View allAll Photos Tagged autostakkert
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.
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.
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.
Taken during my Astronomy Lab on 2021-09-16
ZWO ASI120MM camera with a red Optolong filter on a Celestron Edge HD 925
Best 350 of 600 frames; stacked in AutoStakkert
Processing in PixInsight and Photoshop
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
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.
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.
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer mount
Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED OTA (72/420mm)
Baader Barlow 2.25x (effective 2.86x)
ZWO ASI533MC Pro (at 0 degrees)
oaCapture 1.8.0 (recording)
PIPP (pre-processing)
AutoStakkert! 3 (stacking)
Siril (splitting the 3 channels)
ImPPG (sharpening)
PlanetarySystemLRGBAligner (aligning separate channels to the original RGB image)
Siril (recombining back channels into RGB)
RawTherapee (RGB post-processing)
GIMP (creating LRGB, with original RGB as the L channel)
RawTherapee (LRGB post-processing)
Sunspot count: 121
Skywatcher Skymax 127
Astrozap Solar Filter
Canon 6D
25 images stacked and alligned in AutoStakkert! and sharpened with RegiStax 6 wavelets
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.
"Tycho Crater"
April 22, 2021,23:15 CDT
Moon age 10.3 days
Tycho crater was the first lunar feature for which I learned its name, part of a science project I was assigned by my first-grade teacher. It has always held special significance for me. That interest has only grown as I have taken up lunar photography as a hobby.
This Tycho image is a companion to the Copernicus photo I posted yesterday. Both are, by lunar standards, young features of the Moon. They are very raw looking, having been spared the slow degradation caused by eons of micrometeorite bombardment and weathering by solar radiation. Their crater walls are clearly terraced, with little in the way of slumping or secondary cratering. The outer ramparts are distinct, rising high above the surrounding terrain. The crater interiors have not been filled by lava seeps or debris from other impacts. We see them pretty much as they looked when they were created. Despite their abundant similarities, Tycho is the younger the two: Copernicus was gouged into the Moon 800 million years ago, whereas Tycho has been dated to 110 million years ago.
Both Tycho and Copernicus are surrounded by darkened areas. The darker material has been studied by remote sensing from lunar orbiting satellites. In January 1968, Surveyor 7 landed within this dark halo on the North side of Tycho Crater and physically sampled the surface material. Collectively, these analyses find that the material is impact glass, high in iron content, formed from the heat generated by the impact and originating from relatively deep below the lunar surface. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images show pools and flows of this glassy material across the surface of the dark halo and within the crater basin.
Note the myriad small craters distributed throughout the area, sometimes arranged in linear fashion radiating from the Tycho impact site (see especially the chain directing away from the rim of Tycho to the northwest). These craters were caused by large chunks of material, blasted outward and upward, crashing back into the surface of the Moon. The craterlets look tiny in my photo, but the smallest I can image are over a kilometer and a half in diameter.
Seeing conditions were supposed to be "average” but turned out a good bit better in my neighborhood, closer to 4/5 at the time this video was obtained. I did not venture using a focal extender to magnify the image because I had a nice focus locked in and did not want to risk losing it: instead, I opted to use a smaller region of interest (ROI, 1000x800px, an in-camera crop) on this one.
The best 25% of 2700 video frames were used in creating this image.
I omitted my usual step of pre-processing the video in PIPP software, as tracking was good. Instead, the video was stacked without pre-processing with Auto Stakkert!3 software. Wavelets and histogram adjustments of the AutoStakkert!3 output image were done with Registax 6. Final toning, minor cropping and watermarking were done with Camera RAW and Photoshop CC 2021.
Celestron Edge HD8 telescope
ZWO ASI 290MM camera
Celestron Advanced VX Mount
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.
March 22, 2018
20:58 CDT
(March 23, 2018, 01:58 UTC)
Transparency was average, seeing 3/5.
