SDB777 Loc: Edwards, AR USA

I'll be the first to admit, I don't know what I'm doing.....and I have a LOT to learn. That said...I had to get my 'stuff' outside and image something!


Not being confident enough to wait until dark(weather seems to go from awful hot/humid to awful hot and raining/thunderstorm every day), I took everything outside and set-up on the back patio(it was still in the shade, thankfully). Not being able to do any sort of polar aligning has me baffled, but I set-up as best as I could remember doing when I could polar align. Slewed the optic to the Moon and was only 'off' by a tad....made the 'wiggles' and got the finder scope close enough.

Used my really old laptop....it works, and I'll leave it at that. The screen is not bright enough, so I was the guy, in the heat, with a towel draped over his head to make the surroundings dark enough to see the screen to focus! Did I mention it was hot? And I had a towel on my head, to hold in the heat?


Any way, with everything as close to focused as possible, I hit the record button and got 1,000 frames. Out came this(after AutoStakkert2 w/1.5drizzle, some LR2015 editing):





Not knowing what exactly I needed to do, I took four more videos of 1,000 frames each to make this 4-panel mosaic(no drizzle):






Thinking I really like this DMK camera. Yes the frames are small, yes it mono, and yes....I need to use it more to figure out more about it. But I believe for the $100 investment, I'm going to have a lot of fun with the Moon! I used the Celestron 'red' filter, for no other reason then I didn't know if it would be of any benefit during the daytime.

I do need to figure out how to use filters to make a RGB stacked image....but I am not even sure which filters to use, or how to place them in PS to make the image(I have some research to go find). Links would be helpful if anyone has already been down this path please? And how does a person change the filters without loosing focus or changing position so much as to make it impossible to stack them?






Scott (go easy, I know not what I've done) B

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Beautiful shots & PP Scott that camera is impressive.
Craig

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Great Scott! (Perry White... )
I mean great, Scott.

That camera shows great potential.
I forgot what Mount you have. That said, Personally I don't get too overly hung up about polar alignment.
Granted, it is the basis of the mounts orientation for initial set up.

My mounts feet have indexed points it lives in. So a very quick check (maybe, if that even...) and onward.
I check my view on Polaris in my guide scopes picture, and run through my 2 + 4 alignment.
Then, after that, I do a Polar alignment (sometimes two) per Celestron's instructions.
After that, I'm usually very happy with my go-to finding my Objects in outer space.

But my point being, if you can manage to index your mounts feet, then do a Polar Alignment, you should be able to land pretty well the next time. And the mystery gets easier.
I just leave my mount out there, cover the head with: 1. A water proof canvas bag. & 2. A 32 gallon plastic trash can. The only things left to the weather are the lower legs and feet. (But mostly we only get Sun here. Rarely rain. We fart dust.)
That way I carry out my Telescope/cameras/guide scope and mount it on the Go-To Mount. Then plug in my Laptop to power and my powered USB hub. Then open my programs and like Jackie Gleason said, "Away we gooooooo..."

The trash can idea came from a picture of a guys mount, who had recently replaced his disintegrating 32 gallon observatory dome. The new one was covered with snow in the picture. For the price of $10-12, a nice clean new plastic trash can works great.

Looks like a great start to a long and fascinating journey. You are getting some great pictures.
You might consider making yourself a shed with a roll off roof. Just leave everything set up, and close the roof when the weather gets iffy.
(Kinda like an outhouse with a Moon roof...)

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

Great job Scott.

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

DMK or in the US The Imaging Source is now who makes Celestron's line of imaging cameras, and they do, do it well.

Your images are outstanding,
Matthew

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

You know exactly what you're doing and you did it quite well. I would like to see the saved image if it has been added later.
First look says outstanding.

SDB777 Loc: Edwards, AR USA

Not sure what that is....are you wanting the un-post processed file?



Scott (been reading on LRGB filters all day...my head hurts) B

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

No I want you to save the image so we can zoom more clearly.

Albuq( I still don't know snot about filters) Shutterbug.

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

When you post, there is a check box to save original file, this gives others the ability to see the full image. I believe you can still do that, you just have to do it in a "quote reply" message.

SDB777 Loc: Edwards, AR USA

Oh, okay....that is the full image size though.
The DMK only makes the file 640x480, and after the 'stacking crop' it's smaller. The post-processed photo came out to be 560x1083.....

I think for my next attempt, I'll use a 2x Barlow in the image-train, taking more 'sections' and making a mosaic from that. And I'll try the 'downloadable' thing then, but I'm guessing there is a file size limitation? I am looking at clearing weather for the next few hours, humidity right now is still 88%(looks like a coastal marine layer hanging over me)...but I hope to see the humidity drop another 15-20% in an hour as it starts to get hot outside. Moon is just a thin slice at 19-ish percent, not sure how a 'zoomed in' mosaic will stack with 'blank' frames?



Scott (can't start the chainsaw yet anyway) B

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Great results! And nice merging! There is a file size limitation, but you have a ways to grow. It used to be about 15MB for the sum of the images you posted. But it seems to be more now that they changed the uploading process. As near as I can tell, the limitation is based upon each individual image that you upload since they are now done one by one. And I think the limit is larger than 15MB, perhaps 20MB? Anyway, it its too large, I just play with the JPG aggressiveness in the save to JPG box where 100% saves big JPGs and 80% scrunches it down quite a bit to make it small enough to post.

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Not a problem.
I run into that when shooting at that resolution.
Depending on the post production software you could boast your image size but be careful you don't over boast.
Anyway, I still love the shots. You really did well with your stacks.
Now if we could get sonny to try stacking moon shots we would have a group of lunies!