The Moon with 8''

[astrolulu]

Hello Mark, you can see INA as a pale bright spot in the center of a yellow circle.

[markse68]

Thanks Lukasz! Slim chances of seeing it though apparently possible if you get the terminator just right- I'd like to try. BTW I just had a look at your webpage and it is wonderful! 

Mark

PS are you planning to make a version of your very nice moon map using your own images?

Edited December 6, 2022 by markse68

[astrolulu]

It is a very difficult object for direct, visual observation - not only because of its small size, but also because of the small difference in brightness relative to the background. In turn, in the case of photos such as mine, the scale is probably simply too small for the color to have a chance to be recorded by the camera sensor..

As for the map, the background I used comes from images taken with the LRO orbiter. Thanks to this, it was possible to obtain almost the same lighting of all details and this is crucial in such a situation. If you have photos taken in different phases from Earth, you can rather use them to create an multi-page atlas allowing you to find objects in subsequent phases - but such photos are not suitable for direct use as a base for a single map. Many years ago I bought such an atlas, but to be honest I hardly used it. It's a nice idea in theory, but it doesn't work very well in practice.

A single, simple map, without the need to select options, operate, set anything. Everything visible at once - that was my idea.

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by astrolulu

[astrolulu]

The northern regions of Mare Imbrium, Mare Frigoris and the highlands dividing them, with Plato crater and Vallis Alpes to the east and Sinus Iridum to the west. Extremely spectacular areas - and thus photographed in thousands of ways. Also by me 🙂 But I can't resist not to approach this topic again at every opportunity. Bringing out the blue tones of the ejecta around Bliss Crater and the accompanying craters Plato B, Y and M, or bringing out the luminous silverness of the lands surrounding Sinus Iridum, is a source of constant joy for me...

 

[Mandy D]

On 25/10/2022 at 15:36, astrolulu said:

The night of October 17 in my area turned out to be particularly fruitful in terms of astrophotography - thanks to exceptionally good seeing. The quality of photos details taken that night clearly exceeds what I have been able to achieve with the SCT telescope of the same 8 '' diameter - and even what I was able to get with the larger C9.25. I looked closely at my photos made so far - I've focused for example on Clavius - and I must say that this inconspicuous 8 '' Newtonian really surprised me by showing what he can do with good seeing!

Here are the fruits of that amazing night:

 

Artemis I captured part of the same region that you have, above and from a slightly different angle to how we see it from Earth. The image, used in the article linked below, was the opposite way up, so I have rotated it and reproduced it here. The credit and copyright is NASA. I thought it would make a nice comparison and illustrate how high quality your images are. It would have been nice if NASA's image had been colour.

 

[astrolulu]

Mandy, thank you very much for this interesting comparison! I think we all have a feeling that NASA is extremely sparing in sharing with us the images related to this mission, so I'm sure it's not their last word when it comes to image quality 🙂

[astrolulu]

Meanwhile... what can you do in cloudy and snowy weather we have in Poland in recent days, if not to reach for old, unprocessed materials and finally check what treasures are hidden there. I reached out too. I found my old photos from May, taken with my favorite LX200 ACF, which I affectionately called "Meadzio", which is the Polish diminutive for "Meade".

Meadzio drew very delicately, sensitively, but precisely - nothing that could be considered "soft" drawing. This model is not a classic SCT by the way, it's more of a hybrid of SCT and RC. I had to sell it to start fundraising for a larger diameter instrument, but I have fond memories of it - see why...

 

 

[astrolulu]

Another May memory of Meadzio, plus Central Bay in the foreground...

 

[astrolulu]

Do you know the term photobomb? This is how photos are defined when someone unexpectedly appeares in the frame, against the intention of the author. Recently, a colleague at CN pointed out that this is how Rupes Recta behaves in my photos. Well, actually - there is something there...

Another photo made by Meadzio:

 

[astrolulu]

Panorama performed by Celestron C8-N and the newly purchased ASI 183 MC camera. Such a gigantic sensor, however, is a challenge in the case of a telescope with a poorly corrected field - like my newt. Even with a 2x Barlow lens, the curvature of the field can be felt, manifesting itself when trying to arrange a mosaic of several photos. It turns out that their geometry - especially in the outer areas of the frame - differs slightly, and precise fitting of large panels becomes impossible.

But wait! Why fit panels, if the sensor gives an impressive field of view?!