Camera: Canon T3i
Telescope: Explore Scientific ED80 APO triplet refractor
Mount: Celestron Advanced VX
Additional eyepieces: Explore Scientific 3x Barlow + Orion 2x
Shorty Barlow
12 images stacked and converted to B&W
ISO1600, 1/30-sec exposures
Pre- and post-processing in Photoshop CC2018
Image preparation and cropping via PIPP
Stacking via AutoStakkert!2
Wavelets processing in Registax 6
ZWO ASI178MC
Meade LX850 (12" f/8)
Losmandy G11
2000 frames captured in Firecapture
Best 60% stacked in Autostakkert
Wavelet sharpened in Registax
Finished in Photoshop
The great conjunction 2020 is the closest approach of Jupiter and Saturn in nearly 800 years. The evening of the Winter Solstice found them 6' 20" apart in ou sky. Physically they are over 450 million miles apart.
I traveled 2 hours east of Austin to Mudville, Texas to escape the clouds streaming in for the southwest..
Taken with Questar 1280/89 mm telescope with 2x Dakin Barlow and Sony a6300 camera. A HDR multi-exposure stack taken 2020-12-21 6:01-6:33 CST near Mudville, Texas. Jupiter (best 16 of 150 frames ISO 200 for 1/8 sec), Saturn (best 16 of 50 frames ISO 800 for 15 sec), Moons (5 frames ISO 1600 for 4 sec) Sky background (8 frames ISO 500 for 2 sec).
Planetary images were staked with Autostakkert! 3 and deconvolved in Lynkeos. Moon and registration exposures were stacked in Nebulosity. HDR compositing, exposure adjustment, and final crop were done in Photoshop.
Il gruppo di macchie solari AR 3057 fotografato oggi con Maksutov 127 mm, Astrosolar, 50% di 411 frames elaborati con Autostakkert e con AstroSurface. Camera SVBony SV305. Si noti la granulazione solare ben visibile.
This is from a series of 19 SER files recorded with a ZWO ASI224MC camera in conjunction with a 2x Barlow, ZWO ADC, and ZWO IR cut filter. This was with the Celestron C14 at Cerritos College. Data was taken between 0852 and 0911 UT, with stacking in AutoStakkert, sharpening in PixInsight, combination of derotated images in WinJUPOS, then final touches in PixInsight and Photoshop.
The mountain chains that surround the Imbrium Basin are endlessly fascinating, for their variety, beauty and now, human history. I focus in this photo on the mountains that define the Eastern and Southeastern bounds of the Imbrium Basin.
The chain of high, sharp peaks that arc upwards from the lower left are the Montes Apenninus. These formed immediately when a proto-planet gouged the enormous Imbrium Basin into the face of the Moon. Rising up to 14,000 feet, the mountains form an arcing chain that gradually bends from east to northeast, ending at Promontorium Fresnel. Here, there is a gap where the Mare Imbrium to the west joins the Mare Serenitatis to the east. At the north end of this gap in the upper right of this photo, lie the first peaks of another mountain chain, the Montes Caucasus (perhaps a feature of an upcoming image).
Two craters are prominent in the upper left, within the Imbrium basin. Along the upper margin, left of center is Autolycus crater. On the left border, spilling out of the frame, is the much larger Archimedes crater. A field of rubble (ejecta from the impacts that created the craters) and many small craterlets connects the two craters. A larger similar field extends southward along the left side from Archimedes. If you look closely, a fissure, or rima, extends from Archimedes back towards the Apennines. This is Rima Archimedes.
The area just inside the arc of the Montes Apenninus shows many other rimae. Southeast of Rima Archimedes in center left, the broad Rima Bradley can be seen running diagonally from southwest to the northeast . It ends in a smooth region where lava filled the low valleys of the Imbrium Basin. this area is known as Palus Putredinis (gross, right?). If you extend the trace of Rima Bradley toward the upper right, you see another series of cracks that run from Palus Putredinis to the area inside Promontorum Fresnel and the gap connecting Mare Imbrium and Mare Serenitatis. These are the Rimae Fresnel.
The real star of the rima show here lies in a small gap between the outer and inner ridges of the Montes Apenninus. Lying just above center, Rima Hadley, aka Hadley Rille, snakes northward out of the Montes Apenninus, through a narrow valley, past a small crater, and then abruptly turns westward towards Palus Putredinis at the foot of Mons Hadley. Many of us can remember those days in July and August of 1971 when Apollo 15 landed in the small flat between the 14,000 ft. peak of Mons Hadley and the 1000 ft. chasm at the bend of Hadley Rille. This was the first mission where the crew used the lunar rover to explore their surroundings. Quite a mission!
