7 replies to this topic

[dcaponeii]

I got the 16" Orion xx16g GOTO Dob opened up last night for the first time in quite awhile.  The Moon was too bright to do DSO imaging with my 12" SCT so I thought I'd image the Moon using my standard optical train for this scope.  ASI676MC mounted on a manual camera rotator on the body of the ZWO ADC with a 2x Barlow optical cell threaded into the ADC body on the side opposite to the camera.  Spacers are in place to adjust the f/ratio to f/10 which matches the ASI676MC's 2-micron pixels.

 

I took full chip images.  Each capture is 750 frame SER video and I stacked the best 300 of them in AS!4.  Stacks were sharpened with BiggSky Blind Deconvolution and then FFT Denoise was applied in Wavesharp 2.0.  I did some additional processing with AstraImage 6 and set the final white balance and image size with Paint Shop Pro 2023.

 

The full disk mosaic is constructed from all 63 of the processed images.  This was stitched in Microsoft ICE 2.0.  I also did some smaller 2- and 4-image stitches along the way.  In addition, I've cropped specific craters or features of interest from some of the individual images.  These images are thumbnail My Media inserts which will take you to the appropriate image within the gallery.

 

This image is the full 63-image stitch of the gibbous Moon from 5/7/25

 

A 4-image stitch of the Imbrium Basin

 

A 2-image stitch centered on Plato

 

A crop of Plato resized to 150% of capture size

 

A crop of the Alpine Valley resized to 150% of capture size

 

A crop of Hadley Rille resized to 150% of capture size

 

A crop of Archimedes, Autolycus, and Aristillus resized to 150% of capture size

 

A crop of Sinus Iridum resied to 150% of capture size

 

Next are two different 4-image stitches around Copernicus.  I did the first one and then realized that I had a better set which would yield Copernicus near the center.

 

A crop of Copernicus resized to 150% of capture size

 

A crop of Stadius and the surrounding craterlets resized to 150% of capture size

 

A wide 3-image stitch (with parts of two others) of the entire Fra Mauro to Werner region centered on Alphonsus

 

This is a single full-chip image nicely framing the entire Ptolemaeus region.

 

A crop of Ptolemaeus resized to 150% of capture size.

 

A crop of Albategnius resized to 150% of capture size

 

Alphonsus resized to 150% of capture size.

 

Arzachel resized to 150% of capture size.  Note:  The gallery limits of 1600px width MAX OR 1200 px height MAX means these 150% images end up resized when uploaded.

 

Straight Wall and Rima Birt resized to 150% of capture size

 

Fra Mauro and surrounding area resized to 150% of capture size.

 

This is another single full-chip image centered on the flooded crater Kies.  I especially like this image.

 

A 4-image stitch centered on Tycho

 

Tycho resized to 150% of capture size.

 

Finally, Clavius resized to 150% of capture size.

Edited by dcaponeii, 08 May 2025 - 03:49 PM.

[John Rogers]

Very nice results.  How would you rate your seeing conditions?

[dcaponeii]

Very nice results. How would you rate your seeing conditions?

Astrospheric indicated average. But some low clouds moved in that were not predicted.

[John Rogers]

I've always used the craters on the floor of Clavius to gauge resolution.  Yours are quite detailed.   Thanks again for sharing.

[dcaponeii]

I've always used the craters on the floor of Clavius to gauge resolution.  Yours are quite detailed.   Thanks again for sharing.

Yes, but lucky imaging renders the seeing estimates based on craters resolved a bit less certain.  I've seen some outstanding Mars and Saturn images shot over peoples rooftops at low angle because of the miracle of lucky imaging.
 

[RMay]

All beautiful!

Ron

[Riaandw]

Very nice resulting captures.

 

Happy with the 676? In the market for a infrared guide sensor (ONAG/SX AO) 14" F4-F10 and planetary at F10. Been looking at the imx462. But the larger sensor with IR is alluring.

[dcaponeii]

Very nice resulting captures.

 

Happy with the 676? In the market for a infrared guide sensor (ONAG/SX AO) 14" F4-F10 and planetary at F10. Been looking at the imx462. But the larger sensor with IR is alluring.

The 676 is now my GOTO camera but be advised the ASI676MC comes with an IR Cut window not an AR Window.  ZWO supplies an AR window but you'll have to swap it in yourself if you want to do IR.