View allAll Photos Tagged autostakkert
#my_astrophotography
Of the #blue_moon
37 panels of the Moon at 100%. Full moon
Equipment
🔭 Celestron CPC 800
ZWO ASI290MC
500 Frames for each panel
Stacked
Autostakkert
Registax
Merged:
Affinity Photo
Colour Enhanced in:
Photoshop
Final image resolution 36 MP
LATEST VERSION: flic.kr/p/2nJs39B
Jupiter, the 5th planet, just a few hours after opposition. Io, one of the four Galilean moons, is also visible in this shot. Jupiter has 80 known moons and a faint ring system. Its atmosphere is separated into several bands at different latitudes, resulting in turbulence and storms along the boundaries.
1,000 x 1/30 second ISO1600 (best of 5,492)
Phase angle: 0.24°
Apparent magnitude: -2.88
Apparent diameter: 49"
Distance from Earth: 4.013 AU
Altitude above horizon: 50°
Atmospheric seeing: 4/5
Captured at 05:46 UTC on 08/20/21
Location: Coral Springs, FL
Camera: Canon T3i
Telescope: Explore Scientific ED80 f/6.0 Apochromatic Refractor
Barlow: Antares 3x Triplet Barlow (effective magnification is 4.932x for 2373mm focal length at f/29.66)
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G
Captured with Magic Lantern RAW Video (10 bit, 30 FPS, 640 x 426)
Processed with MLV App, PIPP, AutoStakkert! 3 (with 3x drizzle), PixInsight, and Paint.NET
AR2297 has gone to the other side but it misses the Earth and send its "Hello!" :)
Coronado PST, 1/2 of Meade 2x Barlow lens, TIS DMK23U274
25% of 1200 frames for "surface";
25% of 600 frames for the loops.
Blend of two images from 2015.03.20, 09:00 and 09:02 GMT+4 taken during test-run preparing for the eclipse shooting.
The sky was hazy but yet better than it had become closer to noon.
To compensate the lack of dark frame I have substracted the modal grey value corresponded to the empty space part of the image. It had reduced grainess somehow, but I did it on stacked images which doesn't feel right. It didn't make a 100% substitute for a dark. Perhaps both approches would work together in concert by removing both camera's dark currents and the contribution of the light scattering in the air(?).
Taken with a William Optics 70mm refractor and Canon 1100D on an EQ5 Pro mount
Best 50% 0f 120 frames stacked using Autostakkert! 2 and tweaked in Lightroom
From the Sinus Iridium top left through the Mare Imbrium with the Alpine Valley in the centre.
Atmospheric seeing was very bad on this night and my USB 3 connection to my ZWO ASI 174 MC camera wasnt working at full speed for some reason so this is about 2000 frames stacked in AutoStakkert!3 with the best 30% chosen.
Nexstar 8SE SCT telescope 2000mm focal length f/10
ZWO ASI174 MC Cooled CMOS camera at -1c
Ioptron ZEQ25GT equatorial mount.,
Some Lunar 100 objects visible:
L3 Mare/Highland dichotomy
L4 Apennine mountains
L19 Alpine Valley
L21 Sinus Iridium
L23 Mount Pico
L26 Mare Frigoris
L27 Crater Archimedes
L76 Crater W Bond
I have been experimenting in autostakkert and created a slightly better version of Saturn . Even positioning the alinement points differently alters the finished picture let alone the numbers of frames stacked.
Explore Scientific AR152 refractor @125mm aperture and ZWO 120MM-S on EQ6. Baader OD 3.8 solarfilm, Solar continuum + UV/IR cut filters. 250 of 2500 frames captured in SharpCap, processed in AutoStakkert.
Hazy day.
= Acquisition info =
William Optics Zenithstar 73ii (FL 430mm)
Risingcam IMX571 color
iOptron CEM26
Sharpcap
= Séance photo =
@Astrobox 2.0
St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec
Bortle 9
10 septembre 2024 à 20h00
Filtre UV/IR
Best 250 de 2000 x 100ms
= Traitement/processing =
PIPP, Autostakkert, Registax & Affinity Photo 2
AstroM1
Clavius is a large crater found on the southern side of the moon, it measures approximately 136 miles across. The crater was named after Christoph Klau (or Christophorus Clavius) a 16th century German mathematician and astronomer.
Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ZWO ASI290MC camera, Televue Powermate 2.5x, best 20% of 20k frames. Captured with SharpCap v3 and processed using AutoStakkert! And Registax. Image Date: February 26, 2018. Location: The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, PA.
The Sun's Chromosphere
H-alpha image of the Sun using a ZWO ASI 174MM Camera and a Daystar Quark Combo Chromosphere H-alpha filter with a Questar 3.5 50.5-inch focal length Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope. Best 50 of 500 frames were captured with SharpCap 2.9 and aligned and stacked using Autostakkert! 2 with wavelets applied in Registax 6.
9.6 MP equivalent from 13 movies of 1300 images each.
Kept best 10% of frames from each movie
---Hardware---
Mount : Skywatcher AZ-EQ-6 GT
Camera : PointGrey Grasshopper GS3-U3-23S6M
Tube : Celestron 11 EDGE HD /w 0.7 reductor
Effective focal length : 2000 mm
Effective aperture : ~ F/7
---Software---
Acquired with FireCapture
Stacked with AutoStakkert
Mosaic done with Microsoft ICE
Processed with Lightroom & Topaz SharpenAI
Tycho Crater – diameter is 86 km and it is about 4.8 km in depth, located in the southern region of the moon. This is my best result to date of imaging this crater. The addition of the Pegasus FocusCube to my Meade 12" LX-90 has really made a difference and has allowed me to do precise focusing without the scope jittering around while turning the focus knob. Looking forward to even better results when capturing 30k+ frames.
Tech Specs: ZWO ASI290MC camera and Meade 12” LX90, best 25% of 10k frames. Software used included Sharpcap Pro v3.1 and AutoStakkert!3. Photographed on March 17, 2019 from the Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, Pennsylvania, USA.
5 stacks of a total of 102 caught over the span of ~ 2 hours
Kept best 5% of 4000 frames
---Hardware---
Mount : Skywatcher AZ-EQ-6 GT
Camera : ZWO ASI 224 MC
Filters:
PierroAstro ADC Mk2
ZWO UV/IR Cut
Tube : Celestron C11 EDGEHD
Effective focal length : 2800 mm
Effective aperture : ~ F/10
---Software---
Acquired with FireCapture
Stacked with AutoStakkert
Processed with Lightroom & Topaz DenoizeAI
Lunt Solar LS60MT telescope with front mounted second etalon LS50FHa, B1200 blocking filter. ZWO ASI178MM camera with 1.25x extender. Sky Watcher EQ6R-Pro mount guided and controlled by ASIAir Plus. Captured with FireCapture running on Intel NUC. Stacked with AutoStakkert!3, processed in ImagesPlus and colored- tweaked in Photoshop and Topaz DeNoise AI
A little bit more "extreme" edit to bring out more detail and more small craters in Tycho. :)
Canon 200D and Skymax 102 Telescope on a Star Adventurer Pro.
Stacking and editing done in: Autostakkert!3, Registax 6 and Photoshop 2020
Taken from Oxfordshire, UK with a William Optics 70mm refractor, 2x Barlow and Canon 1100D on an EQ5 Pro mount on a permanent pier.
ISO-800 1/1000 sec exposure. 200 frames shot, cropped and centred using PIPP (the mount was tracking at sidereal rate rather than lunar rate so the Moon had wandered during the time I was imaging), then the output turned into an AVI. The best 75% of the frames were stacked with Autostakkert! 3 Beta, and processed in Lightroom, Focus Magic and Fast Stone Image Viewer.
This was about 16 hours before the Perigee Full Moon. With the weather forecast not being great for the night of Full Moon, this may be the closest I get!
This Moon image is dedicated to my lovely friend Richard Bailey who loves the Moon and is currently very poorly. Thinking of you Richard xxx
UPDATE: Richard sadly passed away not long after I'd posted this on 19th February. RIP my lovely astronomy friend :(
Counting down to the October 14th annular eclipse.
Coronado 70mm Solarmax III single stacked Ha telescope.
Orion Atlas Pro EQ mount.
ZWO ASI174mm camera.