The lower right corner of this image is filled with a region of low hills and hummocks known as the Montes Haemus. This is an area where debris of the Imbrium impact flowed out over the surrounding terrain, and filled space between the newborn Montes Apenninus and the old basin rim of Mare Serenitatis. Many such areas surround the Imbrium Basin, mainly to the south, southeast and east, suggesting that the proto-planet impacted from the northwest.
Celestron EdgeHD 8 telescope, ZWO ASI290MM monochrome camera, Celestron Advanced VX mount.
Best 10% of 3261 video frames, stacked with AutoStakkert 3, wavelets processing with Registax 6, and final processing in Photoshop CC 2019.
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
Kept best 5% of frames from each movie of 5000 frames
---Hardware---
Mount : Skywatcher AZ-EQ-6 GT
Camera : PointGrey Grasshopper GS3-U3-23S6M
Tube : AstroPhysics 130 EDF GT
Barlow : Televue 4x
Effective focal length : 3120 mm
Effective aperture : ~ F/24
---Software---
Acquired with FireCapture
Stacked with AutoStakkert
Processed with Lightroom
Le Soleil aujourd'hui / The Sun today (Spaceweatherlive.com)
* 175 = Nb de taches solaires / Sunspots number
* 10 = Régions de taches solaire / Sunspot regions
* 4 = Plages H-alpha sans taches / H-alpha plages without spots
Risingcam IMX571 color
William Optics Zenithstar73ii
iOptron CEM26
Filtre UV/IR cut
Filtre Thousand Oaks Solarlite ND5
Exp. 20ms / Gain 100
Best 250 de 2500
Aquisition: Sharpcap
Traitement: PIPP, AutoStakkert 4.0, Registax et Affinity Photo 2
@Astrobox 2.0 / St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec
AstroM1
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
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.
Engage! No it's not the Starship Enterprise...
A time-lapse composite frame of video footage shot at 60fps (double speed) and a high Shutter Speed on a Nikon D500 DSLR, allowing the slow down of the very fast 1 second Lunar ISS transit.
ISS transit Info:
Real-Time transit duration = 1.28 sec.
Ground speed = 17,150 mi/h or 27,600 km/h (8.231 km/s or 5.114 mi/s).
Moon Phase: 95% Waning Gibbous (Southern Hemisphere).
Date & Location:
5 November 2017, West Rand, South Africa.
Gear:
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR Lens.
Manfrotto 055PRO Tripod.
Wimberley 2 Tripod Head.
Thank you Sumarie for letting me use your camera gear!
Video available on Flickr, Vimeo & YouTube.
Martin
-
[Home Page] [Photography Showcase] [My Free Photo App]
[Flickr Profile] [Facebook] [Twitter] [My Science & Physics Page]
Aberkenfig, South Wales
Lat 51.542 N Long 3.593 W
An alternative to a mosaic. A reasonable outcome as the seeing conditions were not ideal when the images were captured.
15 single shot RAW images 1/320s @ ISO 200 obtained with a 254mm Skywatcher Newtonian & Olympus E410 at prime focus.
Images converted to TIFF format then stacked with AutoStakkert! 3.1.4.
Wavelets processed with Registax 6.
Final processing with G.I.M.P.
Best viewed in maximum expanded mode.
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
Aberkenfig, South Wales
Lat +51.542 Long -3.593
Skywatcher 254mm Newtonian Reflector, Nikon D780 at prime focus. EQ6 Syntrek Mount.
30 frames 1/640s ISO 200.
Processed using Autostakkert! then wavelets and initial saturation with Registax 6.
Final adjustments to levels and further saturation using G.I.M.P.
The enhanced colours on the second image indicate the mineral variation and composition of the lunar surface.
Image capture and processing by Doug Biernacki and Jim Johnson while preparing for the April 8th solar eclipse. North is up.
ZWO ASI2600MC-Pro
Tele Vue NP101is (4" f/5.4)
Losmandy GM-8
Capture: 0.0015s x 48 RGB frames at 0 gain with NINA. Processing in Autostakkert!3 (stacking), Registax (wavelet sharpening), and PixInsight (convert to monochrome, luminance adjustment, and cropping).
