"That's no moon" - 2.9 day old crescent mosaic

[teh_orph]

Hello guys,

I clocked this lurking in the sky as I was coming home from work on Monday night - the moon was getting into the trees so I couldn't wait for the sun to go down! I had the shoot each pane of the mosaic quickly enough so that the background didn't vary too much between shots!

Please click the image for the full-size version.

I tried a version at a higher magnification, but the air was unsteady and it would just have been a waste of time

Cheers for looking!

Simon

[Porl]

holy smokes thats an amazing mosaic!!! What equipment did you use for making that image, the fullsize photo is epic!

Do you have any tips for taking mosaic photos like this? I can only do afocal shots with my setup but when i tried to get lots of little photos I couldnt really stitch them together too well. Do you do lots of really close-up shots? or is this image made from say 4-5 fairly low magnification shots?

Thanks

Paul''

[teh_orph]

Cheers Paul

I've done a dozen or so mosaics now but this was a bit rushed (I did it whilst at work too)! With small (=most of the moon is dark) mosaics they're pretty easy to shoot but the larger ones I use iMerge whilst outside to ensure I don't miss parts. It's easy to end up with holes in your final image otherwise. But with moons like this you just use your eye to ensure there is sufficient overlap between frames.

In the above shot I used ~10 panes at 640x480 shot at 30 fps. I then took ~200 of the best frames from each and stacked them. This would then make an image for each video. I then drop each final picture into Microsoft ICE (look it up online, it's free) and out pops the mosaic! This then gets Photoshopped for a few hours and you've got a nice picture.

Have a go! They're fun and easy to do but I fear I'm getting addicted

In terms of shooting the thing I use a Skywatcher 130P + RA drive and a web cam that has had its lenses removed. I used a 2x Barlow for this image.

I've done some 4x Barlow stuff too but this get really tricky and you start to realise how large the moon can be. Stacking these can be a real chore. eg: http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-lunar/130000-64-pane-terminator-mosaic.html

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Really nice one!

[helios99]

Look good, I need try this out some time

[Porl]

wow teh_orph a fair bit goes into making those images then! But the result is awesome! I think i will have to try harder getting my webcam to work and give it a go when its a little warmer outside and im not worried about my laptop getting condensation in it from being out in the frigid cold

Paul''

[Astromart]

Excellent work - well done

[luis]

excelent image!

[Rob1961]

Excellent - spot on

[m_j_lyons]

Wow.

[stargazerlily]

Fantastic image!! I really must have a go at making a large moon mosaic.

Pete