Moon (Novice edition) - 01/05/20

[Guest]

On my third ever night out with a telescope and the second attempting to capture images, we have this attempt. Bit late processing as I have been working all weekend.

Celestron 130 SLT, NexImage 5, 2 x Barlow.

Captured ~900 frames with iCap, pre-processed with PIPP, stacked in AS!3, A bit of cropping and work in GIMP then wavelets done in Registax. The learning curve with the processing is far steeper than the capture itself but given this was a week to the day I took delivery of my first scope, I am pleased with the results. Just about to order a Canon 600D and Sky-watcher Travelstar 102T - the bug has bitten very hard!

 

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Guest

[tooth_dr]

Lovely image, really smooth texture to the surface. 

[AstroNebulee]

Great image, no moon here misty and foggy 

[Guest]

42 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Lovely image, really smooth texture to the surface. 

Thank you so much. I suspect the texture is more luck than judgement though I did figure out that the first couple of sliders in Registax controlled the smoothness or smaller detail. Still much to learn but very motivating to have positive feedback. Thanks again.

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, LeeHore7 said:

Great image, no moon here misty and foggy 

There is a small window of visibility tonight but still working in the study on an urgent work project so cannot take advantage of that. This capture was Friday night when we were blessed with a clear night! Hopefully we will get some more clear ones in the south west soon!

[maw lod qan]

Great image. 

This morning the Moon looked incredible, but alas, it was through the windshield as I drove in to work at 3am.😖

[geeklee]

On 03/05/2020 at 22:41, Chris Wright said:

Captured ~900 frames with iCap, pre-processed with PIPP, stacked in AS!3, A bit of cropping and work in GIMP then wavelets done in Registax.

That's a lovely image, you should definitely be pleased with that.  Doesn't look over processed either.

Did you stack a sub set of frames in AS!3 as it rated them?  (just the best xx%/X out of 900 for example)

[Guest]

1 hour ago, geeklee said:

That's a lovely image, you should definitely be pleased with that.  Doesn't look over processed either.

Did you stack a sub set of frames in AS!3 as it rated them?  (just the best xx%/X out of 900 for example)

Thank you kind sir!

I tried not to get too slider happy with the wavlets and mainly concentrated on the definition of the larger crater edges.

I think there were >1000 frames. I reduced that to 500 in PIPP and then went for 50%, 60% and 70% of those 500 in AS!3. Eventually opting for the 50% so the final stack is 250.

Skies looking promising for tomorrow night so my objective for the evening is taking a number of mosaic videos and stacking and attempting to join for a full lunar image before swapping to some DSO viewing after the street light that overlooks my garden is turned off at 1am!

Edited May 5, 2020 by Guest

[geeklee]

2 hours ago, Chris Wright said:

I think there were >1000 frames. I reduced that to 500 in PIPP and then went for 50%, 60% and 70% of those 500 in AS!3. Eventually opting for the 50% so the final stack is 250.

Those are good numbers, I definitely get mixed results with what I can take from AS!3.  I usually fire off a mix depending how the graph looks and when the drop off goes below 25%.  With some batches, I need to get one with some stuff closer to 50% so I can stack plenty of frames.  

2 hours ago, Chris Wright said:

taking a number of mosaic videos and stacking and attempting to join for a full lunar image

Not sure if you've selected an application already for the mosaic but I've found Microsoft's free Image Composite Editor (ICE) very good.  Give yourself a generous overlap as AS!3 likes to crop a little bit too.

2 hours ago, Chris Wright said:

after the street light that overlooks my garden is turned off at 1am!

Bonus!

Edited May 5, 2020 by geeklee

[Guest]

Thanks so much @geeklee, I had not already selected something to mosaic so will follow your valued advice.

Being still extremely new to the practical side of astronomy (11 days!) I am still somewhat experimenting (read that as winging it) with the software side - my only saving grace being I work in a technology based job so not a stranger to adapting to new software. My videos in RGB mode for these captures are 3 mins @ 2592 x 1944 @ 6fps so are about 15Gb each!  Although I understand PIPP is more of a requirement for preprocess for Registax (to limit stacking artifacts) than AutoStakkert, I have been using PIPP to pre-process because files that size appear to beat AS!3 into submission, even with 16Gb of RAM. I should perhaps take a number of shorter videos but then I would use PIP to join them anyway. Confusing, but rewarding and engaging all the same.

Its all a very enjoyable learning curve and one I am so hooked with already!

PS: The streetlight just went off at 1:15 - It does not appear to adhere to the same exquisite timing as the night sky!

[geeklee]

11 hours ago, Chris Wright said:

My videos in RGB mode for these captures are 3 mins @ 2592 x 1944 @ 6fps so are about 15Gb each!  Although I understand PIPP is more of a requirement for preprocess for Registax (to limit stacking artifacts) than AutoStakkert, I have been using PIPP to pre-process because files that size appear to beat AS!3 into submission, even with 16Gb of RAM. I should perhaps take a number of shorter videos but then I would use PIP to join them anyway. Confusing, but rewarding and engaging all the same.

It's an interesting camera, high resolution and those small pixels should hold up well for lunar and planetary (although USB2?).

There are definitely many ways to acquire and process.  I've used a smaller chip (USB3) and a slightly bigger one (USB3) and the resolution/bit depth obviously makes a big difference to capture speeds even with an SSD drive at the end.

I usually put my output file from SharpCAp through PIPP to debayer, convert to grayscale, sometimes Region Of Interest, output in uncompressed AVI.  Feed this smaller file into AS!3.  

Edited May 6, 2020 by geeklee

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, geeklee said:

It's an interesting camera, high resolution and those small pixels should hold up well for lunar and planetary (although USB2?).

There are definitely many ways to acquire and process.  I've used a smaller chip (USB3) and a slightly bigger one (USB3) and the resolution/bit depth obviously makes a big difference to capture speeds even with an SSD drive at the end.

I usually put my output file from SharpCAp through PIPP to debayer, convert to grayscale, sometimes Region Of Interest, output in uncompressed AVI.  Feed this smaller file into AS!3.  

I have been lucky enough to take delivery of a new addition to the arsenal today, a Canon 600D with a 2x Barlow, T-Ring and adapter together with a license to Backyard EOS. With tonight's sky looking very promising indeed I am looking forward to some more lunar capturing which I will try with both cameras though it seems there is the opportunity of full lunar shots with the Canon

I will certainly try the process you mention in my post process tomorrow - appreciate the advise sir!

[geeklee]

4 minutes ago, Chris Wright said:

With tonight's sky looking very promising indeed I am looking forward to some more lunar capturing which I will try with both cameras though it seems there is the opportunity of full lunar shots with the Canon

New equipment and all green on the forecast - how unusual! 😁