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[katodog]

Here are a few shots from last night, just for the crescent lover in Joe. Shot with the Megrez and Canon 10D prime focus. The first two are with a Barlow cell attached to the camera adapter, and through a William Optics 2" diag. The third and fourth are to compare size, one is with the camera only, no diag or Barlow cell, the other with cell and diag. The first two are stacks of about 30 jpg frames.












I found out an interesting tidbit last night, too. I wanted to see how things would look if I put the camera in a Barlow, and found that I couldn't focus. Not enough out-focus. So, I tried with just the Barlow cell threaded to the True-2 adapter, same thing, not enough out-focus. So, in one of my rare moments of genius, I tried the Barlow cell on the adapter, and put it in the diagonal. I figured if I added enough length, I'd get it to focus sooner or later. Knowing me, I'd have about 6 extension tubes on the thing, if I hadn't thought about using the diag. Came to focus perfectly. Now I have a new trick in my bag.

Also, I love that wireless remote. I don't have to touch a thing, and I can keep my hands in my pockets. The only time I need to do anything is when I adjust exposures and such. That remote shutter is awesome.

[katodog]

Here are a few from the 10th. Megrez 110ED, Canon 10D, William Optics diagonal, 2x Barlow cell.







I would have some shots of M42, but my LXD75 seems to be running a bit off. The past two nights I've been out, the longer exposure shots show trails and jittering. I think it's time for an overhaul, and redoing all the drive training and such.

[katodog]

Hey Joe. You finally realized that Winter sucks for astronomy??

Here's a few Moon shots from last night (March 11). I went out while it was still daylight and it's a pain in the neck getting good shots. I haven't had much chance to practice exposure settings and such, and it's a pain anyway trying to get the Moon to show really good without washing out the whole shot. I would have went out later, when it got dark, but I had one of those nights where it was clear, but I didn't feel like going outside.

The first is through the SCT, prime focus with the Canon 10D. The second is through the Megrez, Canon 10D prime focus with the Barlow cell and diag.








How do you like all the nice little donut fuzzballs?? That's what you get from a dirty camera sensor. I cleaned, but I haven't shot any flat backgrounds to see if it's cleaned good or not. I'm sure it's better than it was, and if not, I'll just clean it better next time.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Kdog,

No...I realized many years ago that winter astronomy is the folly of youth...

I like daytime shots of the Moon...yours are cool.

Can you put a polarizer on your camera to increase the contrast?

I have had good luck with using one.

And, I really dig those slim crescent shots of the 10th...very cool.

[katodog]

I would, but my only polarizing filters are 1.25", and the camera adapter is 2". I have a 58mm Polarizing filter for my cameras, but can't use it on the True-2 because I forgot to get a step-up ring to go from the 48mm threads to 58mm. I bought a few extra step-down rings when I got the Canon, so I could use my 2" astro filters, mainly the SkyGlow, with the camera lenses, to see if wide-field photography would fair well when filtered from the Light Pollution around here. I totally zoned on getting a step-up ring. I'm going to order one now.

I would get a 2" polar filter, but $5 for a step-up ring beats out whatever a 2" filter would cost. If the camera filter doesn't work, then I'll spring for a true astro filter.


I have pics from the last few days to add, but haven't had the energy to go through them. I've looked at a few, and they came out okay, but I'm still sorting them out.

[katodog]

Tonight's Moon was pretty awesome. I had shots on the 12th and 13th, but only through the camera with a camera lens, or with too much crap from a dusty sensor. I won't be putting any of those pics up for you guys to laugh at. My laughing at them is enough. I managed to get the sensor pretty clean for tonight's shots, and only see a very small amount of spots in the pics, and I really had to look for them to find them.

I have some pretty good shots from tonight, despite very, very, pesky clouds. By hook or by crook, I was taking pics through the scopes if it either killed me or rained on the scopes. Luckily, neither happened. I was out as it was getting darker, and just ran the scope for slewing. I shot some in the Megrez and in the SCT, all of which came out pretty good, except for some shoddy exposure settings while in the Megrez. Seems like with the Moon a bit brighter, and the sky a bit darker, I was getting better focus through the Megrez. Of course, I had to ruin it by not setting good exposure times.

So, on to the pics.

Megrez, with some trickery in PSP to try and fix the exposures...








12" LX200R...