SharpCap, Autostakkert, Lightroom, Photoshop software.
Nothing special with this photo but it's been a long road plagued with equipment breakdowns, manufacturing defects, and setbacks. Business as usual.
Now we wait...
Best viewed Large. (hit "L")
Right now, in summer, the seeing conditions here in Victoria are horrible. I won't bother to try shooting the moon again until the fall when we start to get cool clear nights. Went through some old stacks and found this one I had not shared because it had some colour fringing I could not remove. I fixed it and am now happy to finally share it. I have already posted another shot from a different stack from this night, but it looks very different to this one. Hope I get more nights like this one was!
I don't know how many images I stacked here.... probably 10 or 12. (out of 35 shots in this sequence)
Sony A77ii, Minolta AF400/4.5 + 2X TC
Processed with PIPP, AutoStakkert, Astra Image and LR6.
Sunspot AR2740 @ 6562.8Å
Processed some data I had given up on after seeing the quality graph in AutoStakkert. After several hours of messing with the data in several editors I'm actually very happy with this result !
Session Information :
* 51° N 3° E
* Torhout, Belgium
* Capture Date : 05.05.2019
* Surface Capture Start : 12:58:32 UTC
* Surface Capture Mid : 12:58:47 UTC
* Surface Capture End : 12:59:03 UTC
* Protuberance Capture Start : 13:00:03 UTC
* Protuberance Capture Mid : 13:00:15 UTC
* Protuberance Capture End : 13:00:27 UTC
Object Information
* Type : Sunspot
* Designation : AR2470
* Distance : 1.009 AU or roughly 150.9 million km
Hardware
* Mount : Celestron CGX
* Imaging Scope : TS Optics 152mm f/5.9 Achromat
* ERF : Baader 2" UV/IR Cut
* Filter : Daystar Quark Hydrogen-Alpha (Chromosphere)
* Imaging Camera : ZWO ASI 174MM
Exposure Settings
* Exposure : 6ms
* Gain : 0
* Gamma : 25
* Frames Surface : 4.000
* Frames Surface Stacked : 10% (400)
* Frames Protuberance : 3.000
* Frames Protuberance Stacked 10% (300)
Capture Software
* FireCapture
Processing Software
* AutoStakkert!
* RegiStax
* Adobe Photoshop
* Topaz DeNoise AI
There is a conspicuous chain of large craters, "The Great Eastern Chain", which lines up along the same meridian on the Southeastern limb of the Moon. They start on the southeastern shore of the Sea of Fertility and continue south (to the right in this image). The chain consists of the craters Langrenus, Vendelinus, Petavius, and Furnerius. The craters formed at different times, separated by gulfs of millions, even billions of years. This photo features the trio (L-R) of Langrenus, Vendelinus, and Petavius. I captured it on the night of March 30, 2021.
• Langrenus & Vendelinus: These craters are the first two links of the Great Eastern Chain. Langrenus and Vendelinus are two large 90-mi. craters located on the southeast shore of the Sea of Fertility. One is considerably older than the other. It should be easy for you to decide which that is. If you cannot tell, take note of the terraced walls and central peaks of Langrenus, standing out with clear detail. Note also the pattern of craterlets that radiate away from Langrenus. These are features of younger craters. Vendelinus, in contrast, has a smooth floor, where lava and rubble from later impacts filled its basin. The central peaks have been buried by this debris. The rim of Vendelinus is overlain by younger craters, and its surrounding rampart is battered down. These are the signs of great age. Indeed, these two craters may differ in age by a billion to as much as 3 billion years.
• Petavius: This is an example of a floor-fractured crater, a type of crater that has been modified by later volcanism, uplift, and consequent fracturing. The floor of Petavius is nearly 1,000 feet higher near its center than around the edge! Turbulence and volcanic upheaval from below split the central mountain (which rises to nearly one mile above the floor) and formed the rilles. The principal rille, Rima Petavius, is quite prominent: it extends from the central peak to the southwest wall. Petavius falls between Langrenus and Vendelinus in age. While it retains a notable central peak and its walls are terraced, its walls are also slumped and battered by secondary craters.
