Photomontage of the Lunar perimeter 19 Feb 2013

[ejwwest]

Here's a merge of 7 frames taken with my DFK21AU618 CCD camera. Filling in the "gaps" was a challenge. I may get round to adding in another 50 or so frames of the rest of the moon:

Lunar Panorama by ejwwest, on Flickr

[ejwwest]

Should be 37 frames (the 3 key gets sticky sometimes!).

[cfpendock]

37 frames for such a small area! The final mosaic will be amazing. I thought I was overdoing it using about the same number for the whole half moon!

Chris

[cfpendock]

Sorry, just looked at your Flickr page - some nice shots there. Can you tell me please, how does your focuser compare with the original Celestron focuser? I ask because I find focussing very difficult on my CPC1100 Edge.

chris

[ejwwest]

Sorry, just looked at your Flickr page - some nice shots there. Can you tell me please, how does your focuser compare with the original Celestron focuser? I ask because I find focussing very difficult on my CPC1100 Edge.

chris

I added a Moonlite Tri-knob Crayford focuser which gives me much finer control over the focus and also have a Bhatinov mask so I can get a good focus on a star first before pointing at a target.

[cfpendock]

I added a Moonlite Tri-knob Crayford focuser which gives me much finer control over the focus and also have a Bhatinov mask so I can get a good focus on a star first before pointing at a target.

That's interesting. My problem is that at very high magnification I find it difficult to achieve tight focus smoothly, even tho' collimation is spot on and I always approach focus anticlockwise. The moon is easier, but for other planets can be tricky. I think the Crayford type focuser might help, giving a smoother approach to focus, and being less dependent on anticlockwise/clockwise adjustment. Usually for stars I use the FWHM system which I find incredibly precise. But for planets I like to adjust focus between RGB filter changes which I find tricky. Are you saying that you focus on a star first and then don't re-adjust when you frame the target? This is where I think the Crayford focuser would really help.

Thanks, Chris

[JamesF]

Lovely image so far. Something was bugging me about it when I was looking at it last night and I just couldn't work out what. I've just realised that it's still left-right inverted, isn't it?

James

[Bizibilder]

Thats very impressive - especially the full size version.

[matthewota]

THat is a great photomosaic. But it is the terminator, not the perimeter. I learned that during the Apollo Program.....

[matthewota]

I mean the Apollo Programme....for British English

[ejwwest]

THat is a great photomosaic. But it is the terminator, not the perimeter. I learned that during the Apollo Program.....

Yes I realised that after I'd posted. Pity they make editing so hard! Thanks.

[ejwwest]

That's interesting. My problem is that at very high magnification I find it difficult to achieve tight focus smoothly, even tho' collimation is spot on and I always approach focus anticlockwise. The moon is easier, but for other planets can be tricky. I think the Crayford type focuser might help, giving a smoother approach to focus, and being less dependent on anticlockwise/clockwise adjustment. Usually for stars I use the FWHM system which I find incredibly precise. But for planets I like to adjust focus between RGB filter changes which I find tricky. Are you saying that you focus on a star first and then don't re-adjust when you frame the target? This is where I think the Crayford focuser would really help.

Thanks, Chris

Yes, I try to focus on a star first, using the Bhatinov mask to get that as precise as I can, lock the focus knobs on both the EdgeHD and on the Crayford and then point to the target whether the moon or planet.In theory that should be as good as it gets but it still is a pain getting focus manually when vibrating the scope causes image instability. Maybe I'll add an electronic focuser to the Crayford sometime. The Moonlite does have a very good and smooth mechanism though. I think I need to improve the collimation now as that's probably where the next step change in image quality will come.

[todd8137]

We have the same set up do in a full lunar mosaic is hard work and lots of frames keep at it

pat

[ejwwest]

We have the same set up do in a full lunar mosaic is hard work and lots of frames keep at it

pat

Yes, it's very easy to miss bits and gaps show up. Fortunately in the part shown here there were several areas I'd repeated so could fill in the gaps.In the other 50 or so frames of the rest of the moon I think I won't be so fortunate.