Craters and Alpes (16/04/24)

[Kon]

I managed some decent images last night despite the jetstream.  The craters and mountains are: 1. Ptolemaeus/Alphonsus/Arzachel, 2. Sinus Fidei, 3. Vallis Alpes and Montes Alpes. The shadows casted in the 1st and 3rd image are really intriguing. 12" Flextube goto, asi462mm, IR pass 685nm, 2.5x TV powermate. I also tried a colour image for image 1 using my asi462mc.

[Knighty2112]

Very nice images. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[neil phillips]

Some good detail coming through. Nice unforced processing. Good to see the 12" going close

[Kon]

9 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

Some good detail coming through. Nice unforced processing. Good to see the 12" going close

Thanks Neil. I tried not to push to much as seeing wasn't great but also inspired by your excellent processing to avoid edge crater artefacts (there are a few but i would sacrifice details over tidying 1-2 craters).

I am really excited what the 12" can do under good seeing; the IR was boiling, but I still managed a few decent frames. These are stacks of 3% of 8000 frames with 1ms exposure; any higher exposure and I was losing the finer features but the light gathering of the 12" is amazing compared to my 8".

I have to say that you were spot on to always tell me to get some kind of tracking. It is a game changer! The biggest advantage I have found so far is refocusing constantly without losing my target. Planetary season will be fun but the moon is an excellent target to get all teething out of the way.