#ZW Optical
#Tele Vue
#Losmandy
Mosaic of several slides, imaged through a 4x barlow
---Hardware---
Mount : Skywatcher AZ-EQ-6 GT
Camera : PointGrey Grasshopper GS3-U3-23S6M
Tube : Celestron 11 EDGE HD
Extender: Televue 4x
Effective focal length : 11200 mm
Effective aperture : ~ F/40
---Software---
Acquired with FireCapture
Stacked with AutoStakkert
Mosaic done with Microsoft ICE
Processed with Lightroom & Topaz SharpenAI
moon-2020-10-31_l4-31f-qhy183c-lnh-85f5_6-crop
31 frames (20%) of 155 frames stacked in AutoStakkert. Televue TV-85, Optolong L-eNhance, QHY183c at -20C.
Hardware: Mount Skywatcher Solarquest, TS-Optics 70mm f/6 ED, Daystar Quark Chromosphere Filter, Player One Neptune-M (IMX178), UV/IR Cut Filter
Software: SharpCapture, AutoStakkert!3, ImPPG, PS, Topaz Sharpen AI
This image looks almost decent, but there are some issues that I want to work on. As for softness, I am well-collimated and I prefocused on Alderaban, but average seeing could be an issue. I can add an IR/UV cut filter. I noticed an image size issue in WINJUPOS when making the measurements in the wire frame. It seems that IR, which I used for the R channel, is much less intense than the G or B channels. Because of this the IR image appeared somewhat smaller than the G or B channel images. I am going to go back to using the Red filter for the R channel.
10 iRGB runs (60s and 34,000 frames/filter) in Firecapture.
Best 10% stacked in Autostakkert
Wavelet sharpening in Registax
Derotation in WINJUPOS
Finishing in Photoshop
ZWO ASI290MM/EFW 8 x 1.25x
Meade LX850 (12" f/8)/2.5x PowerMate
Losmandy G11
We are entering a new era in manned exploration and inhabitation of the Moon. Much interest focuses on the Southern regions of the Moon, especially the dark-shadowed craters near the South Pole. Prime among them is Shackleton Crater. Shackleton is a 21 km diameter crater located adjacent to the geographic south pole.
I have a friend who is involved in designing probes to explore Shackleton Crater. She recently asked me if I had ever seen it. I cannot claim to have done so. Seeing it is possible, for a wobble in the Moon’s rotation periodically tilts the South Polar region towards us. I have recently gained the capability to photograph the region in intelligible detail. Making sense of what I see forces me to confront the bewildering geometry of the Southern lunar landscape. This is a region of extreme foreshortening. Instead of craters, one sees a bewildering jumble of ridges. Fortunately, lunar orbiters have looked directly down on the Moon’s South Pole. We know what features are found there. Further, scientists have spent countless hours peering through telescopes and charting their observations of the area. These maps are available to people like me, guiding us in our efforts to decipher the features we see. I am beginning to make sense of the terrain I photograph, piecing together a path towards Shackleton. I am increasingly confident that the South Pole lies near the lower right "Rule of Thirds" intersection point in this photo. One feature intrigues me, a small chevron of light just inside the outermost illuminated ridge. It resembles an inverted Nike swoosh. Could this be a portion of Shackleton's crater rim? The explorations continue...
Ptolemaeus (au centre) Diam. 154 km Haut. 2400m et son compagnon Ammonius 8x9 km
Alphonsus (en bas) Diam. 118 km Haut. 2730 m
Albategnius (à droite) Diam. 136 km Haut 3900 m
Champ couvert 590x350 km (mesuré sur Atlas Virtuel de la Lune)
Photo 1934x1142 pixels (5'11,9" x 3'03,5")
1 pixel = 305 m
J'ai remarqué avec Stellarium que le cratère Ammonius avait le même diamètre apparent que Mars en ce moment.
Si je comprend bien il va falloir encore allonger la focale !!