The imaging system used was a Celestron EdgeHD SCT, 8" aperture, f/10, 2032mm on a Celestron Advanced VX mount. I used a ZWO ASI290MM camera with an Optolong IR Pass (685nm) filter . I collected 32,399 video frames, then stacked the best 5 percent of them into a single image using AutoStakkert! 3. I applied some mild wavelets processing with Registax 6 and a final buff in Photoshop.
I want to acknowledge the work of Andrew Planck and his wonderful blog posts which first directed my attention to this (and many other) fascinating lunar features. I borrowed his organization and blended some of his text with my own for this post.
20-07-14 Taken with a Canon 60D using a Tamron SP AF70-300mm VC USD Zoom lens. This a 3 second burst in a small gap in the clouds, 12 images out of 18 stacked using Autostakkert 2.
Telescopio::Celestron C11 XLT Fastar
Montatura: iOptron CEM60
Camera di ripresa :QHY 183 Color CMOS
Software:Zoner Photo Studio X v. 19 SharpCap 3.1 Pro Autostakkert 2.6.8
Fuocheggiatorte: Moonlite CF 2,5" focuser with high resolution stepper DRO
Risoluzione: 3000x2000, Ora Locale: 20:35
Pose: 300 su 10003 riprese
FPS: 24,00000
Lunghezza focale: 2800 mm
Seeing: 3 Trasparenza: 8
Apparently, I still had some unused data from the 2020 Mars Opposition on my laptop. :)
I'm glad I decided to process it.
Besides the obvious South Pole, the North Pole is also visible, as well as some surface details on the planet :) (y)
Gear:
- Sky-watcher Skymax 102,
- Celestron 2x Barlow,
- ZWO ASI 120MC-S,
- Star Adventurer Pro.
Software:
- Firecapture,
- PIPP,
- Autostakkert,
- Registax
My First Mars!
This week, Mars is as close to Earth as it will be for another decade or so, and it it is at opposition, that place when it is directly in the opposite direction from the Sun as seen from Earth. This makes Mars relatively large and bright in the night sky, very easy to detect.
I have never actually photographed the face of Mars. Last night conditions were good, and I had the right equipment to try. This is the result. Photographing it was satisfying, but the experience of seeing it "live" was deeply moving. It makes the planet real, and you experience it as another world. This is especially meaningful, because it is a world we have populated with robotic vehicles of our own making, one we are actively exploring, and one we may likely set feet upon before the next time it is again as large and bright in our skies. As I type this, I am learning of other friends who were viewing Mars about the same time as I was; further, I know that a great many of the people who share this city with me are contributing to the collective human effort that is the exploration of Mars.
I will include in a separate upload a graphic that shows the features on Mars that were visible when I took my video.
Camera: ZWO ASI 224MC
Telescope: Celestron EdgeHD 8, 203.2 mm aperture, 2032 mm focal length (f/10)
Magnification: Explore Scientific 3x Focal Extender for an effective focal length of 6096 mm at f/30
Mount: Celestron Advanced VX Equatorial Mount
The best 60% of 3397 video frames were stacked with AutoStakkert!3 software. Wavelets processing applied in Registax 6 software. Final processing of the image done with Photoshop CC2020.
Sunspot count: 121
Skywatcher Skymax 127
Astrozap Solar Filter
Canon 6D
25 images stacked and alligned in AutoStakkert! and sharpened with RegiStax 6 wavelets
This grouping of craters, starting with Orontitus, which is the larger crater near center image,and forming a chain of increasingly smaller and younger craters is an interesting study in comparitive ages of craters. I spotted this grouping of craters with a 60mm spotting scope when I was fourteen. I am not sure why I spent as much time looking at them as I did, but I gained an appreciation of how overlapping craters indicated relative age, and I noticed that the youger craters had sharper edges, all before I learned about lunar surface dating from books. (Ruki 65)
ZWO ASI178MC/2.5x PowerMate
Meade LX850 (12" f/8)
Losmandy LX850
4000 frames captured in Firecapture
Best 320 frames stacked in Autostakkert
Wavelet sharpened in Registax
Finished in Photoshop
Tonight’s moon from Weatherly, PA, December 29, 2022.
Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120ED Telescope, ZWO AS2600mc-Pro running at -10C, Celestron CGEM-DX Pier Mounted, best 20% of 1000 frames, focus with a ZWO EAF, controlled with a ZWO ASIAir Pro. Processed using SharpCap Pro, AutoStakkert and Registax. Image Date: December 29, 2022. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
Taken using a Skywatcher ED100 Refractor with a Canon 60D at prime focus. Best 20 of 40 images stacked using Autostakkert 2. Shot in misty/hazy conditions as Moon low in the sky. False colour removed as had a gold/reddish cast due to atmospherics
Taken from Oxfordshire, UK
Coronado PST, Celestron 3x Barlow, ZWO ASI120MC camera on an EQ5 Pro mount on a permanent pier. 2,000 frame video captured with SharpCap, best 60% of those were stacked with Autostakkert! 3, then processed with Lightroom, Registax 6, Photoshop CS2 and Fast Stone Image Viewer. The image was duplicated and I processed one to bring out the prominences, the other to bring out surface details, then I merged them back together with Photoshop CS2
An adjusted final processing of the the April 2021 "Pink" Supermoon which was at 99.9% illumination at the time of capture.
Aberkenfig, South Wales
Lat 51.542 N Long 3.593 W
32 single shot RAW images 1/650s @ ISO 200 obtained with an f/4.7 254mm Skywatcher Newtonian & Olympus E410 at prime focus.
Images converted to TIFF format then 17 of them stacked with AutoStakkert! 3.1.4.
Wavelets processed with Registax 6.
Original final processing with G.I.M.P. to adjust contrast and levels.
Further processing with G.I.M.P. using tone mapping, with fade, plus adjustments on shadows & highlights to enhance the intricate detail of the crater rays.
Lunar south uppermost.
Best viewed in expanded modes.
Here is a view of the planet Venus captured during the day. Venus is currently only 13% illuminated and heading between the Sun and Earth causing the crescent to get progressively thinner and the planet to get progressively larger.
Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, ZWO ASI290MC, best 10% of 2,000 frames, UV/IR filter, unguided. Captured using SharpCap Pro, stacked in Autostakkert, processed in Registax. Image date: May 13, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.
Sonnenflecken
DIE SONNE NIE OHNE GEEIGNETEN FILTER FOTOGRAFIEREN!
ISO 200, f 16, 1/125s, 560 mm/1120 mm äquiv.,
Baader Sonnenfilterfolie auf
Sigma 150/600 an Lumix GH5, Stativ.
2 Bilder verrechnet mit Autostakkert,
Astrosurface, PS.
Mars imaged last evening, best 15% of 20k frames.
Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90, ZWO ASI290MC, unguided. Captured using SharpCap v3.2 (64 bit), processed in Autostakkert and Registax. Image date: October 9, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.
This image looks better than the one produced in AutoStakkert. This was aligned and stacked in Registax, which I have more experience with. Seems less "digital" and smoother.
ZWO ASI290MM/EFW 8 x 1.25"
Meade LX850 (12" f/8)/2.5x PM
Losmandy G11
5 x 30s RGB runs captured in FireCapture
Best 50% of ~11,000 frames per filter stacked in Autostakkert
Wavelet sharpened in Registax
Color channels separately derotated, then R/G/B derotation in WINJUPOS
Finished in Photoshop
Mineral Moon
Ripresa la mattina del 24 settembre , sommando 105 foto fatte con una fotocamera Canon 700d e un telescopio Skywatcher 200/1000. Elaborata con Pipp, Autostakkert 3 e Ps cc 2021
Waxing Gibbous Moon
100/1000 stacked with AutoStakkert. 1ms at gain 150. ZWO ASI 178MC and the William Optics ZS61.
#moon #mond #astro #astronomie #astronomy #astrofotografie #astrophotography #lunarphotography #night #universe #cosmos #astrogeek #pfaffenhofen #rohrbach #bavaria #ioptronskyguiderpro #williamoptics #zs61 #zwoasi178mc
I took this close-up with a Sky-watcher Skymax 102, ZWO ASI 120MC-S and a Star Adventurer Pro by taking a short video, and then using only the best frames to stack. :)
I decided to go ahead and name most of the lunar features visible in the picture. ;)
Software used: Firecapture, PIPP, Autostakkert, Registax and Photoshop (for the names)
From the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature (planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3273), Crater Langrenus was named after Michel Florent van Langren, a Belgian selenographer (somebody who studies the surface and physical features of the moon) and engineer (circa 1600-1675) and is almost 132 KM wide.