In the SCT shots, the clouds kept running by, so I just stood there with the remote in my hand, and clicked off shots as the clouds drifted by. For the most part, I got great shots, and the only problems I saw in the shots was the clouds causing some of them to look out of focus. But, I am extremely pleased with the shots through the LX200R. I love that darned scope!!!


Picture info: Megrez 110ED, Canon 10D prime focus. 12" LX200R, Canon 10D, Prime focus through Denkmeier Power X Switch diagonal.

Next time out, I'll shoot through the SCT without the diag, and see if the whole Moon fits on the camera frame. I also have to get some more time behind the Megrez, so I can find the right exposure settings and practice getting focus better.


Here's two through the Fuji S6000fd with the Owl 20mm eyepiece in the Megrez. Notice the ugly CA, which came from the eyepiece and camera. I do not see this visually, and don't see it with the Canon camera. Both the Fuji and the Owl eyepiece combination do some nasty things in fast scope. But, I always look more at the detail than anything else. Unfortunately, the CA does cause a misrepresentation of the Megrez optical quality.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Kdog...

I really like the shots you took this evening.

I was at the Adler working and attending to a large group of Girl Scouts, showing them Saturn. (They get to sleep overnight at the Adler which is cool). Near the end of the session, I focused on the Moon and kicked up the magnification of a 5" refractor to about 225X.

And I was facinated by the views.

On your shot, I have pointed out three things of interest this night for me:

I viewed the lunar surface at about 9:30 pm, and by the looks of your images, it looks like you took them a little while before that...as the Alphonsus crater floor is still in shadow.

At 1: Alphonsus, the crater in the middle looked like a clock face with it's central peak casting a long slender shadow on the illuminated crater floor at the 12:00 position

I don't know what the lunar artifact that is at the 2nd marker, but the shadow relief made it quite promiment.

At 3: The Montes Alps made a incredible shadowing relief with Mons Piton tip peaking out from the dark.

Excellent shots there...

[katodog]

Thanks, Joe. If I would have had the chance to stay out longer, I would have. But the sporadic clouds were getting thicker and thicker, and after I went in, I kept checking to see if they lessened. Alas, no. I was looking through my March Astronomy Magazine, and saw the bit about the Mons Piton Peak, and wanted to see if I could shoot it. The mag said to watch it over the course of the night to see the shadow change, but with the clouds, I didn't get the time to do it. Plus, knowing the clouds were not going to give up, I didn't spend time going through any magnifications, I just shot prime focus shots of the whole Moon. I figured I'd at least catch the overall detail from the night.

Here are the three features you picked, that are the full image cropped down to the areas you selected, and a little processing.










The second pic is of an area named Hyginus in Virtual Moon Atlas. The VMA doesn't say much, except that the area is a crater. There are different designations around it, but it's always Hyginus; i.e.. Hyginus G, Hyginus E, etc..

Follow this link to a full image of the Moon. This was a full frame with teh Canon 10D. It's really nice to get pictures with no vignetting. I think I'm in heaven each time I look at a shot....


i15.photobucket.com/albums/a399/katodog/March14180.jpg


It's too bad the internet shrinks the pic down, the full size is awesome.

[katodog]

Well, here are a few from tonight. It seems like I've had some good luck this month shooting the Moon. Except for the cruddy pics I got on the 12th and 13th, which I didn't post, I've had at least somewhat clear skies every day since the 9th.

First shot is through the Megrez, next two from SCT. Canon 10D prime focus.










Of course, tonight was filled with clouds, so I had to cheat little and wait for sucker holes to fire off the remote shutter. Since I knew I didn't have enough time to set up and align, I just pushed the scope out the of garage and chocked the wheels. Turned the scope on for manual slewing, and shot pics while trying to guide manually.


And, speaking of wheels, I put new wheels on the wheely bar a few weeks ago, and now the scope can just roll wherever it wants. I didn't get wheels with locks, so I have to chock them when I don't want the scopes to roll away. They are 4" wheels, and boy, do they glide smooth as silk. With the larger wheels, I had to make longer levelers out of threaded rod. No big deal, since I've been a heavy machinery mechanic since I was 15. The problem now is having to level the scope takes forever, spinning those long rods down. I keep trying to think of a quicker way to do it, but my intellect hasn't kicked in yet. I'll figure out something sooner or later. I'm gonna hit the McMaster Carr website and see what they have. I always get inspired looking there.

[katodog]

Well, not so good of a night, since it's cloudy. But, I said, screw it, and shot some pics anyway.

First one is a stack from the Megrez, second two are from the SCT. Canon 10D prime focus.