Instrument de prise de vue: Sky-watcher T250/1000 Newton F4
Caméra d'imagerie: QHY5III462
Monture: Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 Pro Goto USB
Instrument de guidage: sans
Caméra de guidage: Sans
Logiciels: Stellarium - ScharpCap - AutoStakkert - RegiStax 6 - Darktable - FastStone Images Viewer
Filtres: IR-Cut / IR-Block ZWO (M48)
Accessoire: GPU coma-correcteur Sky-watcher + Barlow Keppler x2.5 (x3.83 suivant mon montage)
Dates: 9 Avril 2022- 19h54
Images unitaires: SER (1000x36.08ms) 10% retenues - Gain 0
Intégration: --
Échantillonnage: 0.17 arcsec/pixel
Seeing: 2.06"Arc
Echelle d'obscurité de Bortle: 4.50
Phase de la Lune (moyenne): 54.5% - 8,48 jours
Distance: 396212 km
This afternoon's waxing gibbous moon, 66.5% full.
Taken shortly after the ISS transited the Moon, just east of the terminator. I saw it, but my recording of the event failed.
Stack of 200 video frames. Video captured with SharpCap 3.1 software. PIPP software used in preparation of the .avi for stacking. Stacking with AutoStakkert!3 software. Post-processing with Photoshop CC 2019.
ZWO ASI290MM camera
Explore Scientific ED 80 APO, f/6, 480mm focal length
Explore Scientific Field Flattener
Celestron Advanced VX Mount
Taken on 25th February while the Moon was 77% illuminated Waxing Gibbous. Taken with a 10" Dobsonian Telescope with 2x Barlow and Canon 1100D. Shot using Backyard EOS, at 5x magnification. By the time I had set everything up for shooting some up-close lunar stuff, the cloud started rolling in, so this was shot through thin cloud.
4000 frame video shot, the best 1000 frames were stacked using Autostakkert! 3 Beta. Wavelets sharpened in Registax 6 and final tweaks made in Fast Stone Image Viewer. The edges were cropped slightly to remove stacking artifacts. I really love the sharp shadow created by Cape Laplace on the edge of Sinus Iridum
Today’s sunspots including the large sunspot AR2786.
Tech Specs: Williams Optics Redcat51, Sky Watcher EQ6R-Pro Mount, Thousand Oaks Optical Solar Filter, ZWO ASI290MC, ZWO ASIair Pro running beta software v1.5.1 in video capture mode, processed in Autostakkert! and Corel PaintshopPro. Image Date: November 28, 2020. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA.
In the news today, AR2941 launched a CME that knocked out 40 Starlink satellites.
Canon EOS 60Da (1/640s, ISO 100)
TeleVue NP101is/2x Power Mate (4", f/10.4)
Losmandy G11
100 subframes captured with Backyard EOS (BYE). CR2 files converted to AVI by PPIP. Best 75% of frames stacked in AutoStakkert! Sharpened in Registax and finished in Photoshop.
The January 2019 Total Lunar Eclipse taken from Arlington, TX. This image is a composite of processing the data twice, once focusing on the background sky, and once focusing on the moon details. There were thin clouds on and off throughout the night, which may have led to the radiant glow around the moon.
Equipment:
OTA: William Optics GT81 w/0.8x reducer/flattener (382mm fl at f/4.7)
Mount: Orion Sirius EQ-G (HEQ-5)
Guidescope: Orion 50mm guidescope
Guiding camera: Orion StarShoot Autoguider
Imaging camera: ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool
Accessories:
QHYCCD PoleMaster
Software:
SGP
PHD2
CdC
AutoStakkert!3
Photoshop
PixInsight
Acquisition:
Location: Arlington, TX (Bortle 7)
Dates: 1/20/2019
Gain: 76 Offset: 15
Camera temp: -20C
R: 17x3" ZWO
G: 17x3" ZWO
B: 17x3" ZWO
Total integration time: 2min 33sec
No calibration frames
Background Preprocessing:
StarAlignment
ImageIntegration with heavy large-scale rejection to remove lunar movement over the several minutes
DynamicCrop each master
DBE each master
Background Processing:
TGV and MMT noise reduction on each color channel
ChannelCombination
BackgroundNeutralization
ArcSinhStretch
HistogramTransformation
CurvesTransformation to saturate stars using StarMask
Moon PreProcessing:
Used AutoStakkert!3 to stack each color set of 17 frames
Aligned each master with FFTRegistration script
Moon Processing:
ChannelCombination
HistogramTransformation to manually stretch an color balance
Deconvolution (5 iterations Van Cittert)
Wavelet sharpening using MultiScaleLinearTransform
CurvesTransformation for saturation
Imposed the processed moon over the unprocessed moon in the background image using Photoshop
Resampled to 80% for web posting
"Rupes Recta, Ancient Thebit, Huygens’ Sword and Rima Birt"
This photo is a northward extension of my previously posted shot of Deslandres Crater. The focus of this photo is the region that occupies the center of the image. First, let me outline the lay of the land. Deslandres Crater and the adjoining Regiomontanus Crater are in the bottom right corner of this image. Moving up the right side of the image, Purbach Crater sits about 1/3 of the above the bottom. Higher up, Arzachel Crater can be seen. Above and left of Arzachel, near the top, is Alpetragius, sporting an oversized central peak. The dark area on left top and down the left side is Mare Nubium. At bottom left is Pitatus Crater.