Tech Specs: Sky-Watcher Esprit 120mm ED Triplet APO Refractor, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ZWO ASI290MC camera, Televue Powermate 2.5x, best 40% of 10k frames under bad seeing. Captured with SharpCap v3 and processed using AutoStakkert! And Registax. Image Date: February 20, 2018. Location: The Dark Side Observatory in Weatherly, PA.
Telescopio:Celestron C8 Edge HD
Montatura: iOptron CEM60
CMOS di ripresa: ZWO ASI 174 mono Cooled
Software:Emil Kraaikamp Autostakkert 3.0.14, Zoner Photo Studio X v. 19, Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight 1.8, Astra Image 4 SI
Filtro Baader Planetarium IR-Pass 685nm
Data: 23 Maggio 2018 Ore: 21:14
Pose: 400 FPS: 50,00000
Lunghezza focale: 2000 mm
Seeing: 3 Trasparenza: 6
Jupiter and Ganymede, photographed from my backyard in Long Beach, CA
Seeing was not as good tonight as it was during other recent sessions.
30 s SER files were taken with a ZWO ASI120MM camera through Optolong CCD RGB filters on a Celestron Edge HD 925 telescope using FireCapture. The top 50% of frames went into 5 stacks of each color filter. These stacks were made in AutoStakkert, then sharpened in PixInsight. Stacks were combined and derotated in WinJUPOS, and the resulting R, G, and B images were combined in WinJUPOS to make a de-rotated single color image. Color balancing in Registax, then final touches in Photoshop.
CM longitudes:
System I: 81.5°
System II: 351.5°
System III: 284.3°
Nikon D850
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8D
Nikon AF-S Teleconverter x2 TC-20E III
Date Taken: 12/4/2017
Exposure: 1/400 (80 images stacked)
Aperture: F/8
ISO: 100
Image Area: DX 1.5x
Post-processing Tools
PIPP
AutoStakkert
Registax6
LR and PS
Some rare clear skies allowed me an opportunity to capture Sunspot AR2804 earlier today, a nice little sunspot group. Nothing fancy, just a white light glass filter on Meade 12” scope.
TECH SPECS: Meade 12” LX-90, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI071mc-Pro, Antares Focal Reducer, Meade White-Light Solar Filter. Captured using SharpCap v3.2, stacked in Autostakkert, sharpened in Registax, final image in Corel Paintshop Pro. Image Date: February 25, 2021. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.
Taken with a Coronado PST, 2x Barlow and Canon 1100D on an EQ5 Pro tracking mount
ISO-800 1/250 sec exp
150 images shot in RAW with camera set to mono, shot through a brief gap in the clouds
Images cropped, colour removed and tweaked in Lightroom then exported as TIFFs
Best 50% of 150 frames stacked in Autostakkert! 2, then the stacked image was duplicated. Both then processed in Lightroom, one to enhance the surface features, one to enhance the prominences. Both images then opened in Photoshop CS2, false colour added back in, then merged together using a layer mask. Final tweaks made in Lightroom, Focus Magic and Fast Stone Image Viewer
"Stadius, with Eratosthenes and Copernicus"
Stadius is the 69 km wide crater hiding in plain sight, just below and right of the center of this image. Stadius is a ghost crater, a remnant of an ancient lunar impact crater that has been nearly obliterated by basaltic lava flows. Those floods covered all except for the very highest rims of Stadius crater, hiding it from view except for a faint, disconnected ring of hills. The interior of Stadius is pocked by many tiny craterlets. These are secondary craters caused by large chunks of material, blasted skyward by the impacts that created it's two neighbors, Eratosthenes (above and right) and Copernicus (left). These chunks slammed back onto the Moon, digging craters of their own.
