Partial Lunar Mosaic

[MattJenko]

I am far from an expert, in fact I have just started with this lunar mosaic madness and I know it is a bit of a faff, but I use PixInsight to do the stitching after initially stitching it with MS ICE as a first pass. I create a mosaic using ICE from the stacked images from AutoStakkert (no sharpening). This is decent, but not brilliant. I then use the stitched version as a reference frame to align each and every panel separately within PixInsight. I then use PixInsight's Mosaic generation process to get better control over the final mosaic, which can then be sharpened within PI itself as well.

I have borrowed a friend's C8 and am using a reducer and my ASI120M. I have been using a Red filter. I also have not managed to get a clear run without clouds making a mess of my full disk efforts, but I want some feedback, so posting what I have.

This is my work in progress from this week. Feedback hugely welcome, as this is monster learning curve for me and to be honest a welcome change of pace from DSO imaging. 

[JamesF]

I think that looks pretty good.

James

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice first go. Nothing wrong with that

[MattJenko]

Thanks . The terminator and the detail along that limb kind of take care of themselves in processing, I seem to have a mental block with what to do with the more featureless areas on the other, brighter side. Do people do separate processing of these areas and blend together? I tried a few things, but nothing made it any more visually appealing, rather more the opposite!

[xtreemchaos]

nice one matt,i can only dream of detail like that,you must have your own space ship to get that close.thanks for posting  charl

[MattJenko]

Thanks Charles

No spaceship, just some very nice friends who lend me lovely equipment and those amazing people who write some very cool software.

[xtreemchaos]

matt how many panes mate.  charl

[MattJenko]

What you can see is about 15 - 20 panels of 30 sec videos all processed up as described above. I did take more, but they were clouded out so not included. I am not sure how you do your capturing, but I used a lovely piece of software called Starry Dave's Solar System Recorder (http://starrydave.com/?page_id=11) which allows you to specify a mosaic area, and it then goes and takes all the panels for you. Genius.

[xtreemchaos]

thanks mate,that software sounds cool im going to check it out.thanks again  charl

[laudropb]

Very nice first go. That software sounds interesting. Thanks for posting.

[MarsG76]

Looks great... You got all of the most interesting details.

[RobertI]

Very nice mosaic Matt, the high res version must look amazing. Is this all taken on one night or over several nights meaning the terminator has moved?

Rob

[MattJenko]

Hi Rob,

This particular capture was all one session. I managed to get a whole disk mosaic last night between a couple of clouds, so will be interested to see the difference a day makes, as well what a whole disk looks like in terms of visual impact when I process it all. Despite the very patchy weather, I think I managed to hit some nice seeing, as the images were very clear on the monitor while the software chugged through the mosaic panels and the resulting stacks were pretty nice to begin with, much more so than I have seen before, although this whole C8 business is all very new to me, so it might just be your scope is making me look good

Cheers

Matt

[Astro Imp]

I like what I'm seeing but unfortunately am not in a position to give any help as I don't image.