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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Imaging on a crisp 1st weekend of November

2014

After gale like winds and sleet on Friday in the Chicagoland area,  the weekend settled down and provided some nice opportunities for imaging.  With the trees bare of leaves and some pruning earlier, I now had the ability to set-up the C11, which is normally to cumbersome in the limited space and angles of the backyard.  Past 1/4 Moon provided some nice sunrise angles on the lunar surface , especially Copernicus...

I forgot to shoot in RAW, so there are some compression artifacts, but no big.

Here the 65 mile Rupes Recta (The Straight wall), makes a nice showing.  Most observers don't get the chance to see it illuminated from the other side, when the black wall changes to white.

After the imaging session, I popped in the Binoviewers and spent an hour touring the lunar surface.  I must admit to giggling and smiling often during this time, as the Moon in 3D is just incredible.  Zooming in, well known craters take on a different feel.  Doubling the barlows brought my 25mm 1.25" eyepiece to a 6.25 magnification...well enough for the C11 to handle and resolve.   The pics here do not reflect the experience of the Binoviewers.

The following evening also proved to clear as well,m but with a warm front approaching, air was unsteady and a bit hazy.  Still, M42 was decent enough to shoot...

Utilizing various white balance settings and a Light Pollution filter, brings out different aspects of the cloud.  The mount was not 100% polar aligned and anything over 45 seconds brought out star trails.  No stacking, just single exposures under less than ideal city conditions.


Temps in the low 30s...it was a bit chilly, but a nice time at the eyepiece.