Daylight Moon with Pro Planet 642 filter

[Roy Foreman]

Following on from the recent topic on daytime lunar imaging started by laurieast, I have now had the chance to put my newly acquired Pro Planet 642 filter to use on the crescent moon.

This filter has a 200nm bandpass encompassing Ha and the shorter infrared wavelengths, and can apparently be used for deep sky imaging as well, which I intend to try.

The image below was taken just after 6pm, fully 3.5 hours before sunset.

Telescope was a 16" F/4.5 reflector and the camera a ZWO 183MM

50% of 1200 frames at 5ms integration.

Maybe not as sharp as the 180 Mak would produce, but I thought the greater light grasp of the reflector would help, and I'm reasonably pleased with how it has turned out.

I did do some shots using a Ha filter as well, but the sky didn't turn out as dark and so far I have been unable to process it out.

 

 

[Laurieast]

16 hours ago, Roy Foreman said:

50% of 1200 frames at 5ms integration.

I only just found your image here, very sharp and just the right contrast, good clean sky. 
Have you tried at 10%?

I was being lazy yesterday and put up the ED80 and the Canon EOS, I dare not show you 🤦‍♂️

[Roy Foreman]

We've all been there I'm sure.  I certainly have.  You head off out for an imaging session knowing you have the wrong setup but you do it anyway.  Then wish you hadn't, or at least that you'd taken more care.  You are not alone !

Below is the PP642 image stacked at 15%.  As expected it is a bit sharper but on close inspection has more noise. Maybe 25% would be a good compromise.

Below that is the Ha image.  It required more aggressive adjustments to levels and contrast, and more aggressive sharpening.  The sky background was significantly brighter than the PP, and the lower light throughput (7nm vs 200nm) required a longer integration time (80ms vs 5ms)

I am now looking forward to bagging those ultra thin crescents when they are high in the sky as opposed to skimming the treetops.  Only time will tell if it works !