with the Sony a5000, ISO 200, 1/200 sec. and finally a moonbow. I've captured these before but I they've never seen them this close to the moon. A couple of nights before this it was very noticeable by eye but by the time I went inside to get all the gear out, set it all up, it was all over. I had to wait for 3 hours for it to come back just to get this shot on this particular night. I have edited and enhanced this photo slightly Taken with the Sony a5000 with stock 18-55mm zoom lens at 55mm, ISO 800, 1/8th sec, f5.6.
-
Quickmap has recently been updated and now has a feature that lets you fly around any crater on the Moon while you enjoy a 3D view of it. This it how it works: Go to http://quickmap.lroc.asu.edu Select the Lunar Globe 3D projection and a texture that works around the whole globe: Find a place on the globe to view and start the 3D flight You should now see a 3D scene like this, spinning around the point where you clicked: To see the moving 3D scene you can use this link. It's a very long link, but it should get you there in one go: http://quickmap.lroc.asu.edu/?layers=NrBsFYBoAZIRnpEoAsjZwLpNKG%2BscB2fDbMADlPnNAE5rDgjZWakiE2mAmOuqt3J9%2BjTOKQ9QPRkmBSuBcgGZoPQUskVVYicDhwo3OQbRCkBkueCroisls5iLO63GX32%2B5cufe8bspWmt4M1urKMuEURFEhcChsDvIU9LoqPHEYcpGeWHqqymGkAHRQIKqJ6UiFZqXlNtDKRkoFTb7GFWrFrGUqTUkwfTVNntDDjZHU4%2BDiKtKyFaBjJTyzNaAd9fN1ves2ENN9bcoaezlNAdsjQUezBUS7iBVEW72G-TxP4x8ja0e-RpSAH7VQ8YLve4qIhXbIvFrJIJnLxBHooiiDJinPIqChZdFvdFPfLkRKYnKiaxgwlYtT4kkbCHPA6wlGgZG8GKY%2BZorEsPxBHE1WLVYAoL6LMU8QnjZSk-5JEpypDi1njOhzFXgGlyFDgemk8AIoZQkZwXkXaCs2nQYn9JoC6BOvz67laTZ%2BdSHaK4T2pDma4DgQyS4N2pDBplMYMBiPml08FZEcj6-HjZPu8MpUBR%2B0GkbQY0kzBAA&extent=-180%2C-90%2C180%2C90&camera=3447092.642252007%2C-740631.9919225845%2C-3332634.071787882%2C6.283185307179586%2C-1.5707963267948966%2C0&orbitPoint=-11.210365081203694%2C-43.63584717209528%2C3572.5823592720317&proj=22
-
I recently was given a National Geographic 76/700/EQ telescope. Everything seems set up OK and can see a lovely clear bright crisp moon. However, when I connect a mobile phone as suggested all I get is a round bright blob which has no definition. I have also tried a 16 mp camera instead of the mobile phone and still not a good picture. Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.
