Lunar images taken with the IDS e2v sensor

[budski]

Finally I've got round to posting some lunar images taken with the Near Infrared IDS u-eye camera. The original file sizes are rather large (124 Mb) so these JPGs are somewhat compressed. It'll be interesting to get your feedback to see what they look like on a variety of social media display tablets.

Bud

[Luke]

Wow, awesome images.

What scope did you use?

[stargazerslivingroom]

I agree with Luke...Amazing images Bud.

Incredible achievement!

Steve

[riklaunim]

Very nice images

[baggywrinkle]

They are so sharp!. What scope?

[budski]

Apologies..... I should have included the technical details......

The scope is a modified C11 at native focal length ( f10) with a Starlight Express Filterwheel and the IDS e2v 1280x 1024 NIR mono sensor.

This remarkable camera (and one night of very good seeing) has enabled me to to produce an HD video of a Lunar 'tour' lasting about 4.5 minutes. Needless to say, the file size of said file is in the order of 23 Gbytes so not something easily disseminated.

I still await, however, that one magic night when all becomes clear..... I could be waiting a long time. In the meanwhile, my scope and mount - despite their considerable weight - managed to get blown over by the recent gales. Luckily, they had a soft landing so no damage done but I shall be more cautious in the future!

Bud

[Jason71]

Very good. Nice view of Montes Apenninus in the last image.

[Superdavo]

Wow! 

David

[sologuitarist61]

Superb images Bud

[budski]

Thank you everyone. It seems to be so rare to get a really clear night these days (no pun intended!). One thing I have noticed in these pictures is that the IDS camera seems to 'see' a lot of ghost craters underneath the lava plains. I must check this out with my other Lunar archive stuff to see if this is consistently the case.

Bud

[Stargazer33]

Well on my PC screen those images look amazing. If that is what the .jpgs look like I can only imagine the level of detail in your full images. They are the best pictures I have seen of the Moon in a while.

I must try imaging the Moon in IR. Could I do that with my Philips SPC900NC webcam by just leaving the IR filter off, or would I need to fit an IR pass filter to cut out the other wavelenghs?

[riklaunim]

Well on my PC screen those images look amazing. If that is what the .jpgs look like I can only imagine the level of detail in your full images. They are the best pictures I have seen of the Moon in a while.

I must try imaging the Moon in IR. Could I do that with my Philips SPC900NC webcam by just leaving the IR filter off, or would I need to fit an IR pass filter to cut out the other wavelenghs?

Color sensors will be much harder to use with IR passing filters. You can try a red visual filter or Baader IR-pass. Only red pixels will respond so the image will be reddish. After stacking convert it to greyscale and process like normal. Even so color webcam will be behind mono camera for such Moon imaging (although for example MS Lifecams are doing good as their sensors are very IR sensitive).

[Stargazer33]

Color sensors will be much harder to use with IR passing filters. You can try a red visual filter or Baader IR-pass. Only red pixels will respond so the image will be reddish. After stacking convert it to greyscale and process like normal. Even so color webcam will be behind mono camera for such Moon imaging (although for example MS Lifecams are doing good as their sensors are very IR sensitive).

Thanks riklaunim, that does make sense now that you point it out. Would it help if I selected B&W on the capture programme before capture, or would that not make any difference?

[Mr Spock]

Great set of images

[riklaunim]

Thanks riklaunim, that does make sense now that you point it out. Would it help if I selected B&W on the capture programme before capture, or would that not make any difference?

No difference for the final result as the filters are still on the pixels.

[budski]

Hi Bryan, I think Piotr (Riklaunim) has summed it up pretty well regarding the Infra Red sensitivity.

The IDS camera is a fussy old thing and if the seeing is less than good it can be brutally dismissive of me and my 'scope. I've imaged Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with it and many a session has been abandoned with the all too familiar line " I don't know why I bother........".

But we do, don't we.

Bud

[JamesF]

They really are stunning images

James