Imaging During Full Moon Periods

[The-MathMog]

Weather, work and other factors has made it very hard for me to get as much out imaging, as I would've liked. Like 3 times since August. Weather has just been unforgiving, and quite a few times now, the clear windless nights have pretty much always hit on night where the moon has a huge influence. 80%+ illumination. One of these nights I tried imaging bodes nebula, and the moon set like an hour before sunrise. And you can see a huge difference between the images just before, and just after the moon-set. The ones before barely showing any detail.
So, to cut to the chase, do you guys have any advice on what/how to image during these periods? The moon is an obvious choice, but that is not really something that feels rewarding for me currently.
Do you guys not image at all during these nights, or can some open/globular cluster be of rewarding value? I could just go out and test for a few nights, but even that is hard with the weather..
I also use a Baader Neodymium filter, which seems to help a bit, just not quite enough

 

[PeterCPC]

I think that the only real way to image during bright Moons is to go down the Ha filter route but I didn't have much success with my DSLR doing that. I just don't attempt imaging during a bright Moon period and that always seems to coincide with clear nights.

Peter

[Rico]

10 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

I think that the only real way to image during bright Moons is to go down the Ha filter route but I didn't have much success with my DSLR doing that. I just don't attempt imaging during a bright Moon period and that always seems to coincide with clear nights.

Peter

I agree that Ha is the way to go when the Moon is out. To improve your contrast it also makes sense to shoot as far away from the Moon as well (every little helps). In terms not bothering with Ha when using a DSLR, as long as the DSLR is modded I say go for it. Sometimes the funds don't quite stretch to buy a CCD/CMOS imaging train. I've managed to get some decent results with my DSLR + astronomik 6nm Ha filter (Narrower bandwiths help with contrast and even more when the moon is out). Of course, the results won't be as good as those generated with a Cooled mono chip and when the moon is not out ... but that shouldn't stop you from going out and getting some imaging time under your belt.

[alacant]

Hi. Open star clusters don't suffer too much. You need to limit the exposure length though. This is also with a a moon and skyglow (I think similar to your Baader?) from 2 nights ago. HTH and good luck.

[The-MathMog]

On 5/11/2017 at 13:25, PeterCPC said:

I think that the only real way to image during bright Moons is to go down the Ha filter route but I didn't have much success with my DSLR doing that. I just don't attempt imaging during a bright Moon period and that always seems to coincide with clear nights.

Peter

 

On 5/11/2017 at 13:40, Rico said:

I agree that Ha is the way to go when the Moon is out. To improve your contrast it also makes sense to shoot as far away from the Moon as well (every little helps). In terms not bothering with Ha when using a DSLR, as long as the DSLR is modded I say go for it. Sometimes the funds don't quite stretch to buy a CCD/CMOS imaging train. I've managed to get some decent results with my DSLR + astronomik 6nm Ha filter (Narrower bandwiths help with contrast and even more when the moon is out). Of course, the results won't be as good as those generated with a Cooled mono chip and when the moon is not out ... but that shouldn't stop you from going out and getting some imaging time under your belt.

Ha seems to be the recurring solution to this, and something I have indeed considered. But by Nikon D5200, is indeed NOT modded, so you do say that it won't produce anything worthwhile without having that done first? Would need to find a place that does that around here then, as I am not very confident that I could do it myself  (probably could, but would rather not risk it).

On 5/11/2017 at 13:58, alacant said:

Hi. Open star clusters don't suffer too much. You need to limit the exposure length though. This is also with a a moon and skyglow (I think similar to your Baader?) from 2 nights ago. HTH and good luck.

That is a very nice image you've shot there, and just shows that you can really produce SOMETHING on those "forever dusk" nights! I'll just need to expand my knowledge of what open and globular clusters that are in the sky, and which one that fit well in my FOV.

Actually gave it a go last night on M39, with quite decent results, other than it being a quite dull cluster in itself

[alacant]

6 hours ago, The-MathMog said:

gave it a go last night on M39

Hi. Nice shot. Was this with your Baader skyglow? It seems to have a similar colour balance to what I get with my filter; quite easy to balance compared to my CLS I find. Cheers and clear skies

[tomato]

When I had a OSC camera I took the approach to image whenever I could, just to improve my experience and skills at aligning, guiding, focussing, framing etc etc. Sure the images when Mooney Mcmoonface was about were always inferior, but I think the time spent  under these conditions improved my chances of obtaining better subs when the moon was out of the way.

[Mered]

16 hours ago, tomato said:

When I had a OSC camera I took the approach to image whenever I could, just to improve my experience and skills at aligning, guiding, focussing, framing etc etc. Sure the images when Mooney Mcmoonface was about were always inferior, but I think the time spent  under these conditions improved my chances of obtaining better subs when the moon was out of the way.

Totally agree with this, we get few chances to image as it is, so any chance to get some practice done is time well spent. Even if I decide not to make a final image out of the shots I do take, I can always pick up something to improve or learn from for next time.

[sloz1664]

Absolutely agree with both Tomato and Mered. Get out imaging whenever there is a clear sky, full moon or not. It with hone your skills especially if you have to set up and tear down every session. To make full use of your imaging time. The addition of a Ha filter will help enormously.

Steve