Snow ice and a full moon.

[SteveBz]

Hello Guys,

Is the combination of a full moon reflecting off snow and ice going to make imaging impossible tonight?

There is a good forecast for clear skies tonight and I'm trying to decide whether I should set up or not.

What do you think?

Regards

Steve.

[mikey2000]

I'm interested in the answer too!  I might set up anyway just to practice polar aligning to see if I can stretch out my sub duration.   

 

For me, the moon will be on the other side of my house - my garden has a reasonable view to the south and east only.

 

I was thinking I might try the Pleiades or one of the clusters near Cassiopeia...

[wimvb]

I'm no expert on this, so may be wrong. The full moon is never good for imaging, especially colour imaging (dslr or osc). Ha imaging is possible, but not ideal, with a full moon. Moonlight, as sunlight, makes the sky blue, albeit much darker than in sunlight. Oiii and Sii is in the blue part of the spectrum, and will be affected most by the moonlight being scattered in the atmosphere. Ha is in the red part of the spectrum, and is much less affected.

Snow will reflect all moonlight, and "help" brighten up the sky. Also, not good for imaging. So, while it may be possible, results will never be as good as with no moon. Otoh, the extra light will make it easier to find all controls etc on your system. Great opportunity to practice all kinds of AP related related things.

[mikey2000]

18 minutes ago, wimvb said:

. Great opportunity to practice all kinds of AP related related things.

For example, I tried practising "remembering to remove bahtinov mask before taking photos."

 

It seems I need more practice at that!  (D'Oh!)

 

I used the time to have some fun getting EQMOD going and practising precise polar alignment with the drift method (it's starting to make sense now...)

 

The "moon makes the sky blue" sounds like a reasonable certainty.    My Pleiades subs had almost no sign of that blue nebulosity, even with 80s exposures....

[SteveBz]

11 hours ago, wimvb said:

I'm no expert on this, so may be wrong. The full moon is never good for imaging, especially colour imaging (dslr or osc). Ha imaging is possible, but not ideal, with a full moon. Moonlight, as sunlight, makes the sky blue, albeit much darker than in sunlight. Oiii and Sii is in the blue part of the spectrum, and will be affected most by the moonlight being scattered in the atmosphere. Ha is in the red part of the spectrum, and is much less affected.

Snow will reflect all moonlight, and "help" brighten up the sky. Also, not good for imaging. So, while it may be possible, results will never be as good as with no moon. Otoh, the extra light will make it easier to find all controls etc on your system. Great opportunity to practice all kinds of AP related related things.

It was really very bright out there.  I didn't manage to get very much at all except a few darks and biases!!!