Barlow or not?: Part 2 - 28 March

[Mak One]

I know I'm working backwards (first thread was of images from 1 April), but these are from 28 March. Same set up as the other thread but without the red filter. I think the red makes a difference - it seems to keep things sharper and I get less over-exposed areas:

Theophilus region (mosaic without barlow):

Theophilus region (mosaic with barlow):

Janssen (no barlow):

Janssen (with barlow):

Hercules/Atlas and Endymion up to Gartner (no barlow):

Hercules/Atlas (barlow):

Langrenus & Mare Fecunditatis (no barlow):

Does this go to show that unless the seeing is close to spot on, this set up isn't going to give much better results with the barlow than without, and the red filter adds more than the barlow does?

As my "view" of the southern sky is over a busy "A" road 20m away:mad:, the chances of getting good seeing are limited, as the air "boils" every time a truck passes. And they pass by a lot.

Whatever, it's a good excuse to keep "experimenting".

Comments welcome. Thanks for looking.

[ejwwest]

It seems I need to experiment more with a red filter than with a barlow!

[Mak One]

It makes quite a difference. I find the ND96 moon filter flattens the brightest spots nicely, but the red really helps with detail.

Conversely, I don't find the Baader Moon & Skyglow Neodymium filter offers much help anywhere for moon or planets - I haven't crossed into the realms DSO with it yet.

The red I used was the #25 from the Rev Astro photo-visual kit.

One other "revelation" was the difference it made (with the Barlow) on Mars. I've tried several times and always ended up with fuzzy blob with no resolution whatsoever. Now, after the moon sessions the other evening I tried a few on Mars, just for the hell of it. What a difference! I've now got a (still rubbish by others' standards) image of Mars where I can resolve regions, ice caps etc. Chuffed.

Unfortunately this experience has set the mental cogs turning. <creak...grind> "If a red filter helps that much, what about trying... LRGB!? :eek:"

Is this what they call the "learning curve"...?

I can feel my wallet constricting just at the thought...

[ejwwest]

I used a 2x Barlow on the 28th:

Closeup Lunar Craters by ejwwest, on Flickr

Closeup Lunar Craters by ejwwest, on Flickr

Focus isn't as sharp as it could be but this is on a par with the results I was getting with eyepiece projection on my DSLR.

I need to try my new Imagemate 4x sometime on the moon but that may be too much magnification. The initial try on Mars was less successful than I'd hoped it would be.