5000mm F20 Moon picture!

[BerserkerCatSplat]

This shot is incredible, and all the exposures had to be done very quickly to avoid the earth's rotation messing up the perspective. :eek:


This image is a mosaic of 15 separate and slightly overlapping 8.2 megapixel images from my Canon EOS-20D (unmodified), taken in Raw mode and converted and stitched together in Photoshop CS2. As you can see from the EXIF data, the exposures were each 1/5 second at ISO 100.

Though the moon is generally made of gray, dusty material it is very bright, photographically, since it is bathed in sunlight.

I mounted my 20D to my Meade LX200 GPS UHTC 10" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope via my 2x Televue Powermate (a focal length doubler, similar to a teleconverter, which also serves to mate my camera to the 2" telescope eyepiece tube). Effective focal length was 5000mm f/20.

Looking through the viewfinder I swept across the surface in a zig-zag fashion, trying for about 1/3 overlap between frames. I triggered the shutter with my TC80-N3 remote timer/controller. I did the stitching by hand in Photoshop.

Since it is tremendously downsized from the original mosaic, which was almost 40 megapixels, and was taken at the camera's most noise-free setting (ISO 100), the data is very accurate, and thus I was able to strongly increase the saturation via Photoshop's Image - Adjust - Hue/Saturation function.

http://www.hostimage.org/img/48686819.jpg

[adam c]

awesome shot, although u can see where he pieced things together its still very nice

[403Gemini]

thats actually pretty amazing!

[scat19]

Nice

[DoubleLP]

Awesome picture!

[mo_money2supe]

:eek: Look at that focal length!!! Oh yeah, and nice picture too! :D

[nusneak]

Originally posted by adam c
awesome shot, although u can see where he pieced things together its still very nice

where? I got 20/20 and I dont see it.

[black_radiation]

i dont see it either, i mean nothing incredibly noticeable :dunno:

[Ben]

beats the hell outta mine I shot a couple years back...mind you I didn't use a 20D, multiple photos stitched, or a telescope mount either.

Handheld Canon SD200 FTW!!!

[gp36912]

what a shot :D

[seer_claw]

Originally posted by Ben
beats the hell outta mine I shot a couple years back...mind you I didn't use a 20D, multiple photos stitched, or a telescope mount either.

Handheld Canon SD200 FTW!!!


Almost FTW, but just not as nice. You lose on the quality end. Nothing quite like seeing those craters. :eek:

[Kirbs17]

Amazing picture :drool:

[D'z Nutz]

That's freakin' awesome! Makes me miss astrophotography even more :(


Originally posted by BerserkerCatSplat
This shot is incredible, and all the exposures had to be done very quickly to avoid the earth's rotation messing up the perspective. :eek:


Actually, that's not necessarily true. I telescope of that size would need to be pretty hefty and would likely have tracking anyways, so he wouldn't need to be too rushed. Once you get it in focus (the only real hard part), you could probably get all the shots you need in a couple minutes. See the diffraction spikes on those two right stars? The trick is done using dental floss in front of the objective :D

I've actually been considering selling one of my scopes and upgrading to an 8" 2032mm f/10 or 9.25" 2350mm f/11 SCT myself for a while.

Here's some I did a couple years back using, of all things, a Logitech Quickcam Pro 4K :rofl:

http://www.typicalfish.com/blog//images/lunar200501152040.jpg

http://www.typicalfish.com/blog//images/lunar200502151905.jpg


The photo you posted was done using 15 stitched frames? Here's one I did with 32!

Before:
http://www.typicalfish.com/blog//images/mosaic20050222.jpg

After (about 10% of it's original size):
http://www.spacegoggles.com/images/lunar/lunar2005022249-sm.jpg


Last winter was way too freaking cloudy to do any viewing (plus I was super busy), so I'm really itching to do some this winter. If any of you guys are up for it, we can try and set up a late night astro/photo meet sometime between October-December. Keep in mind, it will have to be done out of city limits and probably in minus 20 weather (less chance of clouds).

I'll bring out my two telescopes for viewing and if anyone wants to photograph nebulae. Star trails will be easy, and if you want to build a cheap barndoor tracker, try photographing the milky way.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

I was hoping you'd post some of your asto work, it's been a long time since I've seen it. :D

I don't know anything about astrophotography, but that meet sounds pretty cool. What do you use to hook up your camera to the scope?

[Beanie_baby]

I would totally be up for getting together and learning how to do this. It's just so freaking awesome!! Just keep us all updated on a time and place :D

[seer_claw]

I'd be up for a meet to shoot some stars too. That would be awesome. :thumbsup:

[69cougar]

sweet pic!

:bigpimp:

[djayz]

thats one amazing picture
new background for me hah

[AccentAE86]

where is it? All I get is a "not found" page when I click the link....

[D'z Nutz]

Originally posted by BerserkerCatSplat
What do you use to hook up your camera to the scope?

I have a Canon EOS mount T-ring for my camera. With that, I just screw it into my eyepiece adapter and into the focuser, like so:

http://www.telescopes.com/images/tringsandmounts_12.jpg

[hoamic11]

nice pics, looks amazing

[adam c]

Originally posted by nusneak


where? I got 20/20 and I dont see it.

just some of the lines dont line up properly.. but thats do to the rotation of the earth