Here is a shot of the crater Aristarchus and Wood's spot that I did with an 80mm refractor (Stellarvue SV80ST2) and a 4X Powermate on April 2, 2015. Image capture was done with an ASI120MC and FireCapture v2.

Small bore challenge: the Moon w/ 6" or less
#27
Posted 10 May 2015 - 05:58 PM
That's a cool shot of a tough imaging target James, very nicely done sir
Clear Skies,
Brian
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#28
Posted 10 May 2015 - 09:18 PM
Some great Moon images in this thread. My first serious attempts at the Moon back in the 1970s were taken using film with a Nikon F2 on small (4-6") Newtonians, and later a Questar 3.5. What I considered a decent photo back then now seems very poor compared to what can be done with small scopes and digital cameras today.
Although I use video and stacking for planetary, and sometimes for lunar photography, I am also still fond of using DSLRs or mirrorless cameras to take single shots of the entire illuminated lunar disc. Here is an example of the gibbous Moon taken a few weeks ago using a Nikon 1 V3 camera on a Skywatcher 120 mm f/7.
The following crop was taken from the photo above showing detail in the region from Plato to Copernicus, converted to B&W in Photoshop with the green and blue channels emphasized a bit to improve contrast.
Gerry
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#30
Posted 12 May 2015 - 06:53 PM
Very nice work with the SW120mm Gerry, and the crop is just super
Clear Skies,
Brian
#31
Posted 13 May 2015 - 05:37 AM
With regards to filters, I usually employ the ir/uv cut (sometimes replaced by the Baader Moon and Skyglow, which seemed especially useful with the 90/1250 Maksutov) or the Baader IR-pass 680 nm.
With the fc refractor I have done even some shots without any filter at all, and did not noticed great differences with the ir/uv filtered shots; however, because my 1st gen ASI lacks a window to protect the sensor, un-filtered shootings leads quickly to a very dirt sensor.
With the achromat TAL100 got my best results either with the ir-pass or the solar continuum 540 nm.
To overcome the DR issues I try to shot with an hystogram close to 95% in .ser to take advantage of the 12bit range of the camera, and then try to spare the brightest areas in PP (e.g. 0.8x followed by a strong wavelet filter); however I did not manage until now to avoid "burning" small craterlets or peaks
#32
Posted 13 May 2015 - 07:29 AM
That's a cool shot of a tough imaging target James, very nicely done sir
Clear Skies,
Brian
Thanks. The above shot of Aristarchus was the first time I had tried doing a high/medium resolution image of the moon with my SV80 and the ASI120MC. I typically use the SV80 for full-disk images of the moon when paired with a 2X Powermate and an APS-C camera. In fact, here is a full-disk image of the gibbous moon that I did with the SV80 and a 2X Powermate (this is a big image that needs the full zoom available on CN). Taken on Feb. 6, 2015 using a Sony NEX-5R camera, 1/80 second at ISO 100.
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#33
Posted 16 May 2015 - 07:24 AM
That's another very nice portrait shot james7ca I think you struck a nice balance between the very bright ray structures in the lower part of the image vice the very dark mare features up top...
Clear Skies,
Brian
Edited by BKBrown, 16 May 2015 - 07:25 AM.
#34
Posted 30 May 2015 - 03:20 PM
Photo downsized 50% and converted to jpg.
V/R
Terry
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#35
Posted 02 June 2015 - 07:28 AM
Hello,
a enhanced colors Moon, with my SCT 6" and QHY5L-II color.
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#36
Posted 02 June 2015 - 09:16 PM

Edited by charles genovese, 02 June 2015 - 09:20 PM.
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#37
Posted 07 June 2015 - 05:57 PM
Here's one from May 25th. Questar 3.5 with Skyris 274M. 500 frames in Registax, then a hint of color in Adobe Lightroom (I still need to work on getting the color appropriate). Seeing conditions were average to below average, but the moon was high in the sky which helped to compensate a little bit.
