Floating Above Luna

[AstroGeek]

Sometimes I imagine what it must be like to peer out the window of a capsule, adrift above the moon.
What a glorious sight it must be!! But then again, I'm a homebody and I get motion sickness just riding an escalator.
Why take the 240,000 mile journey, when I can get a similar view while standing in my backyard?
And have you SEEN the price of fuel?

This is the large crater known as Clavius.
It is about 145 miles wide.
I captured this view at 4:30am on September 18.
Back in my cozy bed just a half-hour later.

Clavius from Capsule.jpg (716.21 KiB) Viewed 534 times

Clavius Hi-Res.jpg (1.2 MiB) Viewed 534 times

ZWO ASI 178MM camera with IR-pass 685nm filter
Celestron C-11 telescope with 2x Barlow
10,000 frames captured
Best 1000 aligned and stacked
Tweaked with Registax and Photoshop

[NGC7000]

Ingenious and very funny!

Thanks for the joyride!


Tom

[menardre]

Steve

Really nice shot .... I plan on expanding my horizon next year and do some lunar/planetary imaging. Your images are an inspiration.

I am looking at some of the newer ZWO ASI planetary camera to see which I should procure. There are also some really well reviewed 'older' cameras (ASI178, ASI 462) that I will look at. The good thing is they are all relatively cheap ($300). That will give me something to do when the Moon is out! But it will also force me to learn entirely new imaging/process techniques (not necessarily a bad thing).

Roger

[AstroGeek]

Hi Roger,

Thank you.

I am currently locked into using the ZWO webcam for a while. First Saturn (see my post), then Jupiter and Mars. Of course, there are MANY targets on the moon as it changes phases. I also use this set-up for my solar images. It is a rather more-enjoyable way to take astro images, than tedious deep sky stuff.

Try it, you'll like it!! You're always welcome to stop over and see the process for yourself before you buy anything. I am currently manning the controls from indoors.

Steve

[menardre]

Steve

Thanks, I may take you up on your offer someday. My plan is to start luanr/planetary imaging early next year. That will give me time to decide what equipment (especially camera) I want to procure and understand the process for using the equipment and image processing. I will probably buy a ZWO camera since I already have three ZWO cameras and have had no problems with them.


Roger

[Pete]

Steve

Thanks, I may take you up on your offer someday. My plan is to start luanr/planetary imaging early next year. That will give me time to decide what equipment (especially camera) I want to procure and understand the process for using the equipment and image processing. I will probably buy a ZWO camera since I already have three ZWO cameras and have had no problems with them.


Roger

Rog, your ASI 2600MC-P is a wonderful lunar camera. It'll work in several formats and when you reduce the size of the image from 4000X4000 down to 1000X1000 you can whip off a dozen frames a second at speeds up to 1/5000 second. And you've got appropriate scopes to do the deed as well.