Shooting the Moon
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Shooting the Moon
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Re: Shooting the Moon
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
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Re: Shooting the Moon
It sounds to me like you have a good handle on things, but since I'm only a visual observer, the only advice I have to offer is to try some experiments during the daytime to get some practice. Terrestrial viewing/photography will put your focus in a very different position, so don't forget to put your focus back to about where it needs to be before your next nighttime observing.
Good luck, and clear skies!
smp
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Re: Shooting the Moon
I am now looking forward to a posting of your moon shoot !
I hope you have nice clear, steady skies soon !
Cheers!
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Re: Shooting the Moon
Me tooDon Quixote wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:12 pm Congratulations Taxman !
I am now looking forward to a posting of your moon shoot !
I hope you have nice clear, steady skies soon !
Cheers!
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Re: Shooting the Moon
If you're getting into
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Re: Shooting the Moon
You can focus on a bright star. Make the image of the star as small as you can get it. Eventually, you might want to make or buy a Bahtinov mask for precise focusing. If the stars are in focus, the Moon will be too, and vice versa.
DSO AP: Orion 200mm f/4 Newtonian Astrograph; ATIK 383L+; EFW2 filter wheel; Astrodon Ha,Oiii,LRGB filters; KWIQ/QHY5 guide scope; Planetary AP: Celestron C-11; ZWO ASI120MC; Portable: Celestron C-8 on HEQ5 pro; C-90 on wedge; 20x80 binos; Etc: Canon 350D; Various EPs, etc. Obs: 8' Exploradome; iOptron CEM60 (pier); Helena Observatory (H2O) Astrobin
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Re: Shooting the Moon
Cheers,
Jt
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
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Re: Shooting the Moon
Your scope is an
Take your time focusing. If you use "live view" mode then you can usually zoom the live-view display to inspect the edges until you are satisfied that it is sharp.
Sometimes it is easier to focus on a star because that gets you a pin-point light source. Focus to make the point of light as small as possible (and zoom the live-view to confirm).
Lastly (the most important step) ... post the results back here!! :-)
Mounts: Losmandy G11 - Losmandy GM8 - Losmandy StarLapse
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Re: Shooting the Moon
Congrats on the new scope, nice
I regularly "shoot the moon" with a
And I'd have to think that you'd want to limit exposure time depending on the brightness. JMHO.
Stacking might be your friend, really. I took single shots for years, then when I realized I could combine a bunch to bring out all the detail, I never looked back. Trust me, it's not hard (heck, I can do it ) and myself and others here would be more than happy to help you out with the process. Best part, all the software is free...!!
Again, congrats on the scope and hope to see some pics!
All the best,
"The Hankmeister" Celestron 8SE, orange tube Vixen made C80, CG4, AZ-EQ5 and SolarQuest mounts.
Too much Towa glass/mirrors.
Solar:
H/A - PST stage 2 mod with a Baader 90mm ERF on a Celestron XLT 102 (thanks Mike!)
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W/L - C80-HD with Baader 5.0 & 3.8 Solar film, Solar Continuum 7.5nm and UV/IR filters with a Canon EOS 550D.
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Re: Shooting the Moon
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Re: Shooting the Moon
Thefatkitty wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2019 12:44 am Hi taxman0720,
Congrats on the new scope, nice
I regularly "shoot the moon" with a DSLR and an 80mm @f/11.4. I agree with all the advice given here as well. I use live mode on the camera, bump the nagnification on that to 10X, and adjust focus along the terminator line.
And I'd have to think that you'd want to limit exposure time depending on the brightness. JMHO.
Stacking might be your friend, really. I took single shots for years, then when I realized I could combine a bunch to bring out all the detail, I never looked back. Trust me, it's not hard (heck, I can do it ) and myself and others here would be more than happy to help you out with the process. Best part, all the software is free...!!
Again, congrats on the scope and hope to see some pics!
All the best,
I guess it is fear of the unknown when it comes to stacking. I will have to make that a winter project and figure it out. What software do you recommend?
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Re: Shooting the Moon
I am in the same boat as you, looking for software to stack images on my Mac.
Look forward to see your images from the 6SE.
Scopes : Explore Scientific ED102 Triplet APO - Radian Raptor Triplet APO - Orion 50mm
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Re: Shooting the Moon
I hear you on that, trust me. The software I use is PIPP, Autostakkert2, Registax or ImPPG, and sometimestaxman0720 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 07, 2019 12:51 pm
I guess it is fear of the unknown when it comes to stacking. I will have to make that a winter project and figure it out. What software do you recommend?
Last winter I had started a "tutorial" on how to do this for someone on here, but life threw me a nasty curve ball and that got placed on the back burner. Perhaps I should finish it
It at least covers PIPP and Autostakkert; if you'd like to read it, it's here: Lunar Image Processing
All the best,
"The Hankmeister" Celestron 8SE, orange tube Vixen made C80, CG4, AZ-EQ5 and SolarQuest mounts.
Too much Towa glass/mirrors.
Solar:
H/A - PST stage 2 mod with a Baader 90mm ERF on a Celestron XLT 102 (thanks Mike!)
Ca-K - W/O 61mm, Antares 1.6 barlow, Baader 3.8 OD and Ca-K filters with a ZWO ASI174mm.
W/L - C80-HD with Baader 5.0 & 3.8 Solar film, Solar Continuum 7.5nm and UV/IR filters with a Canon EOS 550D.
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Re: Shooting the Moon
Ian
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Re: Shooting the Moon
i normally shoot the moon with my 70-300 hand held or 150-600 on the tripod.
if i shoot with the scope i have the ISO at 100 and a high shutter speed other wise it appears as a white blob.
try with the camera 1st then head for the scope. if oudoing shots 30 secs is too long for the moon
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Re: Shooting the Moon
Grab the best data you can, and get lots of it. Good luck and hope you post your results....
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Re: Shooting the Moon
I did the math for the field of view and with a 1500mm focal length scope (I think that's right for the Nexstar 6SE) and using an APS-C size sensorOhNo wrote: ↑Wed Oct 09, 2019 4:35 am With your scope being at f/10 and using a DSLR you'll probably not get the full lunar disk. You can take a few overlapping shot and stitch them together with a program like MS ICE (MicroSoft Image Composite Editor).
Grab the best data you can, and get lots of it. Good luck and hope you post your results....
The moon is generally around 30 arc-minutes ... but as much as 33 arc-minutes near perigee. This means it'll be a tight-squeeze ... but it should be able to fit into a single image. If the moon is closer to apogee ... you get a little more breathing room.
Mounts: Losmandy G11 - Losmandy GM8 - Losmandy StarLapse
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Re: Shooting the Moon
Put my
My recent pic was at 100 ISO an 1/320 Shutter.
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