Full moon - what to image?

[Russe]

I was eagerly awaiting the only clear night of the week and only realised yesterday that it was going to be full moon.

The sky was so bright that I didn't bother setting up for guiding and more work on galaxies. Instead I've done a few shots of the moon and then got my old SPC900 out to have a go at a full moon mosaic (should keep me busy when in on nights this weekend).

What would you image on a full moon night?

[Luke]

I'd image the moon but if it was a DSO I'd use my 7nm hydrogen alpha filter and image a DSO strong in H-a that's not too near the moon. A H-a filter copes surprisingly well with moonlight

With my DSLR only one in four pixels (the red pixels) record the H-a but that's still a fair few pixels. A mono camera uses all the pixels so is great for H-a.

The filter is very aggressive so I wouldn't use it with an unmodded DSLR.

[nightfisher]

If there is a good clear moon showing, best to image it

[Matt Scunthorpe]

I probably wouldnt image on a full Moon night, apart from the Moon itself obviously, maybe fire out a few test shots and see how they come out though, had times where they dont look too bad even with the Full Moon.

Matt.

[JamesF]

Double stars might be interesting to image, especially if they're of different colours.  Ha imaging is always a possibility.  It's always worth having a go at the Moon though for me it's never as satisfactory as when the terminator is visible.  It is interesting to record it from the point of view of size and libration though.  A while back I compared a couple of images shot at Full Moon and first quarter (I think) and the difference in apparent diameter (because the orbit of the Moon is not circular) was quite a surprise.

James

[Russe]

Ha would be nice, but I won't mod my 450D...

Sensible to try SII or OIII with an unmodded cam?

[Russe]

Double stars are a great idea, especially with the Mak!

[Luke]

Good question, and I don't blame you for not modding! I'm not that experienced with narrowband yet, it's mainly H-a shots that I've taken so far. I do know that H-a is more resistant to the moon. SII I have failed to get much of a signal on anything so far, I'm wondering if I should just have gone for H-a and OIII. The mod as far as I know is more about the red signal so I would expect OIII to be fine with an unmodded camera. Though I do prefer the H-a filter to the OIII. Some targets have a really punchy H-a signal, so far the OIII has seemed a beat weaker to me, but hopefully one of the narrowband experts can chip in?

I do have an unmodded camera as well, after a mod failure.   It did remind me though that an unmodded camera is still a pretty powerful beast, so once I calmed down, the mod failure was not so bad

Ha would be nice, but I won't mod my 450D...

Sensible to try SII or OIII with an unmodded cam?

[johnrt]

Modding your DSLR will make it more responsive in the red area of the light spectrum, where Ha sits at 656nm. SII is even deeper in to the red spectrum at 671nm. The IR filter in a DSLR blocks light at these wavelengths, so by modding and removing this filter you will increase the sensitivity of your camera in these areas.

Hydrogen Alpha is pretty abundant and can be very bright, it is certainly a viable option with a modded camera, but even then you will be needing long exposures to capture the signal - 10 minutes and upwards.

Oxygen & Sulphur (OIII & SII) are very tenuous, diffuse and weak in signal. They are often difficult to detect in targets even with a cooled mono ccd running 20/30 minute exposures. I haven't personally seen anyone effectively capture OIII or SII with a DSLR, modded or not, and the advice I've seen from those that tried is - don't bother.  

[Russe]

Great info!! Thanks guys!!

[CSM]

I imaged various parts of the Moon last night.  Found that I had to set my Philips SPC900NC on to 1/500 sec to get an image because of the brightness.  Even then not great compared with what you can get with quarter Moon.

[tonylumley]

would/could some one elaborate on what "Modding a camera" involves and what the benefits are, as I have an Olympus digital camera, not sure if it needs modding, thanks, Lum.