Mineral Moon - attempt 2

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turfpit
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Mineral Moon - attempt 2

#1

Post by turfpit »

Captured 14th May 2022 around 21:30 (30 minutes after sunset), 95% waxing moon at elevation 17°. The image is a 2-panel mosaic, processed with a variety of colour schemes. The dark areas are mineral rich containing titanium and iron. The darker area at 3 o'clock, The Sea of Tranquility, is particularly rich in titanium (best seen on the reddish image).

21_28_17_lapl5_ap723_Drizzle15_conv_stitch-5.jpg
21_28_17_lapl5_ap723_Drizzle15_conv_stitch-5.jpg (301.89 KiB) Viewed 1466 times

1.jpg
1.jpg (326.53 KiB) Viewed 1466 times

2.jpg
2.jpg (310.06 KiB) Viewed 1466 times


Equipment: Celestron AVX mount, Vixen 81s refractor, ZWO ASI 120MC, no filters used.
Capture: Sharpcap 4, SER, 1280x960, RGB24, gain=10, exposure= 2.5ms, 60s capture= 825 frames @ 13fps. The white balance for B and R were adjusted to ensure equal saturation of R, G and B. 2 panels were captured, the elapsed time for capture being around 3 minutes.
Processing: Autostakkert!3 stack best 25% of 825 frames with drizzle 1.5. Used the AS!3 _conv (sharpened) files (Registax is overkill for near full moons). Stitch panels with Microsoft Image Composite Editor. Process with GIMP 2.10 - Colors > Auto >White Balance, Colors > Auto > Color Enhance, Color Balance, Hue-Chroma, Hue-saturation, reduce by 50% and export as JPG. The application of colour was done by repeating the colour operations in small increments. Adjust to taste - artistic license!

A small test capture of 150 frames was taken and processed at the capture laptop to ensure the data collected was fit for purpose.

test-capture in-progress.JPG
test-capture in-progress.JPG (63.09 KiB) Viewed 1461 times


This is the histogram from SER Player showing high saturation and balanced colours (blue is normally weak).

SER-Player-histogram.PNG
SER-Player-histogram.PNG (9.25 KiB) Viewed 1466 times


Check out the NASA Mineral Moon https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagega ... e_819.html - a mosaic of 53 images recorded by the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft as it passed by the moon in 1992.

Menno - thanks for the advice given with my previous attempt, I did work with your suggestions. Still work to be done with this topic but not bad for 3 minutes of capture.

Dave
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turfpit
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Re: Mineral Moon - attempt 2

#2

Post by turfpit »

This is a process of the data captured as RAW8
21_24_48_lapl5_ap573_Drizzle15_conv_stitch-4.jpg
21_24_48_lapl5_ap573_Drizzle15_conv_stitch-4.jpg (421.47 KiB) Viewed 1423 times


All capture, stacking & stitching as above post. In GIMP, the following processing was carried out:
  • Colors > Auto > White balance
  • Colors > Hue-Saturation, set saturation to 50%
  • Repeat the Hue-saturation step 5 times
GIMP_Hue-Saturation.JPG
GIMP_Hue-Saturation.JPG (34.87 KiB) Viewed 1423 times
A much simpler path to achieve saturated colour.

Dave
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oopfan
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Re: Mineral Moon - attempt 2

#3

Post by oopfan »

Dave,

Really excellent work! As you know, I've tried the Mineral Moon, but I was met with failure due to my non-APO refractor (i.e. a Doublet). One of my greatest mistakes was buying it. WARNING TO THE SHARPCAP COMMUNITY: Shun any manufacturer who promotes their product as "APO-like". I'm tempted to name them.

Brian
timh
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Re: Mineral Moon - attempt 2

#4

Post by timh »

Dave,

Interesting and subtle. I had never really got what the mineral moon is - or thought about whether any the faint lunar coloration could be accurately amplified to indicate anything like geological composition- but there is consistency in the pictures. When you stated that the dark areas were titanium rich I immediately though titanium dioxide and paint - which is of course brilliant white - but then realized that actually high titanium just refers to the abundance of a particular mineral that happens to have lots of titanium in its composition- but by no means only titanium but iron and oxygen as well - and so its dark.