Well - this camera is demanding ... I had to spend a moment to collimate my C8-N on the star, because the use of the collimator is complete fiction. After removing it and inserting a heavy Barlow with a camera, the entire collimation goes to hell. In order to fight the loss of sharpness on the edges of this large sensor, I have to watch the collimation quite precisely, i.e. with such equipment and in such a position in which the observation will be carried out.

So ASI 183 is not "maintenance-free" equipment and a camera for a beginner. The predecessor - ASI 178 MC - I could confidently recommend to anyone, even a novice astrophotographer. Here we have equipment for those who want to get a little extra - and are willing to put in a little more care and effort.

 

[astrolulu]

And another panorama from the penultimate day of 2022.

 

[astrolulu]

One more approach to the same session, a slightly wider frame and slightly different color treatment.

 

[astrolulu]

Lunar Panorama. March 1st.

 

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by astrolulu

[Space Cowboy]

Super images Astrolulu! There is no better presentation of the lunar surface than in colour! The resolution and texture of your images is excellent.  I've just ordered a QHY-5-lll-585c cam and this is just the kind of Lunar capturing I'm after.

[Mr Spock]

I love seeing colour images of the moon. It just looks fabulous!

[astrolulu]

Thanks for all comments! Interestingly, the same camera captures the planets in their proper, distinct color, while the Moon's raw images appear almost monochrome - black and white. This is always a challenge, because it opens the way to some arbitrariness in the use of color. But at the same time it is an attraction - because the final effect is never obvious 🙂

[astrolulu]

Image from the next day. Notice how nicely the Sinus Iridum is illuminated:

 

[astrolulu]

Celestron Nexstar 8SE has just joined the group of my 8-inch reference instruments. I just received an almost unused copy of this telescope. I admit that I'm not sure if I need it, but since I dreamed of an "orange Celestron" in my youth, I couldn't resist the temptation to buy it. In the 1980s, when I started my adventure with astronomy in socialist Poland, buying any telescope was out of the question. I only had a home-made refractor (albeit equipped with a very good PZO lens). The only place where you could see the orange Celestron was the library of the university's Institute of Astronomy. It was there, that I browsed with flushed face, probably the only copies of Sky&Telescope in the city. The magazine was full of Celestron advertisements, "orange tube" observations reports, equipment reviews, etc... At the time, I would never have believed that the history would turn out to be the Iron Curtain falling and the orange Celestron suddenly falling into my hands!

 

 

So let's see what this telescope can actually do. Here is the first decent quality image obtained immediately after collimation. Please click to see the full version:

 

Edited May 2, 2023 by astrolulu

[maw lod qan]

Your images are so crisp and sharp that the fine details are incredible!

[astrolulu]

Thanks 🙂 When I look at my photos after some time, I always have the impression that I exaggerated with sharpening. My main concern is to sharpen it so that it looks sharp but not sharpened

[astrolulu]

Ladies and Gentlemen! And now - one of my favourite views - Mare Australe with the 450km Vallis-Rheita furrow leading to it...

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by astrolulu

[WestCoastCannuck]

Truly,  your colour is absolutely epic.   One day I will come close I hope.   I have given up on one shot cameras - will just have to learn LRGB combining.

 

With regards

 

Mike

[astrolulu]

Thanks Mike, for me the key to playing with color is the ability to correct color artifacts, because any attempt to enhance the color mainly amplifies noise, chromatic aberration, traces of atmospheric dispersion, etc. I honestly can't imagine working on color without Photoshop and its color noise reduction filter (optics correction functions in the Camera Raw plug-in also help). And I know that it's not easy to find a filter of comparable quality in other programs - even if it has a similar name. Once you somehow control the unwanted color effects, the fun of looking for *what you want* begins - and that's the whole pleasure. Experimenting and discovering 🙂

[astrolulu]

Another shot from the same night - wider frame, with Teofil and Rupes Altai - all the way to the Rimae Janssen rifts and the south pole of the Moon:

 

[astrolulu]

It took a long time for lunar viewing conditions to become decent - although this now requires waiting at the outpost until morning. But the right height above the horizon compensates for this effort. Look how nicely this simple Nexstar SCT drew small details. They are precise both in the brighter parts and in the shade - on the border of the terminator. In addition, posterization on the edges of objects is practically negligible. I have to say that this 8'' Celestron really surprised me. Although it should also be mentioned that before taking the pictures I fine-tuned the collimation, trying to get the centrality of the diffraction rings on the barely defocused star.

I think that we are all reluctant to listen to the advice that the telescope should be collimated before each session, but it seems to bring results...