TheSkySearchers

Hey all, hope you're well

Been a warm week here; temps have gone from 10C (~50F) on Sunday to 32C (~90F) today. Of course, with all that comes the humidity and clouds.

Yesterday afternoon was 24C (~75F) and clear out when I got in at just after 2PM. I could see the clouds coming in from the west, but I also noticed the Moon in the south-east in clear skies. Knowing it was going to yuck up for the next while, I went and got my Canon 550D and my 60mm Towatron; the dubious marriage between a Towa achro doublet from a Tasco 55VTE and a cut-down tube and mount that was a 60mm Celestron Astromaster AZ. Costed me $35 total, my time, and it ended up being an f/7; makes for some fun and surprisingly sharp wide-field views. I also use it for white-light solar; though it's better for that visually than photographically. Almost a 5* FOV, it's great for conjunctions and the like.



I took it outside and lined up on the Moon. This is the total field of view with the scope at ISO 100 and 1/320th sec exp:



This is the cropped image; not too bad for a single shot with a homemade scope, I think:



The rest of these are at ISO 100 and 1/400th second exposure.

I turned the camera 90* and took this with one of our trees branches as some "background"...



And those were the last clear shots it looks like I'm going to have for some time. The clouds were already in from the west, starting their havoc



Heat, humidity, possible thunderstorms forecast... Yeah, welcome to a late spring in southern Ontario. Hope you fare better than I in the next while

All the best,

Wonderful images Mark, I enjoy viewing the Moon during the day.
The last image looks a bit like the death star with with some nebulosity in front.

Hello Mark. A very nice gallery of your daytime lunar images with the Canon 550D and 60mm Towatron. For daytime lunar imaging, you might want get a light yellow filter (Wratten #3, #4, or so). This will darken the blue skies somewhat and may also add contrast to the lunar surface details. Thanks for sharing these captures with us Mark, and keep up your fine work.