Anyway enough inorganic chemistry - attempt 2 looks terrific - like a poster and a very attractive way to depict the full moon.

Tim
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turfpit
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Re: Mineral Moon - attempt 2

#5

Post by turfpit »

Thanks Tim. In the end the processing was very simple. Did you look at the link in my first post?

Dave
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Menno555
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Re: Mineral Moon - attempt 2

#6

Post by Menno555 »

Hi Dave

It's indeed starting to show nicely. The RAW8 one is very nice.
One thing though: you mentioned for GIMP the use of Auto for several things. I don't know GIMP myself but I know in Photoshop those actions actually alter the colors in ways you don't want with a mineral moon.
Also, it can make a difference when you start processing. Automated stitching with programs like Microsoft ICE also alter color shades and that too can give alterations you don't want. Depending on the capture quality it can work sometimes best to first do the color processing to a certain extent, then the stitching and then the final processing.

And, also, no matter what we do, the colors will always differ somewhat. As I understand it that's mostly cause of atmospheric circumstances. There can be a shift in red for example when the humidity is higher (that's just a made up example :) ).
The capture below for example is from 2 years back and I recall it was very hard to work with, it was way more greenish then normal. But working these ways with the colors of the different minerals, indeed gives a different, more clear perspective on areas when there is more then just shades of grey :)

Could you share one of your captures? I would be more than happy to see if I can also get something out of it and share the workflow.

Menno
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turfpit
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Re: Mineral Moon - attempt 2

#7

Post by turfpit »

Menno

Sent a PM to the data on my Onedrive. I uploaded the AS!3 sharpened stacks.

Dave
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turfpit
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Re: Mineral Moon - attempt 2

#8

Post by turfpit »

See also last post here viewtopic.php?t=5206


Da
ve
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turfpit
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Re: Mineral Moon - attempt 2

#9

Post by turfpit »

After some off-line discussion with Menno (thanks Menno), an amended workflow has been used to produce this (which is more like the 'conventional' mineral moons found around the internet).

Mineral_Moon.JPG
Mineral_Moon.JPG (65.54 KiB) Viewed 1347 times


Next steps are:
  • More experimentation/study.
  • Acquire a much larger number of frames, say 10,000, and stack only the highest quality frames.
Thanks again for your suggestions Menno.

Dave
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turfpit
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Re: Mineral Moon - attempt 2

#10

Post by turfpit »

Menno

I have had time to have a systematic look at how the various processing programs can affect a coloured lunar image. I looked at:
  • Effect of Microsoft Image Composite Editor during stitching
  • Autostakkert sharpen and drizzle
  • Autostakkert sharpen and no drizzle
  • Autostakkert no sharpen and drizzle
  • Autostakkert no sharpen and no drizzle
  • GIMP auto white balance
These are the findings:
  • Microsoft Image Composite Editor stitching results in the greenish images when saturation is applied
  • Any use of sharpen or drizzle with Autostakkert results in greenish images when saturation is applied
  • Use of GIMP's auto white balance results in a pinkish hue when saturation is applied
All 3 applications will affect the underlying data. This is a bit of an eye-opener having only been involved with mono lunar imaging to date.

As you correctly suggested I have managed to achieve a more conventional colour rendering for my mineral moon by processing in this order:

  • Treat each panel separately
  • Autostakkert - stack with no drizzle & no sharpening
  • Registax - carry out RGB auto balance
  • GIMP - apply saturation (Hue-Saturation)
  • Microsoft Image Composite Editor - stitch panels
  • Registax - mild sharpening with wavelets
  • GIMP - adjust gamma, contrast

This is the resultant image:

saturated_stitch2.jpg
saturated_stitch2.jpg (809.15 KiB) Viewed 1347 times


A higher resolution image can be found at https://www.astrobin.com/xk1dmc/0/

Thanks for your input Menno, I doubt I would have got to this easily.

Dave
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