My first ever posted moon...

[AKB]

The visibility tonight was dreadful: hazy moon, and the only star I could see (barely) was Sirius.  However, I had my 9.25" Evolution (with x0.67 reducer) out to play to try out controlling over ASCOM and also fixed up a ZWO ASI120MM with an infra-red filter (Christmas present from my daughter.)  Focusing was next-to impossible and single lights looked appalling.  But 500 of them later, and after stacking in Nebulosity, I got this... the first Moon image I have ever processed and posted.

I was amazed how good this ended up given the poor conditions (which must improve some day?)

Thanks for looking,

AK

[tooth_dr]

Great result, persistence definitely paid off!

[oobydooby]

Excellent result and well done

 

[gnomus]

That is a great first attempt.  I would suggest getting a Bahtinov mask to aid focus.  The technique involves slewing to a bright star close to your target.  Use the mask to nail focus.  Slew back to target. 

Watchyour gain setting to avoid over-exposure.  I think you have managed to avoid over-exposing but you might have come close.  

[PESKYWAABBIT]

Incredible, good work.

Make sure you show your daughter!

[AKB]

11 hours ago, gnomus said:

I would suggest getting a Bahtinov mask to aid focus.

Yes, I really must get one, but the problem here was that there were no stars to focus on, apart from Sirius barely showing through thick cloud!

 

11 hours ago, gnomus said:

Watchyour gain setting to avoid over-exposure.

Yes, it's close I think.  I was very interested to see this post with a shot of the same area (Mare Humorum and Gassendi)

4 hours ago, baggywrinkle said:

Much better seeing than Wednesday evening, but still not the best....

...which shows much nicer grey tones (albeit, it's a colour image.)  I'll aim for something more like that in the future.

 

Thanks so much for the tips.

AK

[AKB]

I've just had a go at processing the other shots I got last night.  Too late, of course, to do anything about the focus, but again, given the conditions, I'm quite pleased.

All are 500 frames, ~30ms.

 

[iapa]

good stuff.

persistence pays