JANUARY 7TH - CLAVIUS AT SUNSET

[paulastro]

I observed the Moon from about 4.45 am to 5.55 am.  There was snow on the ground still, and the  temperature was - 2 to - 3 degrees C while I was observing with a thick frost.  When I went out the cover I had placed over the GP-DX mount was so frozen that when I pulled it off I could stand it up on the ground!  I had got up to see the sunset over Clavius, but also because the next few days don't seem too promising.

There was very quick fine scintillation so that while observing I had to adjust the fine focus almost constantly, but there was a lot of good detail on view.  I was using the 102ED F7 Tecnosky and my binoviewer with 24 and 16.8 Orthos.  I did take some single frames with the Olympus E-M5 Mk11, but it was difficult due to the scintillation to get a frame with most of the disk in focus.  Anyway, the pick of the bunch is below with a crop showing Clavius.

  

 

 

[mikeDnight]

Very nice images Paul. You're obviously very keen to venture out at that time in the morning, and in such low temperatures. I'm looking forward to the milder spring nights when the Moon is high in the evening sky. I've already sharpened my pencils in anticipation! ☺

[maw lod qan]

Amazing image! 

I was also viewing Luna at about this same exact time, the only difference  being our time zones are different.

I had high thin clouds to the North, but for almost an hour visibility was excellent!

I was cool with our temps in the high 40's, but nothing like you!

[Voyager 3]

Wonderful pics ! 

Do you know the magnification of the 2nd pic Paul? Did you use any Barlows ? 

[maw lod qan]

This was how it looked in Fla at that time.

[paulastro]

11 hours ago, Voyager 3 said:

Wonderful pics ! 

Do you know the magnification of the 2nd pic Paul? Did you use any Barlows ? 

Thanks Voyager. 

It's a pic taken at prime focus (the camera attached to the scope with no eyepieces or lenses) . The scope has a focal length of 714 mm, but because the camera has a macro 4/3 sensor, it is effectively 1428 mm. This gives a prime focus magnification of just over x28. This is the mag of the 1st picture, slightly cropped for framing.

The 2nd pic is a crop of part of the 1st pic. Approximately this is around 1/10 or less  of the first pic, which would be about x280 - x400 - but it only looks like that  !!

Of course the 2nd pic iin reality is only an enlargement of the first pic taken at x28.  It only looks bigger because of the cropping to the picture.

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by paulastro