Lunar Terminator Visualisation tool

[johnfosteruk]

As you know, I like annotating my images, it helps me to learn features which enhances my observing at the eyepiece in many ways.

Until today I've been using the Virtual Moon Atlas and Rukl to eyeball features and manually label them in Photoshop.

No more I say, as I've just discovered this https://ltvt.wikispaces.com/LTVT

It's plate solving for lunar images and it's marvellous. A few rough first tries attached to show with an early evening image from the 7th. The geometry is a little off as I only entered a rough time of capture but you get the idea. It knows libration too so accuracy is good.

Next to fine tune with an image where I know the exact time of capture and play with digital elevation models to do contour lines

And it works with Wine if you're a mac user.

Love it.

Edited May 15, 2017 by johnfosteruk

[johnfosteruk]

The right click contextual menu has a useful 'find and label nearest feature' option as well as 'nearest feature and all features sharing same name' which is how these labels were generated rather than automatically as in the first 2. (This one really shows how poor my calibration is with reference points and time but you get the idea)

[johnfosteruk]

What a fantastic tool this is. 

Annotating is a doddle, it has all the IAU official designations and as I said it's as simple as right click, find and label - giving this from 06/04 @ 22:26

It can also read LRO/LOLA elevation data allowing contours to be applied and generating a pseudo 3d view at your image scale/field of view for that time from your location - the contour map shows I still need to work on calibration accuracy a little.

 

Finally, and this is my favourite feature it can deform your calibrated image to simulate an aerial view:

 

Next up to see if I can use these 3d renderings to produce a depth map and make 3d renderings of my images. 

Who needs clear skies anyway.

 

 

Edited May 16, 2017 by johnfosteruk

[johnfosteruk]

This is getting interesting now. Take a crop from my image showing Copernicus and environs:

Add LTVT's elevation Rendering of the same view:

Blend various versions of each using adjustment layers and you produce an enhanced view that shows off the relief and the variation in intensity of the ejecta blanket quite nicely thank you. A better image will produce better results I'm sure but this'll do for a start.

[johnfosteruk]

Onto the 14th of April now to see what things look like as the sun is setting.

First, the full disk

And on to a close up

 

LTVT has a gamma adjustment allowing a rudimentary stretch which is really useful pulling out the terminator detail. In this close up the gamma is stretched to 2

And an aerial view of the same, all my photo, just deformed.

 

And an elevation model of the same view. I love how accurate this thing is, it will very much be used to plan observing sessions

 

[johnfosteruk]

There are some fantastic ways to visualise topography too. This really isn't the best image to do this with but you get the idea.

Take Clavius from one of my images, deformed to show an aerial view. Take the same FOV from the WAC Global Morphologic, multiplied (in LTVT) on to the digital elevation model.

Blend the 2 images together in Photoshop using colour blend mode and mask off what you want to retain from your original, in this case everything that's not Blancanus and Clavius.

Need's better imagery as I said but it's a start.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

You're enjoying this, aren't you :-)

[johnfosteruk]

Not at all

working tomorrow and won't miss it one bit..... Is what I'm telling myself. 

[johnfosteruk]

Been playing with libration this evening (not libation!)

Here's my image from the 6th of April showing Maria Marginis and Smythii. Goddard, Dorsa dana, Dorsum Cloos all visible and a good portion of the Maria.

The white line is mean libration - the normal limit of visibility when libration is zero.

 

And the same region viewed from Earth

On the 9th of May, Goddard etc are well and truly behind the limb. 

This will be a fantastic observing tool as well for me.

[johnfosteruk]

This one is most interesting. There was a thread a while ago, one of @xtreemchaos mosaics I think it was where there was discussion about producing a composite showing the terminator across all of the moon, sort of a full moon detail mosaic.

Well LTVT can do that too.

Take your image, calibrate it and load it in LTVT. Then you can export it as a simple cylindrical texture file in bmp format. 

Do this for a few images where the terminator is at different positions, a little bit of Photoshop fun to blend them, save and reimport the texture. Bobs your uncle.

