Sun and Moon, 4th March 2022

[Stu]

Posted elsewhere but thought I would put them here too.

The solar white light images are smartphone shots through the Tak FC76DC/Baader CoolWedge/Continuum filter, with a Morpheus 12.5mm and then a Zeiss Abbé Barlow for the higher power shots. I used a Celestron NeXYZ mount and my iPhone 11Pro.

It was captured using ProCam 8 and I processed the raw file in PS Express. I’ve only recently found out how to do this on the phone and it makes a huge difference to the image quality.

The Lunar shots were just hand held at the eyepiece, two exposures to capture some detail in the crescent, and the Earthshine.

[MalcolmM]

Fantastic images @Stu The detail of the sunspots is lovely. I tried to capture the moon last night too with a DSLR on the end of the 60CB. No amount of processing could make it look as good or as detailed as yours. I had been hoping to capture that big crater on the upper edge (Gauss?) but I think the combination of 60mm and bright sky defeated me

I'm intrigued; you did all the capture and processing of the solar images on your phone? That's a lot easier than faffing around with DSLR, memory cards, laptops etc. Have you ever tried simple deep sky shots that way? Is it possible?

Malcolm

[Stu]

41 minutes ago, MalcolmM said:

Fantastic images @Stu The detail of the sunspots is lovely. I tried to capture the moon last night too with a DSLR on the end of the 60CB. No amount of processing could make it look as good or as detailed as yours. I had been hoping to capture that big crater on the upper edge (Gauss?) but I think the combination of 60mm and bright sky defeated me

I'm intrigued; you did all the capture and processing of the solar images on your phone? That's a lot easier than faffing around with DSLR, memory cards, laptops etc. Have you ever tried simple deep sky shots that way? Is it possible?

Malcolm

Thanks Malcolm. I’ve just updated the post as these were actually with the 76 not the 100mm. I only viewed through the 100.

Yes, I have a bit of a rule about my AP. It has to be all done on the phone, capture and processing. A lot of it is handheld, particularly solar, but I used a phone mount for the solar ones here. I do occasionally get lured down the DSLR route but always find it a bit of a phaff.

I have used the app ProCam8 on my iPhone for ages, and find it really good. It has a good focus function on it, which highlights contrasting edges when they are in focus and this works on sunspots too. It’s easy to control ISO and shutter too.

One big step forward I made recently is opening the Raw files in PS express (another phone app) which gives much better quality when you process the images).

I normally take lots of images and just manually pick the sharpest one, when the seeing was best. Sometimes I take 4K video and scoop through to pick the best frame and just screen shot that, but that works best when the seeing is really variable.

Simple DSO shots do work. This link to my old Astro club website has a few that I’ve done over the years with various scopes and phones. These are recent ones with the 76mm of M42.

http://www.waltonastrogroup.co.uk/smartphone-imaging.html

For deep sky images, there is an app called Snapseed which has a very good curves function which helps darken skies whilst keeping most of the stars or nebulae. Not perfect but it works well. Phone camera technology is advancing all the time, so it is well worth upgrading to a latest phone. I do like iPhones for everything which goes around them, although I think Samsung and Huawei cameras are possibly still better. I had a Samsung S9 for a while but have come back home to Apple now . That said, the latest Google Pixel phones do live stacking I believe so I’m really tempted to try one of these at some point.

Hope that helps a bit.

[PeterStudz]

lovely images @Stu! And @MalcolmM I also do everything on the phone. In fact I try and keep to the standard phone camera app, even for processing (which is basic), although occasionally I’ll use soothing like Snapspeed or Lightroom. For me a big part of using a smartphone in this way is that it should be as immediate as possible. 

Mind, I don’t even have a PC (just a smartphone and tablet) so I’m kind of forced to! Out of interest - I use to work in IT. When I left I’d had enough of PC’s, couldn’t stand the sight of the things, and got rid of mine 😀. I Much prefer visual observation. The only reason I started taking pictures is that my daughter wanted to try. She’s shown our pictures to friends and sometimes teachers at school who generally think it’s wonderful. It’s not all about trying to recreate astrophotography standard images. 

[Stu]

14 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

lovely images @Stu! And @MalcolmM I also do everything on the phone. In fact I try and keep to the standard phone camera app, even for processing (which is basic), although occasionally I’ll use soothing like Snapspeed or Lightroom. For me a big part of using a smartphone in this way is that it should be as immediate as possible. 

Mind, I don’t even have a PC (just a smartphone and tablet) so I’m kind of forced to! Out of interest - I use to work in IT. When I left I’d had enough of PC’s, couldn’t stand the sight of the things, and got rid of mine 😀. I Much prefer visual observation. The only reason I started taking pictures is that my daughter wanted to try. She’s shown our pictures to friends and sometimes teachers at school who generally think it’s wonderful. It’s not all about trying to recreate astrophotography standard images. 

Totally relate to all that Peter. I use a laptop all day for work and want some time away from it for my hobby. The phone is quick and easy to take images as a record and to share, but doesn’t take away too much from the actual observing which is my real passion.

[jjohnson3803]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I use a laptop all day for work and want some time away from it for my hobby. The phone is quick and easy to take images as a record and to share, but doesn’t take away too much from the actual observing which is my real passion.

I've been very reluctant to go down the EAA and astrophoto rabbit holes for the same, among other, reasons.  I haven't done much with my iPhone, but the Nocturne app is great for constellation shots.  I've gotten a couple of shots through my binos with StarryCam that suited me and I'm still learning Night Cap.  If I ever want to get into heavy duty processing, I can buy datasets from ATEO and such.

Edited March 5, 2022 by jjohnson3803
Typo

[MalcolmM]

@Stu even more impressed that those were with the 76! Some excellent pics on that link. The moon ones were stunning! When I stop giving all my money to FLO I would be very tempted to get a Google pixel.

@PeterStudz totally get and share your thoughts. I'm also in IT and can't stand computers though they do have their uses!

Malcolm