Trying something new.

[Longinthetooth]

I've been imaging deep sky objects with a 102 Altair Astro EDT refractor  for a couple of years now but on a whim I swapped that out for an old Meade 10" LX200 which I deforked some time ago but never got around to using seriously. It has such a small fov at f/10 that I've always had difficulty finding objects with first time goto. However, pointing it at the moon I was pleased to see how much detail I could get. These, then, are my first evening's attempts at lunar photography with the big scope. I'll have to mess around with a reducer (I have a .63 SCT one somewhere!) and a Barlow to see what fov I can get and how much more detail I can eke out.

I used ser files between 500 and 1500 frames, taken with ZWO 1600MC Pro, Sharpcap, stacked in Autostakkert 3 and tweaked in PS with help from Focus Magic. I used a x2 Barlow for the close up shots.

How many frames would be optimal for this sort of image?

I can see there's a issue with focus - not quite there in close ups and in the wide angle views not enough depth of field to get the whole moon in focus. What should I be doing to maximise the area in sharp focus? Is this one of the reasons why I see so many people doing mosaics?

Best

JB

 

Edited March 10, 2020 by Longinthetooth
added a question

[Laurin Dave]

Very nice..  just the inspiration I need to get my old 10" LX200 out of storage,  last used it May 2018 on the moon, Saturn and Jupiter..  when it produced some pleasing results with an ASI1600mm and ASI224mc with and without 2x barlow or reducer...  I use about the same number of frames stacking 25-50% and sharpen in Registax

Dave

[Longinthetooth]

Thanks for that Dave.

JB

[CraigT82]

Nice work 👍.  I see what you mean with the edges of the wider shots, I wonder if the large chip of the 1600 is picking up the scope's field curvature? Have you checked unstacked frames to se if the same softness is present at the edges? May be something introduced in stacking. Where did you place your alignment points? 

[Longinthetooth]

Hi Craig - I've only started using Autostakkert so I allowed it to auto place the alignment points. Individual frames are a bit blurry anyway so difficult to be sure but I think the softer edges are evident before stacking.

[CraigT82]

Yeah I always us the auto alignment point function (multi-scale), does a good job and saves time not clicking away on the image!

I wonder if it is field curvature then... as all of the moon is at infinity then all of it should be in focus -theoretically speaking.

Could also be a tilted sensor? With these big sensors it's more important to get it really square to the focal plane.

[maw lod qan]

Very nice images. I hope to change cameras soon, get away from my Canon, but it's not in the budget right now. 

It's very clear it does make a huge difference.

[Longinthetooth]

20 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Yeah I always us the auto alignment point function (multi-scale), does a good job and saves time not clicking away on the image!

I wonder if it is field curvature then... as all of the moon is at infinity then all of it should be in focus -theoretically speaking.

Could also be a tilted sensor? With these big sensors it's more important to get it really square to the focal plane.

Mmmmm.... I'll need to research those possible issues Craig. In this hobby you just seem to overcome one hurdle when the next one appears! Luckily there's so much info here and on the web in general I suppose I'm likely to be able to find a way to check - so I'll google it! 

Thanks for your input.

17 hours ago, maw lod qan said:

Very nice images. I hope to change cameras soon, get away from my Canon, but it's not in the budget right now. 

It's very clear it does make a huge difference.

Hi there - thanks for the comment. I've been doing this hobby since 2011 (retirement!) and found that the only way, for me anyway, to make the progress I wanted was to have the right kit. That has meant a fair outlay and, of course, I could find any number of products which would improve my images if I was prepared to splash even more cash. I've seen a lot of good results, though, out of, on the face of it, unpromising equipment. 

I was using a Canon 700D astromodified previous to getting the ASI1600osc and found it was excellent but not cooled, and for deep sky I felt I wanted a cooled camera. That's the only reason really I bought one.

Cheers

JB