Is it worth imaging with a 85% lit moon

[AstroNebulee]

Hi

It's my first clear night in a couple months. I only have an East to South View really for imaging. The moon is 85% lit tonight and the only targets I can image in reality is M45 or California nebula from my position. I'm not a galaxy person. My set up is 72ed AzGti eq mode zwo asi 294mc pro and astronomik L3 filter no narrowband. Is it really worth it judging on the moon and position. Its a shame I don't have an observatory as I have to stay out with the rig 🥶

Cheers 

Lee 

[Nikolai De Silva]

@AstroNebulee I really love half lit moons than full 😁. Because it gives a greater view than what is often photographed. 

Her my first light ever. Not crispy, 😁 first pic with my first scope SW Starquest 130p! Took in the morning in daylight.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Nikolai De Silva

[MichaelBibby]

I live under bortle 2-3 skies and I am often surprised by how well DSO images turn out with a bright moon. I would recommend doing your own comparison on the same target, one taken during the new moon and the other during the near full moon so you have a much better idea how much of a compromise it is for you under your skies with your equipment and using your methods of post processing. 

 

[Elp]

Totally understand the query. After months and months of dire weather (well most of this year really), it's typical that an imaging clear night is also accompanied by a more than 80pc moon.

I think you need to looking into a narrowband filter for emission nebulae, but note they can suffer from LP gradients with stray light sources (the Optolongs certainly do) or sensor artifacting. East your targets are limited, south you have more options, north is also rich but you're limited here. Other than that, I find the moon is out more than not so in my case I'm imaging mono narrowband most of the time, even close to the moon (barring o3), maybe worth a look if you happen to have the resources (or swap the camera) but additional filter costs are not an insignificant outlay, even with my surrounding light sources raw RGB is incredibly difficult for me even with the suite of tools from post processing software hence the reason for doing more narrowband.

[david_taurus83]

I took a few hours of data on M45 the other side of the full moon last weekend or so. I compared to some subs I already have ready for the stack. I will be throwing away the ones I done last weekend! FYI I image without any filters on my 2600MC.

[AstroNebulee]

Thank you for your input guys. Sadly I don't have the funds for any extra equipment so I will be keeping my setup as is for the foreseeable (I've not bought any astro equipment for at least 3 months) I may nip out later in the evening and do a bit planetary, dslr Widefield or visual with my other setups and hope that another clear night falls on a moon free night, if that happens I'm winning the lottery 😂

On a side note I'm laying new lino in the kitchen on Saturday so I can use my free time to clear the appliances out in preparation. 

 

Thank you again. 

Lee 

Edited December 1, 2023 by AstroNebulee

[WolfieGlos]

I got this with a 93% Moon last week: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/416348-m42-full-moon-test-with-585mc/

I was quite surprised how well it came out with just a UV/IR cut. I've never tried a reflection nebula with a bright Moon, but I understand they suffer more than emission. Alternatively, star clusters. Try NGC 225 (Sailboat cluster) in Cassiopiea; it includes some reflection nebula so it would be a good test to see if it would work for you in the future, if you wanted to try M45 on a Moon affected night. Give it a go Lee, there's nothing to lose 🙂

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, WolfieGlos said:

I got this with a 93% Moon last week: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/416348-m42-full-moon-test-with-585mc/

I was quite surprised how well it came out with just a UV/IR cut. I've never tried a reflection nebula with a bright Moon, but I understand they suffer more than emission. Alternatively, star clusters. Try NGC 225 (Sailboat cluster) in Cassiopiea; it includes some reflection nebula so it would be a good test to see if it would work for you in the future, if you wanted to try M45 on a Moon affected night. Give it a go Lee, there's nothing to lose 🙂

That's a superb image indeed. Well done. I will hopefully give it a go and see. Though clouds are descending as we speak so hopefully they'll chuff off soon.

Lee 

[ollypenrice]

For many years I've preferred my own experiments over the widely accepted orthodoxy.  The orthodoxy is, let me stress, usually right but there are exceptions. Two examples: 1) in CCD imaging I found that a 30 minute sub did go deeper than 2x15 minute subs.  2) Dither is no big deal with a cooled camera. You don't need to dither if it creates new problems.

In post-processing I reject far more of the orthodoxy but that's another story.

Olly