The moooon?

[goldblade1983]

Hello fellow imagers.

Well I'm not a full blown 'imager' yet but still a 'learner'. Anyway just wanted to get your thoughts on my experience last night. I've had my guiding set up complete but for a couple of months now but had little or no time / weather windows to get out. So clear skies yesterday last night but moon out. Dragged myself away as Wanted to make sure could set up in the field so drove out 30 mins to my dark site and set up in the field (well side of single track road)

All set up and guiding working. Now here's the thing I wanted to check with you guys. 2 min exposures at 400 iso on andromeda last night (around 9pm) and my camera was bringing back pictures with lots of white light. Could still make out andromeda in the shot but picture fairly saturated. (Haven't done any processing yet). Obviously saturationb is from moonlight but just wanted to make sure this is 'normal' for that level of exposure and 5/6 fullish moon? Andromeda was fairly close in sky to moon.

Assuming that is normal is there anyway to improve the situation when moon is out? Filters?

Mucho gracias!

[D4N]

It's typical that clear nights are accompanied by a full moon.

The moon was pretty close to M31 last night so it's not surprising you had trouble with it. Unfortunately the moon reflects sunlight in pretty much full spectrum so filters don't help as much as they do for other sources of light pollution.

They will help increase contrast though especially if you are using narrowband.

I assume you're using a DSLR though so best bet would be a UHC filter but with the moon so bright you would be much better off imaging something else until the moon moves away from M31.

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

[Zakalwe]

A mono CCD and narrowband filters is your friend for times like these. A 7Nm hydrogen-alpha filter will reduce a lot (but not all) moon glow.

[goldblade1983]

Okay thanks just wanted to make sure me not missing something stupid. In any event it was a good test for me setting up and guiding in the field. About 50 minutes set up including polar alignment focus framing and guiding. I think that's alright?

[D4N]

Yeh and it gets much faster the more you do it.

I remember first getting guiding to work was a pain but since that first setup it just works right away.

PA also gets easier, I often don't even have to touch the focus as I leave it locked at the 4.5mm position that gives me prime focus and I don't remove the camera very often.

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

[Twisted Lip]

A mono CCD and narrowband filters is your friend for times like these. A 7Nm hydrogen-alpha filter will reduce a lot (but not all) moon glow.

+1 for the narrowband.

I have DSLR for deep sky stuff and I have to be honest, if the moon is too close to the target it writes-off any decent subs sadly.

In terms of set-up I reckon 30 minutes (excluding cool-down time) is about my average - its come down from about an hour! You get used to it and the nuances of your own set-up

Cheers

Will