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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Catching a Lunar Halo during a Imaging Shake-out Session

18 December 2013

It's been a lousy time for imaging and this Wednesday evening brought a semi-clear evening...and an opportunity arose to test out the T5i and the C11 combo. Setting up outside my garage and after brushing away some snow...I planned to catch the Moon and Jupiter conjunction rising in the East to test out gear. But, atmospheric weather conditions were absolutely terrible....with much turbulence making everything bubbly and soft. Just awful....

I took some shots that need to be processed,....but at the end of the session...a front passed in front of the Lunar/Jupiter duo - creating a nice Lunar halo.....

In this last pic zooming in all the way with the 135mm lens...you can actually pick-out Jupiter's Satellites.....

...along with a high altitude contrail.

Nice pics from the Heart of Chicago.....

[Paulie pchris00]

I just came in from some unexpected lunar imaging, and yes, conditions were terrible. Not so cold as it's been the last few nights, but turbulence was something awful.

Nice catch with the Galilean Moons in that last shot. Ganymede would be the one just below Jupiter, Io and Europa were close together just above, with Io being slightly closer to Jupiter about the time this was taken, and Callisto was farther out from those two, but not showing up in your picture.

My session was pretty quick, and not very serious with the conditions as they were, but it was some nice unexpected telescope time in December, so I can't complain.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Paulie......

I knew this would get your attention....!

[gregkoz]

Some hard earned images. Fractal action makes some of these images look like early galactic formation. Carefully printed, some suitable for framing.

Thanks for sharing these Joe.

[Paulie pchris00]

Dec 18, 2013 22:31:05 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

Paulie......

I knew this would get your attention....!

My two favorite objects to observe together in the sky tonight. I couldn't miss it!

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Not the best night to test out gear....

Before the above Lunar Halo shots were taken, I raw tested the T5i and the C11 in various configurations of T-Adapters, barlows etc.... The weather conditions were horrible...with much turbulence and mushing up the lunar face and Jupiter details something awful.

The pic above was taken through the C11 connected straight through the OTA and with a focal reducer...no Diagonal.

These were taken with prime focus and no diagonal...

Fighting not only the crummy atmospheric conditions, but the alley lights as well...I managed to capture some hints of Jupiter's stuff....

There's a lot of promise, with various configurations of focal reducers, barlows, adapters and extenders working to capture images...but will have to wait for another night....

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

A little bit more....

Just before retiring to bed...I peek out the window....and see a clear break in the clouds. I grab the T5i and set-up on my front porch that faces south. Orion was passing in front and using the Nikon 70mm-200mm Adapted to the Canon body, I grab some decent shots. The Moon was still displaying a nice halo viewed through my bare trees...(Above).

10 minutes later...the clouds start again from the west and this brief camera solo session is over....

This lens does a nice job...