Moving toward the center from the right side, is Thebit crater, inside from both Arzachel and Purbach. It sits on an arc of hilly terrain that appears as a bay connecting to Mare Nubium. If you look closely, you can see that the arc of hills continues out into Mare Nubium, in the form of curving wrinkle ridges that circle all the way around to meet again the arc of hills upon which Thebit sits. This circle, formed from the arc of hills and the wrinkle ridges, bears memory of an old, unnamed, ruined crater that is unofficially called "Ancient Thebit". The 57-km-wide crater Thebit sits on its battered eastern rim.
The interior of Ancient Thebit holds several features of interest. Most notable is the long black linear feature that cuts across the floor of Ancient Thebit. This feature often evokes wonder from new observers of the Moon. “What is that straight black line?”, they ask, realizing this is something unusual. What it is, is the best example of a geological fault to be found on the surface of the Moon. It is called “Rupes Recta”, the Straight Wall. Close examination reveals its nature. First, it is almost, but not quite straight. It casts a shadow when illuminated from the East, as in this photo. That indicates it is higher on the east side than on the west. Its height is estimated between 250 and 450 meters. It is 120 kilometers long. To the east of the Straight Wall, the floor of Ancient Thebit is rough, hilly and peppered with craterlets. To the west of the Straight Wall, the terrain is smoother, and sparsely cratered. The western floor of the ancient crater was flooded with lava, as was Mare Nubium. It is likely that the weight of the flooding of the old crater floor caused the western side to subside, and then break downward along the line of the Straight Wall.
At the southern end of Rupes Recta, the fault terminates in an area of low mountains. These mountains are called by some “the Stag’s-Horn Mountains” for that is what they resemble. The entire feature comprised of Rupes Recta and the Stag’s Horn Mountains is known as “Huygens’ Sword”, with the mountains forming the hilt and guard of the sword, and the Wall the blade. Take a look for yourself. What do you think?
West of the wall, the 17 km wide crater Birt stands pretty much alone in this part of the ancient crater floor: the 7 km wide Birt A crater hugs its southeastern rim.
Originating immediately to the west of Birt crater and running northwestward, a second elongated feature can be seen running roughly parallel to the Straight Wall. The northernmost end of this feature arises on the top of a somewhat darker, possibly dome-shaped structure sited nearly on the edge of Ancient Thebit. The southernmost end seems to terminate abruptly in a circular pit just beyond the shadow of Birt’s western rim. This elongated fissure is Rima Birt. It is likely a relic of the volcanism than flooded this part of Ancient Thebit. Because the tiny pit at the Rima's northern end is located near the rim of Ancient Thebit, one can imagine speculate that the fractured rock of the old crater’s rim allowed lava fountains to erupt onto the lunar surface, producing a dome, collapse pits, a lava channel, and pyroclastic deposits. If you recall the lava fountains and rivers of lava you saw in videos of the recent Kilauea eruption, you might be able to imagine the scene at the head of Rima Birt, except the Rima Birt eruption poured out enough lava to fill the Ancient Thebit and break the crater’s floor. That would have been a spectacle!
Photographed in the early evening of February 2, 2020, during a period of outstanding seeing that coincided with the first half of the Super Bowl.
This photo has more noise than other shots from this day, so it looks granier by comparison. Sorry...
