It was a good night here on the 2nd (2023-04-02). Best shot of Vallis Schrotor I've gotten. I didn't know there were so many rills in the area. I counted 9 or 10 in this image. I took a shot earlier in the evening but only the very edge of Mons Rumker showed so I observed the Moon while waiting of the Sun to rise a little higher. If I'd been really ambitious I would have stayed up a few more hours!
North is to the left.
Fantastic images Paul!!!
The detail is remarkable.
Terri
Mosaic of the Moon from north (left) to south (right)
2023-04-27 was a good night for viewing and imaging the Moon!
There is another mosaic taken on 2023-04-28 two posts down.
North is to the left.
I hope this doesn't spoil anyone viewing or imaging of the Moon but encourages you. It is possible even in Vermont to get high resolution images and views. The views tend to be fleeting. But videos can capture those moments and allow you to use them to make beautiful images.
This is a mosaic of 6 panels of the terminator of the Moon. The Moon was 7.85 days old. Taken with 10in F/5.6 with 2" 2x Barlow for an optical magnification of 2.56 x prime focus. Plus, 3x digital zoom on a Canon Rebel T7i in HD video mode (3x digital zoom produces the highest true resolution in HD video mode by cropping the 6000x2000 sensor rather than down sampling).
The resolution is 0.2" / pixel which on this date calculates to 0.23 miles (0.37 km) at the distance of the Moon. The easier to see of the smallest craters (5-6 pixels across) are ~1.15 miles (~1.85 km) across. The very smallest craters detectable are 4 pixels across or ~0.92 miles (~1.48 km). The smallest craters I have been able to see in this telescope visually on about 1.5-2 miles (2.4-3.3 km) across. The smallest rilles about 1.15 miles (1.85 km) across (linear features are easier for the eye/brain to perceive).
Each panel is the best 7% (~500) out of ~7300 frames total in each video clip.
The MP4 videos were converted to AVI format with PIPP (Planetary Image PreProcessor). Stacked using ASK!3 (AutoStakkert!3). Post processed with Registax 6. Used 2 rounds of wavelet sharping. I have found for these high resolution Lunar images that it works well to apply moderate sharping, save the file, open this file and do additional sharpening. For the mosaic (panorama) I used PanoramaPlus X4 (software from a British company that is no longer available).
Mosaic of the Moon from north (left) to south (right)
2023-04-27 was a good night for viewing and imaging the Moon!
North is to the left.
I hope this doesn't spoil anyone viewing or imaging of the Moon, but encourages you. It is possible even in Vermont to get high resolution images and views. The views tend to be fleeting. But videos can capture those moments and allow you to use them to make beautiful images.
This is a mosaic of 6 panels of the terminator of the Moon. The Moon was 8.85 days old. Taken with 10in F/5.6 with 2" 2x Barlow for an optical magnification of 2.56 x prime focus. Plus, 3x digital zoom on a Canon Rebel T7i in HD video mode (3x digital zoom produces the highest true resolution in HD video mode by cropping the 6000x2000 sensor rather than down sampling).
The resolution is 0.2" / pixel which on this date calculates to 0.23 miles (0.37 km) at the distance of the Moon. The easier to see of the smallest craters (5-6 pixels across) are ~1.15 miles (~1.85 km) across. The very smallest craters detectable are 4 pixels across or ~0.92 miles (~1.48 km). The smallest craters I have been able to see in this telescope visually on about 1.5-2 miles (2.4-3.3 km) across. The smallest rilles about 1.15 miles (1.85 km) across (linear features are easier for the eye/brain to perceive).
Each panel is the best 7% (~500) out of ~7300 frames total in each video clip.
The MP4 videos were converted to AVI format with PIPP (Planetary Image PreProcessor). Stacked using ASK!3 (AutoStakkert!3). Post processed with Registax 6. Used 2 rounds of wavelet sharping. I have found for these high resolution Lunar images that it works well to apply moderate sharping, save the file, open this file and do additional sharpening. For the mosaic (panorama) I used PanoramaPlus X4 (software from a British company that is no longer available).
The amount of detail here is just remarkable.. it never ceases to amaze me as to what you can do with modest equipment from the ground here. For whatever reason I shoot the moon with minimal frame counts.. not sure why. When on astrobin, I notice that the best moon photographers use 10000 frames (common) and then keep maybe 1/2 of them. I'm noting that you are shooting 7300 frames each but only keeping 7%. So an equally valid (obviously) process. Congrat's
T
Another mosaic of the Moon (see the other 2 posts above). This one is from images taken a month early, 2023-03-29. This too is 6 image mosaic. The "age" of the Moon, measured from the New Moon was ~7.30 days versus ~7.85 days for image posted above or 13 hours earlier in the lunar day.
