Da Moon (again)

[acme]

This is my second attempt with the E-330.

The mount was on more stable footing, and it was less windy out. Unfortunately I was still shooting through a lot of cloud.

The scope is a Celestron C8. It's on an inexpensive equatorial mount, so it is tracking the sky. Pretty much a requirement.

The camera is mounted via a T adaptor to the telescope's prime focus. At this focal length (2000mm) it's not possible to get the whole moon in a single shot, so four exposures have been stitched together.

The exposure settings were iso100, 1/25s. Mirror lockup was used.

The development settings were:
-- import into CS2
.... bring colour levels to neutral
.... manually adjust curves to taste
.... export in high quality jpeg

-- import into autostitch
.... export at 100% size

-- import into CS2
.... unsharp mask
.... despeckle
.... export original version (3688 x 3688)
.... shrink image
.... unsharp mask again, slightly
.... export small version (1200 x 1200)

I didn't crank the saturation before exporting, but it's amusing to do so. Certainly this one's colours are much more pleasing than my first attempt's.

[timbertoes]

Sweet :)

[timbertoes]

Any luck with M-Objects ? Some nebula would be nice :)

[Fred Galliers]

That's a very nice composite Acme! Well done!

I have done a few moon shots in the same way as you but with a Celestron 11 inch 2800mm f/10. I believe if you will find that if you make a duplicate layer (overlay or hard light) and apply a high pass filter at a radius of about 10 pixels and 40-50% opacity you will be pleased with the results. A tad of focus magic (if you have it) at about 1 pixel and 75% will also help bring out fine details. These are only meant as suggestions (from my experience shooting and processing the same) in that the image as it stands is simply great!

Best wishes and well done,

Fred

[Fred Galliers]

Any luck with M-Objects ? Some nebula would be nice :)

Here's one for you Timbertoes.

M-42 (Great Orion Nebula)

E-500 with ZD 50-200 at 200mm, f/3.5, 60 second exposure at ISO 100 guided piggyback on a C-11 (exif embedded).

Not the best of shots but at least you can tell what it is. :smile:

Fred

http://photobucket.com/albums/c303/FredGalliers/Misc/OrionNebula200mmWB5000Resized.jpg

[timbertoes]

Nice ! I wish I had a equitorial "platform" !!
Years ago I had a 12" homebuilt Dob. the Ring nebula was a favorite.

[Luke]

Very impressive shots, gentlemen.
Good stitching acme and very good detail.
I guess the full size pictures must be great.
Maybe you could post a small crop at 100 %.
Well done.
Luc

[acme]

I believe if you will find that if you make a duplicate layer (overlay or hard light) and apply a high pass filter at a radius of about 10 pixels and 40-50% opacity you will be pleased with the results.
A tad of focus magic (if you have it) at about 1 pixel and 75% will also help bring out fine details. These are only meant as suggestions (from my experience shooting and processing the same) in that the image as it stands is simply great!

Best wishes and well done,

Fred

Those are some pretty powerful functions, Fred, especially the focus magic! They seem to find detail that wasn't present in my soft old scope's original output.

This one got the full workup.