Celestron EdgeHD 8 telescope, ZWO ASI290MM monochrome camera, Celestron Advanced VX mount.
Best 10% of 2083 video frames, stacked with AutoStakkert 3, wavelets processing with Registax 6, and final processing in Photoshop CC 2019.
Marte alla minima distanza, 30 maggio 2016. Un'occasione perduta... Seeing davvero buono, ma velature continue e
poi cielo coperto. Ho potuto fare un solo filmato da 4000 frames e questo è il risultato.
Diametro: 18.60"
Magnitudine: -2.00
CM=54.6°
Luogo: Pedara (CT).
Ora (locale): 22:58.
Seeing (scala di Antoniadi): 4/5.
Telescopio: Celestron CPC-800 xlt.
Barlow: 2.5x GSO.
Lunghezza focale: 5150 mm
Risoluzione: 0.15"
Camera di ripresa: ASI120MC.
Numero di frames acquisiti: 4000.
Numero di frames elaborati: 50% (2000).
FPS: 22.
Durata del filmato: 176.248 s.
ROI: 640x480
Software di elaborazione: Autostakkert 2.5.17, Registax 6.1, Photoshop 6.
We feel very lucky in Tallahassee though super bad for the folks to our east and for the loss of life inland.
Skymax 150mm f/12 Mak and ZWO ASI432MM. IR pass filter. Sharpcap, Autostakkert, MS ICE, and Photoshop. Seeing was quite good for North Florida.
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: Meade 12” LX90, Celestron CGEM-DX mount, ASI290MC, best 2.5k of 5k frames, AutoStakkert! V3.0.14 (x64), FireCapture v2.5.10 x64 and Registax v6. Photographed on July 4, 2017 from Weatherly, Pennsylvania.
Sunspot group AR2993 was in the news this week for producing an X2.2 solar flare, the most powerful in many years.
ZWO ASI290MM
TeleVue NP101is/2.5x PM
Losmandy G11
Captured 1000 frames with FireCapture
Stacked best 50% with Autostakkert!
Wavelet sharpened in Registax
Finished in Photoshop
In this photo I attempted to isolate four lunar craters that lie close to the southwestern limb of the Moon. This position makes it difficult to see them from an Earthly perspective, as we see them greatly foreshortened. They are imaged here soon after sunlight first shines into their exteriors. Areas of the Moon to their west are still hidden in the shadows of the two week lunar night. Only a few high points of these features are illuminated. The low angle sunlight emphasizes the relief of the lunar landscape, and heightens the three-dimensional structure of our planet's partner.
The largest crater is Schickard. This crater is among the largest lunar craters that we can see from Earth. It is a circular basin of 227 km diameter. Close examination shows that it has a two-toned floor. This effect has been explained as follows: the light material was blasted out by the gargantuan impact that formed a ringed basin beyond the bounds of this image. That material was partially covered some time later by darker lava that erupted onto the floor in the north and the southwest. This difference in shading is more striking as it is more directly illuminated.
Below Schickard lies a trio of adjoining craters. Two I will mention in passing. The largest is Phocylides, roughly half the diameter of Schickard, and having a depth of 2.1 km. The northern rim of Phocylides overlaps the much smaller Nasmyth crater. Nasmyth crater is only 1.4 km deep, so the two craters appear to rise like steps out from the Moon. This step-like effect continues with the third crater of the trio, Wargentin. Not only does the floor of Wargentin lie higher than its two close neighbors, the floor of Wargentin is actually higher than the surrounding lunar surface. Wargentin is one of a very small number of craters that have this characteristic. The explanation is fascinating. While many lunar craters have had their floors flooded by lava that has upwelled from the lunar interior, in Wargentin's case this flooding continued to the point that it overtopped portions of Wargentin's western rim, perhaps spilling over and out across the regions to the west. That would have been an incredible sight. Streams of lava many kilometers across might be seen cascading over the crater's rim and down a thousand or more feet to the plains below. From inside, Wargentin might look like a lava infinity pool 84 km wide!
Instrumentation:
Celestron EdgeHD 8 telescope, 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 10% of 4919 video frames were stacked with AutoStakkert!3, wavelets processing done with Registax 6, and final processing in Photoshop CC 2020.