I used shorter video clips for these earlier shots. These clips were a little over 2 minutes long, a little over 4,000 frames and I use 10%. I was partly using shorter clips to save on hard drive space, but that meant fewer good frames, or using some frames of lower quality. The quality of the seeing and how long and often the moments of good are, of course affects how long of a clip you should take or whether you should even bother. The other day I took a 7 min 21 sec clip of a couple sunspots because there were occasional moment of clarity, but even that did not give me much to work with and resulted in much less then my best images of late. So, yea, I've recently upped my frame count considerably for Moon and Sunspot imaging.
North is to the left.
You will notice this image is not cropped like the one above. That's because, as you can see, the individual images did not line up as well and I would have had to crop it way too much. You may notice a color difference. I converted the one to black & white the other is in color.
I forgot and just noticed that I posted the individual images for this mosaic on page 2 of this topic. 2023-05-21 PRW
Another Mosaic - Western Edge of the Moon
For those who haven't been able to take advantage of the rare clear nights this Fall or don't have a telescope, here's a mosaic of high resolution images I took last Friday, Nov. 24 on one of those rare nights.
First is a reference image created by overlaying the mosaic (on left edge of Moon) over a screen shot of the Moon from the Virtual Moon Atlas (a free software program that is great for anyone viewing the Moon) (at https://ap-i.net/avl/en/start ). The Mosaic consists of 5 images. The resolution is ~0.19 arc seconds / pixel or about 0.21 miles at the distance of the Moon at the time. The smallest features visible are 4-5 pixels or 0.8-1 mile.
In the 2nd image from the bottom you will see a bunch of bumps. These are not normal hills or mountains. Most are "Lunar Domes", volcanic domes of the Moon. In this case mostly shield volcanoes where lava flowed onto the surface and spread out.
These are easy to see in small telescopes a day or two before a Full Moon. Marius is the large crater just to the right of them. There are at least 23 domes labeled Marius 1 - Marius 23 on the Virtual Moon Atlas. With at least 29 others with labels referencing nearby small craters. Such as Marius A 1 and Marius Z 1. Many of these have calderas (volcanic craters) on them but this image does have enough resolution to show this. However, if scroll up a little and look of the intersection of this and the next image in the mosaic you will spot a dome with a little depression on top of it- that is another shield volcano. Above that is a large volcanic dome with what looks like a river running through it. It is actually a volcanic "river" (volcanic channel) called Vallis Schroteri (Schroter's Valley), a very popular feature for many lunar observers. This large dome or rise has many small volcanic domes scattered across it and a few small volcanic channels. There are other volcanic channels nearby. See how many you can spot. Vallis Schroteri is easy to see in a small scope even at Full Moon, the small ones require the right lighting, steady air and probably a 8" or larger scope. Note- The contrast is much higher here than in a telescope and visually the smallest features visible here require very steady seeing and a large telescope.
Don't forget to check out the wrinkle ridges, there are lots of them all the way from the bottom to the top of the mosaic.
Another Mosaic - Western Edge of the Moon
For those who haven't been able to take advantage of the rare clear nights this Fall or don't have a telescope, here's a mosaic of high resolution images I took last Friday, Nov. 24 on one of those rare nights.
First is a reference image created by overlaying the mosaic (on left edge of Moon) over a screen shot of the Moon from the Virtual Moon Atlas (a free software program that is great for anyone viewing the Moon) (at https://ap-i.net/avl/en/start ). The Mosaic consists of 5 images. The resolution is ~0.19 arc seconds / pixel or about 0.21 miles at the distance of the Moon at the time. The smallest features visible are 4-5 pixels or 0.8-1 mile.
The 5 image mosaic.
In the 2nd image from the bottom you will see a bunch of bumps. These are not normal hills or mountains. Most are "Lunar Domes", volcanic domes of the Moon. In this case mostly shield volcanoes where lava flowed onto the surface and spread out.
These are easy to see in small telescopes a day or two before a Full Moon. Marius is the large crater just to the right of them. There are at least 23 domes labeled Marius 1 - Marius 23 on the Virtual Moon Atlas. With at least 29 others with labels referencing nearby small craters. Such as Marius A 1 and Marius Z 1. Many of these have calderas (volcanic craters) on them but this image does have enough resolution to show this. However, if scroll up a little and look of the intersection of this and the next image in the mosaic you will spot a dome with a little depression on top of it- that is another shield volcano. Above that is a large volcanic dome with what looks like a river running through it. It is actually a volcanic "river" (volcanic channel) called Vallis Schroteri (Schroter's Valley), a very popular feature for many lunar observers. This large dome or rise has many small volcanic domes scattered across it and a few small volcanic channels. There are other volcanic channels nearby. See how many you can spot. Vallis Schroteri is easy to see in a small scope even at Full Moon, the small ones require the right lighting, steady air and probably a 8" or larger scope. Note- The contrast is much higher here than in a telescope and visually the smallest features visible here require very steady seeing and a large telescope.
Don't forget to check out the wrinkle ridges, there are lots of them all the way from the bottom to the top of the mosaic.
Fabulous mosaic Paul.. sorry didn't see it sooner. Not sure I'm getting alerts anymore. The detail you get with that 10" scope is just phenomenal.
Terri