Photo downsized 50% and converted to jpg.
V/R
Terry
Another razor sharp image for the 3.5 Questar, very nicely done Terry. I am quite impressed with the reach of that scope...
Clear Skies,
Brian
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#38
Posted 07 June 2015 - 06:01 PM
I love those color lunar shots Alain
Clear Skies,
Brian
#39
Posted 07 June 2015 - 06:11 PM
Way cool image Charles, and with the much coveted scope of the late 60s and 70s (it certainly was by this high school kid) Folks who never had to shoot film and know the smell of a developing bath might not grasp how good this image is...
Clear Skies,
Brian
#40
Posted 08 June 2015 - 12:04 AM
Here's my 13-year-old son's first astrophoto. It was taken through his older Meade 4.5-inch, 910mm focal length Newtonian mounted on a Vixen Polaris mount. The camera was an Orion SSSSI IV, which I won as a door prize and gave to him. It's going to be the only image in the second edition of my book (see my signature for a link to the first edition) that I did not take myself.
Edited by PaulEK, 08 June 2015 - 12:46 AM.
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#41
Posted 08 June 2015 - 12:20 AM
And here's one I took of the April, 2014 Lunar eclipse through my Astro-Tech 72ED refractor with an Astro-Tech field flattener. I used my unmodified Canon T1i. I like all the stars visible (best seen by clicking on it). That's Spica in the lower right.
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#42
Posted 08 June 2015 - 12:24 AM
That's odd. The image I just posted is supposed to be 331 KB, but CN is showing it at 40 KB. Not nearly as sharp or pleasing as the original. I know posting is not always a match, but 8 times worse? Can anyone explain this?
#44
Posted 08 June 2015 - 06:14 PM
I think I may have had the size right but the dimensions wrong. I hope folks will bear with me trying again with a slightly cropped and re-sized version.
Total Eclipse and Spica 2 crop.jpg
Yes. Much better, I think!
Beautiful image!
#45
Posted 08 June 2015 - 08:22 PM
I think I may have had the size right but the dimensions wrong. I hope folks will bear with me trying again with a slightly cropped and re-sized version.
Total Eclipse and Spica 2 crop.jpg
Yes. Much better, I think!
Beautiful image!
Thanks! I was happy to get it. Both thin clouds and periods of very shaky seeing were around for most of the eclipse, but I had enough breaks that I was able to catch some good shots. Lunar eclipses are tough: do you expose for how the moon really looks (so dark that night that it was hard to see much of it), or do you expose to see the whole lunar surface and some stars? I did both, but think this one is more visually pleasing.
#46
Posted 08 June 2015 - 09:04 PM
Well done Paul, both you and your son FWIW I think you hit it right on the money with the eclipse image...
Clear Skies,
Brian
#47
Posted 08 June 2015 - 10:43 PM
Tanks, Brian!
But since you mention it, I think I'll add another shot from the same night. This one was taken with the same camera, but a different scope: my home-built 5-inch f/6.4 refractor (810mm focal length). I used the AT field flattener with it, too. I bought the lens either from someone here on CN or on Astromart (it's been a while). The seller didn't know where it came from, but sold it to me for $75 because it had coating issues. It gives nice, wide views, and the lower quality of the image is as much from seeing as, I think, from the difference between this lens and the one in the AT72ED. The visuals of the eclipse through the 5-inch were very nice.
This image was taken to show the eclipse as it looked to my eye. It's heavily cropped, too.
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#48
Posted 09 June 2015 - 10:47 AM
James- i think your Aristarchus shot with the 80 mm is the most impressive
#50
Posted 09 June 2015 - 11:32 AM
Here's a Saturn I shot on 6.6.15 at 11:00pm EDT with my C6 and mediocre to poor seeing. I ran 11 avi and this was the best . I imaged at 60fps. 1/30th of a second at Y800 drizzled to 1.5x in Autostackert and waved and denoising in regards 6..
It could be sharper but the seeing really was lousy.
Pete
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