How much does the moon affect imaging?

[swag72]

I took some 5 min subs a week or so ago of M109 and decided yesterday to add to them. What I hadn't counted into the equation was how much brighter the moon was!! Even though I was pointing away from it towards NE, it had quite an effect on my subs. They are much lighter and I can see less detail initially.

So, do you cut down the sub time when the moon is out so that you are getting and image that isn't too bright and lose some detail?

Do you use a filter when the moon is bright? If so - what?

Is the moon going to lose me that much detail when it comes to a 5 min sub?

[brianb]

You should be able to image in Ha when the moon is out. Otherwise find something else to do, the moon can be a pretty interesting target

[jgs001]

Best bet Sara... Image the moon . Try your QHY5 as an imaging camera... Be ready for some fun and games in processing and stitching

[ollypenrice]

Only Ha beats the moon and even then not entirely. A narrow bandpass (eg Baader 7Nm) is better than a wide one like the Astronomik 13Nm. But once the moon is really in the vicinity you will need much more exposure to beat the noise. As for LRGB or OSC, nope, get the webcam on the bright thing. Admit defeat! Brian is right.

Olly

[Jannis]

i could still take pics of, M42, M31 and M51 with full moon, but i could only see like 1/10 of the details as when it was a dark moonless night. Not sure if this was all because of the moon, but a lot of the reason was the moon at least.

[swag72]

Was it worth taking the pics Jannis? I took some M109 subs the other night and saw a big difference in the sub details just by looking at x10 mag on the camera. That was what led me to asking the question as I guess there is a lot of detail lost due to moonlight.

[reddoss]

I never bother imaging if there is a bright moon, just stick to visual observing.

[valleyman]

You might get some good shots of Vampires, but other than that wait another 10 days until the moon has gone.

One thing you can do is notice how much less detail you see with a full moon as the sun becomes full onto the Craters and you see no shadows.

Oh and dont forget the moon filter................... its amazing how bright it gets at Full moon. Hurts the eyes after a few minutes.

Happy looking

[Jannis]

Was it worth taking the pics Jannis?.

Well, as for M51, it was worth it only worth it because i'd never imaged it before, and was cutious how it actually looked. as for M31 for example, the details in moonlight and moonless was so big i'm probably not going to bother trying it again. While i Could see the galaxy and so, it wasn't much of details to drag out of it.

But M42 was quite easy to picture even with the full moon.

her's an example of M51 i took. 55 frames, ~29 min totral exposure. taken at ISO1600

[swag72]

How much detail was there in that M51 image?

[Jannis]

I don't think i understand exactly what you're asking?

But anyway, edited that pic a bit and here's a little more clear pic. 29 min exposure with ~25 sec exposures, iso 1600, 55 frames, taken when about 2/3 of the moon was lighted up.

Without the moon you'd be able to get a lot more details at almost half an hour exposure (even though i know this is very short for a galaxy). unfortunally i deleted the M31 pic, there you'd see the difference beween moon and no moon as i had about the same exposure and frames and ISO, but i deleted those as the details simply got so low i couldn't use teh pic for anything...

[swag72]

Thanks for posting that edited version Jannis - You can definately see more detail in that. I think though I'm just going to have to start imaging the moon!!

[jgs001]

Sara, I'll look forward to your first results

[swag72]

If I had a play with the QHY5 John, what software would you recommend for capturing the subs?

[jgs001]

I think you have to use QGVideo... have a look at http://www.qhyccd.com/download.html the application software... You're looking for as high a frame rate as you can manage, whilst keeping the gain reasonable.. the software for the 5v includes a histogram, so I'd expect that to do the same. You also want AVIStacks to stack the movie (use AVI capture). I'd also leave the scope at native focal length to start with and get used to it before trying to push up the power.

If you're feeling brave, than have a go at a mosaic

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-tips-tricks-techniques/104876-making-lunar-mosaic.html

but replace registax with avistacks, it's nearly fully automated once you've set the parameters up for one avi. I just have to answer Yes that, I want each AVI processed in grayscale. (might have to update that thread...)