First attempt at moon with scope + DSLR.

[TractionMan]

Thought I'd try to image the moon for the first time through the scope this evening. Conditions weren't that great though since there was quite alot of haze in the air. Unfortunately the moon was slightly obscured by trees and branches as well. Just wanted to give it a go anyway. Shot with a Sony SLT A77 attached to the Skywatcher Explorer 150PDS. Just stacked 4 fairly sharp images using Registax 6 and then ran the image quickly through Photoshop Elements. Perhaps not that great but I'm happy since it was my first attempt using this combo.

[jammo]

Beautiful shot, the detail is amazing, the craters looks awesome :icon_salut:

[sologuitarist61]

First class image

[TractionMan]

Thanks for the comments. I'm pretty much clueless when it comes to Registax. Just downloaded it yesterday. Need to find some good tutorials I think. Can't wait to try to "shoot the moon" again, but the weather forecast is looking really bad at the moment.

[BuzzBomb]

It's a great shot. I have a tutorial somewhere for Registax that I printed out. I'll dig it out for you shortly.

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[BuzzBomb]

Found it:-

Registax Tutorial

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[TractionMan]

Great! Thanks! I'll print it when I get home from work.

Found it:-

Registax Tutorial

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[Kendrick Pereira]

I found a forum with series of posts by TractionMan in which the unpacking of a GSO ATZ and a Skywatcher 150mm lelescope is described. I found this by Googling "Guan Sheng ATZ" before I registered as a member of Stargazers Lounge. However, now that I have joined, Google will not find me the same forum again (??!!) and if you ask why I am not using the SL search facility it is because I am finding it completely useless - it only gives me messages that I am using forbidden words or words that are two letters and that I should put in acceptable search terms (the allegations are quite false, by the way. Recourse to Google has found me this forum which I am posting to and since I recognise the name Tractionman I am taking the liberty of posting my enquiry here.

By the way, your photo of the Moon seems to me very successful, far better than anything I have succeeded in getting with my Celestron C130. I am envious!

My question: The very clear photographs you have posted, far better than any commercial advertising that I have come across, of the GSo ATZ have raised a question in my mind which I should never have thought of otherwise. Where are the knobs for driving the alt and the azimuth movements respectively? Do I understand that the action is just a loosen->push/pull->tighten action like a basic camera tripod head?

[Stargazer33]

That looks pretty good to me! Especially with only 4 frames stacked. The sharpness of the craters at the terminal line is really good. With haze and tree branches in the mix, I think you can be very happy with the results you have achieved. Well done T'Man.

[TractionMan]

I found a forum with series of posts by TractionMan in which the unpacking of a GSO ATZ and a Skywatcher 150mm lelescope is described. I found this by Googling "Guan Sheng ATZ" before I registered as a member of Stargazers Lounge. However, now that I have joined, Google will not find me the same forum again (??!!) and if you ask why I am not using the SL search facility it is because I am finding it completely useless - it only gives me messages that I am using forbidden words or words that are two letters and that I should put in acceptable search terms (the allegations are quite false, by the way. Recourse to Google has found me this forum which I am posting to and since I recognise the name Tractionman I am taking the liberty of posting my enquiry here.

By the way, your photo of the Moon seems to me very successful, far better than anything I have succeeded in getting with my Celestron C130. I am envious!

My question: The very clear photographs you have posted, far better than any commercial advertising that I have come across, of the GSo ATZ have raised a question in my mind which I should never have thought of otherwise. Where are the knobs for driving the alt and the azimuth movements respectively? Do I understand that the action is just a loosen->push/pull->tighten action like a basic camera tripod head?

Hello. Sorry for the late reply. Havn't been online for a while. Glad you liked my first attempt. So to your question. I snapped a couple of photos to show you where the slow motion controls are located:

And theres an optional flexible slow motion cable that you can use un either of the controls or not at all if you like that:

Hope it helps.

[TractionMan]

That looks pretty good to me! Especially with only 4 frames stacked. The sharpness of the craters at the terminal line is really good. With haze and tree branches in the mix, I think you can be very happy with the results you have achieved. Well done T'Man.

Thank you very much for the kind words. Yes I'm quite happy with my first attempt. Unfortunately I havn't had the tim to give it another go, but I will as soon as I can.