This is just a section and it's low resolution but I think you can export sections to a texture file at higher resolution. I think this will throw up some interesting challenges around libration and illumination but it's worth a go just to see!

This is 3 of my images with the most detailed parts cherry picked, showing a good portion of the moon

 

[johnfosteruk]

Version 2. This is good. Tomorrow I work on producing cylindrical projections of as many 'terminators' as possible, compositing them with better quality in Photoshop and then see what happens from there.

It'll be my very own near side relief map

[johnfosteruk]

I thought I'd cracked this but the final blended projection from Photoshop seems to have lost resolution when imported back into LTVT. Still, it's pretty cool I think. Onwards etc

This is made of 11 of my images. I also need to improve the blending.

Edited May 20, 2017 by johnfosteruk

[johnfosteruk]

I've been playing some more. 

This is 2 images combined to make a full disk with a terminator as it was on the 1st of April this year.

Underneath is an animation using the same image, projected as it would have appeared on each day of April. Thus, libration is achieved. Keep an eye on Vlacq down in the southern highlands near the terminator to really see the effect of libration.

Now lets see if I can do one with the correct position of the terminator each day.

 

Edited May 21, 2017 by johnfosteruk

[johnfosteruk]

The southern highlands around first quarter are fascinating, so many shadow spires to see as the sun rises and the scene unfolds.

I took one of my images of the region on the terminator for texture, deformed it to an aerial view and multiplied it with frames generated using DEM data from LOLA to produce this animation.

I forgot to align the frames but it's ok, looks like it was taken by a hand held camera!

The animation doesn't loop so refresh to view more than once. (you might have to click full size)

Edited May 22, 2017 by johnfosteruk

[johnfosteruk]

Sunset over Montes Apenninus, with false colour topographical data from LOLA. None of my image in there at all.

This is 40 hours at hourly increments, view is as seen from my observing location.

 

Edited May 22, 2017 by johnfosteruk

[johnfosteruk]

19 hours ago, johnfosteruk said:

Now lets see if I can do one with the correct position of the terminator each day.

We have a terminator

[johnfosteruk]

I've put together a few animations of sunset with correct libration as well, again using DEM data blended with one of my images for the texture which has come through especially well in the Copernicus animation.

A script in LTVT takes care of producing the frames but the close ups 'wander' thanks to libration. A quick run through an imageJ plugin named 'align slices in stack' which corrects for this and you have a stablised view representing what you'd see at the eyepiece using a tracking mount (If you had the time, and the clear skies and fortitude to observe over a few days of course)

Edited May 23, 2017 by johnfosteruk

[MilwaukeeLion]

Thanks for sharing, any tips on installing this beast, had me pulling my hair out...First installed it, won't let me enter observing time, won't access images, have to get reference images elsewhere or join something, weird.  Any help appreciated.  Uninstalled it, might try again, third try fails and it can go to the moon, life's too short.

[johnfosteruk]

You install the full version from https://ltvt.wikispaces.com/LTVT+Download

(zip file)

and it should just work. You can download higher res textures and dem files if you like but don't need to. 

[MilwaukeeLion]

Its soo purdy , found missing DEM source data after some digging.  Still cant enter UT time but I can enter day of observation, is close enough for me.  I like it, thanks ! 

ML

 

Edited May 31, 2017 by MilwaukeeLion

[AstroKane]

Mind.Blown. - I am all over this.

[johnfosteruk]

It's a bit good isn't it

 

[AstroKane]

It looks ruddy awesome, I have been collecting some data, at the moment looks like tonight is a no go. So an evening of processing is on the cards .

If I manage to get anything decent I will pop a post in here!

[Duke2k]

Hi all

I have been trying to simulate lunar shadows using elevation data but all I get is the terminator in black. How do you add contour lines and elevation data and also where do you find the files?

I am using windows 8.1

A group of us are hoping to image the Lunar X next week but we are stuck.

Thanks

[Demonperformer]

Just had a look at the link and got a message that it is closing. Get it while you can.