What's Steppenwolf doing in the Lunar section?

[steppenwolf]

Yes, I know, I don't like the Moon because it kills my deep sky imaging........ BUT, here's the thing, on the evening of 4th December while I was waiting for my proposed deep sky object to clear the trees, the most beautiful quarter Moon was visible just above my local horizon and within reach of the already cooled, focused and ready telescope. Now even I recognize true beauty when I see it so using all the wrong gear, I captured 76 subframes of 0.5 seconds exposure through my 3nm Ha filter in my QSI 683 WSG camera and Esprit 150 ED.

I didn't have any suitable stacking software for solar system so I used MaximDL to convert the individual FITS subs into an AVI, downloaded AutoStakkert 3 and fumbled through stacking the best 50% of my subframes, the result of which was processed in PhotoShop CS3 and shown here. Just don't let my mates on the 'dark side' know that I have been here ..........

[JamesF]

That looks very nice, Steve.  I was intending to try capturing some lunar images with an Ha filter last night, but got diverted doing other things.  Seems like it works well though.

James

[tooth_dr]

Thats a mighty result.  Super sharp and worth the effort.

[Star101]

Very nice Moon. 

Good thing its not full as folks would start to wonder steppen  

[nightfisher]

really nice image, you should do more Luna

[wouterdhoye]

Very nice.. 👍 

[johnfosteruk]

Splendid Steve.

I was struck by the beauty of the first quarter Moon on the 4th as well but didn't have time to do anything, thanks for sharing. Now get back to the dark side

[steppenwolf]

17 hours ago, JamesF said:

That looks very nice, Steve.  I was intending to try capturing some lunar images with an Ha filter last night, but got diverted doing other things.  Seems like it works well though.

Thanks, James, yes, the Ha filter does seem to work well here.

17 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Thats a mighty result.  Super sharp and worth the effort.

Thanks, Adam, pleased you like it even if it is a departure from my 'safe' territory!

17 hours ago, Star101 said:

Very nice Moon. 

Good thing its not full as folks would start to wonder steppen  

Thank you, I think people have been wondering for a long time ....... 😟

17 hours ago, nightfisher said:

really nice image, you should do more Luna

Thank you, I have to say that this has made me think about trying some faster frame rate attempts

17 hours ago, wouterdhoye said:

Very nice.. 👍 

Thank you!

17 hours ago, johnfosteruk said:

Splendid Steve.

I was struck by the beauty of the first quarter Moon on the 4th as well but didn't have time to do anything, thanks for sharing. Now get back to the dark side

Thank you, John - sorry, yes I must get back to my darker lair and not intrude into unknown territory 😲

[Laurin Dave]

Very nice Steve.. hadn’t thought of doing that..  I ventured into this section recently too as I’ve been experimenting with the SX-46 on the Esprit 100 so had the ASI1600 on the Esprit150 ( which makes quite a guide scope!) ..  but when I swap them back I shall have a go using your method.. 

Dave

[Stu]

Your secret is safe with us Steve, although from the looks of it you should be posting in here more often! Very nice image.

[Mr Spock]

That's pretty good. You should do some more.

[steppenwolf]

4 hours ago, Laurin Dave said:

Very nice Steve.. hadn’t thought of doing that..  I ventured into this section recently too as I’ve been experimenting with the SX-46 on the Esprit 100 so had the ASI1600 on the Esprit150 ( which makes quite a guide scope!) ..  but when I swap them back I shall have a go using your method.. 

Dave

Thanks, Dave - I'm a great believer in just trying what you've got as the results can sometime surprise and delight.

3 hours ago, Stu said:

Your secret is safe with us Steve, although from the looks of it you should be posting in here more often! Very nice image.

Thanks Stu and thank you for keeping the secret too 😀

1 hour ago, Mr Spock said:

That's pretty good. You should do some more.

Thank you Michael, I certainly won't hold back from having another go - but what I really need is a longer focal length. Hmmmm, here we go again, must resist.........

[Mr Spock]

10 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

Thank you Michael, I certainly won't hold back from having another go - but what I really need is a longer focal length. Hmmmm, here we go again, must resist.........

You need around 4000mm. A 4x powermate is less then £300... 

[Hallingskies]

Very nice.  For some reason I find my OIII filter gives me sharper and more contrasty results on the Moon than my Ha does.  Don’t think I could beat yours, though.

[steppenwolf]

4 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

You need around 4000mm. A 4x powermate is less then £300... 

Sooo tempting but then I'd be breaking my self-imposed moratorium on astronomy spending!

23 minutes ago, Hallingskies said:

Very nice.  For some reason I find my OIII filter gives me sharper and more contrasty results on the Moon than my Ha does.  Don’t think I could beat yours, though.

Thanks! That's an interesting observation about the OIII filter, I must do some research on this!

[Adam1234]

Nice photo

[Stub Mandrel]

On 10/12/2019 at 20:22, steppenwolf said:

Now even I recognize true beauty when I see it so using all the wrong gear, I captured 76 subframes of 0.5 seconds exposure through my 3nm Ha filter in my QSI 683 WSG camera and Esprit 150 ED.

That is rather nice!

Funnily one of my best moon images was through an Ha filter in the same circumstances probably because  red light is less scattered and  dispersed?

It's a bit close to full to show nice relief, but plenty of 'crater rays'.

[shirva]

Great image Steve,, 

[tomato]

Very nice, keep this up and I can see a book on lunar and planetary imaging in the making....👍

[x6gas]

So this is lovely but I am genuinely interested to know how this stacked image compares to a single shot.  I've not been able to tell the difference when I shoot the moon if I'm honest.

[Craney]

Looking forward to the  HST  composite...   ....   

[steppenwolf]

10 hours ago, shirva said:

Great image Steve,, 

Thanks Davy!

1 hour ago, tomato said:

Very nice, keep this up and I can see a book on lunar and planetary imaging in the making....👍

'Dark Sky or Moonlit Vista?'

1 hour ago, x6gas said:

So this is lovely but I am genuinely interested to know how this stacked image compares to a single shot.  I've not been able to tell the difference when I shoot the moon if I'm honest.

Here you go, I got my wife to choose a random number between 0 and 76 - she chose '42':-

 

57 minutes ago, Craney said:

Looking forward to the  HST  composite...   ....   

🤣🤣

[x6gas]

Thanks Steve.  Very interesting and there is a very discernible difference.

Glad I got Dark Art... for Christmas!

[steppenwolf]

1 hour ago, x6gas said:

Glad I got Dark Art... for Christmas!

I hope you enjoy reading it and that it proves useful!

[wimvb]

With a result like this, your transgression is certainly forgiven.

2 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

 - she chose '42':-

Did she by any chance read the book(s) (not yours)?