Eratosthenes crater was the subject of my Earth Day post. It is 59 km wide and 3.6 km deep. It has a well-defined circular rim, a terraced inner wall, a triangular cluster of central peaks, an irregular floor, and an outer rampart of ejecta. Close examination shows a spray of craterlets, most visible here towards the north, across the Apennine Mountains into Mare Imbrium. Eratosthenes, at 3.2 billion years of age, appears quite young in comparison to Stadius crater. It does lack a system of rays, the hallmark of the youngest lunar.craters.
The youngster of this trio is, of course Copernicus. Copernicus dominates the terrain. It is a large crater, with a width of 96 km and a depth of 3.8 km. It is visible from Earth through binoculars. The circular rim has a discernible hexagonal form, with a terraced inner wall and a 30 km wide, sloping rampart that descends nearly a kilometer to the surrounding landscape. The crater floor has not been flooded by lava, so features of the interior can be seen in unaltered form. The terrain along the bottom is hilly in the southern half while the north is relatively smooth. The central peaks consist of three isolated mountainous rises climbing as high as 1.2 km above the floor. These peaks are separated from each other by valleys, and they form a rough line along an east–west axis.
Unlike Eratosthenes, Copernicus sits at the center of a vast system of rays. These are visible in this image as streaky patches if lighter-toned material, especially south of Eratosthenes and draping over Stadius. The rays spread as far as 800 kilometers across the face of the Moon. As they overlie even the ray systems of other young craters, such as Aristarchus and Kepler, it can be inferred that Copernicus formed more recently. The rays are less distinct than the long, linear rays extending from Tycho, instead forming a nebulous pattern with plumy markings. In multiple locations the rays lie at glancing angles, instead of forming a true radial dispersal.
An extensive pattern of smaller secondary craters can also be observed surrounding Copernicus. Many of the largest of these are seen in this image; a multitude of tinier craterlets lie below the resolution of my imaging system. Some of these secondary craters form sinuous chains in the ejecta. Note the snaky chain that runs between Copernicus and Eratosthenes, beginning to the west of Stadius and continuing out if the image at center top.
Instrumentation:
Celestron EdgeHD 8 telescope, Explore Scientific 3x Focal Extender, ZWO ASI290MM monochrome camera, Celestron Advanced VX mount.
Processing:
Video data captured with Firecapture software as a 60-sec .ser file. Pre-processing of the .ser file with PIPP. Best 15% of 4768 video frames were stacked with AutoStakkert!3, wavelets processing done with Registax 6, and final processing in Photoshop CC 2020.
Shown here on the last quarter moon, the craters Copernicus and Eratosthenes (left and right, respectively).
This photo is best seen at full size (1920 x 1024) or in the Flickr Lightbox.
Image capture done with a Celestron C9.25 Edge HD, an Astro-Physics 2X barlow, and a Sony NEX-5R digital camera (manually selected, best 39 images out of a series of 84 still captures, ISO 200, 1/15 second at an effective focal length of 5170mm).
Image processing done in AutoStakkert! 2 (stacking), PixInsight (sharpening), Photoshop CS5, and Apple’s Preview application.
All rights reserved.
Date of observation/acquisition: 2019-05-22 20:48 UT
Camera/Telescope: ASI290MM + LRGB filters, 12" f/8 GSO RC
A time-accurate color composite image created from the 8 consecutive 30-second video captures required to create this image, over the course of approximately ~4 minutes. A separate acquisition is required for R, G, B, and L for Saturn's brightness and R-G-B-L for the moon's brightness, as their apparent exposure requirements are very different. While it CAN be captured in 4 consecutive acquisitions, rather, the color is captured best with proper exposure for each.
Post-processed using Autostakkert!3, PixInsight, and combined in Photoshop. After stacking, combining, and processing was done, the moon and Saturn were then recombined into one final image.
The location of Saturn chosen was where it was in relation to the moon at the midpoint of the moon exposure acquisitions, for scientific accuracy. That is our duty, to remain ethical.
Using a monochrome camera, it takes time to capture all the color channels, so time elapses. As time elapses, in the apparent close quarters where two objects are moving independently in space, they must be treated separately and recombined in post, requiring a composite image.
We all hate composite images. But, when they are created with transparency and ethics, that’s what we as astrophotographers need to do. We must remain ethical and accurate at all times.
We can help each other learn how things are done, and how to do them properly.