Half Moon Mosaic with SPC900 webcam

[prbaxter]

13th March 2011, to complement my previous attempt (10th March crescent moon) - http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-lunar/133854-first-attempt-moon-mosaic-webcam.html.

half moon mosaic - 7 panes, each of approx 100 frames per pane

stacked in registax

taken with spc900 (flashed) webcam and Skywatcher Explorer 150P.

Baxter

[oldfruit]

That has come out nice and sharp. Nice capture.

[prbaxter]

I had very good conditions last night. There was hardly any atmospheric blurring or wobble on the AVI's.

[oldfruit]

I did notice the same, i was even using 250x magnification last night and the image was still good.

[bigal1]

Very nice mosaic put together well

[watulkuh]

A beautiful result there. Lets hope the good conditions continue

[King]

Nice result!

I never thought I could use an SPC900 like that without a shorter focal length telescope...

[prbaxter]

King... its a mosaic LOL just saw your original post come through on email before you realised what you'd said

[King]

I realised what I said wrong right after posting and corrected it. Even more impressive that a good consistency is kept between the images.

(I had 3 hours sleep last night from all my own Moon/Saturn endeavours. That's my excuse...)

[prbaxter]

no problems King.

I put some brief information on the end of my previous thread as to my methods. You can see it here on post #13: http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-lunar/133854-first-attempt-moon-mosaic-webcam.html#post1735527

Getting the settings right in Registax is the hardest bit. Managed to get a good idea of what I'm doing with it now. May put together some notes for everyone when I get a chance as it really is easy when you know how...

[King]

Might be just as well because apparently the alternatives for close-up full lunar shots are to get an SLR camera or a lower power telescope.

[jayjt29]

Very nice i think ill be putting the SPC900 on my shopping list!

Jay

[steviet]

nice pic!

what software do you use for stiching the mosaic together?

cheers

steve

[prbaxter]

I use adobe photoshop to stictch them together, which has a very handy photomerge tool, which snaps the frames in to place where it finds a good match. it's so so easy.

[Marcus daniel]

Nice shot there are kid, must have a butchers of the old mosaics one day.

[star_chaser]

nice pic prbaxter quick question. the terminator line seems to step back at the bottom is this because of the time between first and last pane ?. but then i think there would be a gradual slope. does the terminator move that much?

not meaning to pic holes in your work its far better than what i have done so far. im just trying to learn a little for when the clouds clear and i can have a go

star

[prbaxter]

Hi Star,

I think it's just a natural light artifact. if you look at other mosaics taken on the same day you can see similar effects:

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-lunar/134382-birthday-moon-13-march-2011-a.html - for example.

The time between taking my first and last AVI's would have been less than 20 minutes so it's doubtful. it didn't take long at all.

Besides all of that, the terminator line would have revealed more of the top of the moon than the bottom, because I started at the bottom and worked my way to the top, if that makes sense.

I also kept the focus and exposure levels the same for all panes. So that isn't a possibility either.

Good question though!

[steviet]

I have just looked back at my first moon mosaic here taken on the 14th and notice that the terminator also seems to jump - i can see 2 clear steps whihc makes sense as this is 3 images stiched together. the videos were taken over a period of about 20 mins. I too wasn't aware that the terminator moved so quickly.

[prbaxter]

I too wasn't aware that the terminator moved so quickly.

It doesn't.

[SniffTheGlove]

Getting the settings right in Registax is the hardest bit. Managed to get a good idea of what I'm doing with it now. May put together some notes for everyone when I get a chance as it really is easy when you know how...

Yes Please,

As a side note I really struggle with Registax. I wish they did a tutorial which comes with a sample download of an AVI, then you can actually work through the tutorial with the same AVI that are talking about so you can see how to get a great result as trying several times with my own AVI's I never really know if they can be improved upon (most likly they will be by loads),

[RogerTheDodger]

Sean, have you seen the registax tutorial on Astronomy Shed

[star_chaser]

thank for the reply

cleared that up a little

[prbaxter]

That link is a very good tutorial, but for videos like mine where the target drifts through the field of view (i.e. no motor drives), you have to take a slightly different approach. Registax isn't too bad to get to grips with with a tracked single target like a planet but when you're scanning over the surface of the moon it gets a bit trickier.

I'll put together a quick summary today if I get the time.

[star_chaser]

that's even more impressive no md. i tried this (thought my md was broke lol dont ask) and got terrible results. but they do say practice makes perfect so i should be competent at ap by 2017 with these dam clouds

star

[SniffTheGlove]

Sean, have you seen the registax tutorial on Astronomy Shed

Thank you, I have now registered on his site and will go through his good looking tutorial.

I'll put together a quick summary today if I get the time.

That would be great as my previous moon scans in Registax were rubbish.