Aristoteles & Eudoxus 2-panel mosaic

[turfpit]

A 2-panel mosaic, captured 18th Jan 2024 around 17:23, of a 50% waxing moon.

Equipment: Celestron AVX mount, Celestron C8 SCT, Celestron 2X Barlow, Altair 183M camera, IR685 filter, JMI motorised focuser.
Software: SharpCap 4.1 64-bit, Autostakkert 3, Microsoft Image Composite Editor, WaveSharp beta v1.0.0, GIMP 2.10.
Capture details (each panel): 500 frames @ 35fps (14s total capture time), 1920x1200, SER, MONO8, exposure=23.4ms, gain=200, Brightness=0.
Post-process: AS3 stack best 25% of 500, AP size =96, ~350 APs. Microsft ICE to stitch panels. WaveSharp see screenshot below for Wavelets, slight gamma applied. GIMP for contrast/brightness.

2024-01-18-1722_7-183m-2_lapl5_ap357_stitch_WS.jpg (732.46 KiB) Viewed 1580 times

ICE.JPG (69.08 KiB) Viewed 1580 times

WaveSharp.JPG (141.99 KiB) Viewed 1580 times

2024-01-18-1722_7-183m-2.CameraSettings.txt

(1.26 KiB) Downloaded 129 times

WaveSharp is 64-bit software (Registax is 32-bit) which handily solves the problem I did have loading lunar mosaics for sharpening.
Info for WaveSharp:

https://www.astronomie.be/registax/ via Registax site.

https://github.com/CorBer/waveSharp software download and documentation.

Dave

[timh]

Superb Dave. Just catching up with stuff I missed. Wavesharp looks interesting

[turfpit]

Tim

See
viewtopic.php?t=7382. I have been re-processing lunar images with waveSharp. As always with new software, a time investment is needed to get the best out of it.

Dave

[timh]

Thanks Dave, very useful account of exactly what to do and I will give it a serious go with the 12 inch Newt one of these nights. I was interested in thinking through the whole question of what aperture, focal length etc should really work best for lunar/ planetary imaging and came across this thread on CN which seemed a good discussion https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/4735 ... r-imaging/
Tim

[turfpit]

Tim

An interesting link which brings out some conflicting advice (as usual with this type of thread).

I have done OK with the Celestron C8 SCT. According to the Astronomy Tools CCD Suitability Calculator the C8 with my cameras leads to slight over-sampling which becomes worse with the addition of the 2x Barlow. A Vixen 81s refractor has been used for capturing full disk mineral moons with a ZWO ASI120MC USB2 camera.

The cameras I use are:

• Altair 183M, USB3, CMOS, pixel size=2.4µm. I use 1920x1200 to get a respectable 35fps. Any capture area greater than this drops the speed to 17fps.

• QYH5LII-M, USB2, CMOS, pixel size=3.75µm. I can get 45fps if I run at 1024x768. Stacking with drizzle 1.5 seems to give good results with the camera.

• Skyris 618M, USB3, CCD, pixel size=5.6µm. This runs at 120fs with its maximum capture area of 640x480. Tends to mean I have to capture mosaics (which is not a problem) to capture larger features.

Data capture is always SER and 8-bit mono.

Filters used:

• IR685, good for large % illumination or capturing before darkness.

• UV/IR cut, good general purpose.

• Wratten #25 (red) to deal with atmospheric turbulence at lower elevations.

• UV/IR cut + red for low elevation high % illumination disks.

The biggest single equipment improvement to my lunar images was the addition of 'hands-off' focusing with the JMI motorised focuser.

The biggest improvement to my data capture was:

• The use of the FX Over Exposed tool - just back off exposure until the 'black areas' disappear which leaves the histogram around 60% saturation

• Zoom to 150% when focusing

The biggest improvement with my post processing has been a lighter touch with sharpening in Registax/waveSharp.

Processing software:

• PIPP for image stabilisation, which helps when the stacks are ragged (atmospheric turbulance)

• Autostakkert to stack SER videos

• Microsoft Image Composite Editor for stitching mosaics.

• Registax/waveSharp for sharpening

• GIMP for brightness/contrast/cropping. Although use of this has become less as I have become better at using the above programs.

There are other programs which can perform theses functions.

In a 1 hour capture session I can easily run to 100Gb of data (if I am organised). Plenty of information in this post viewtopic.php?t=7382

My first 2 years of lunar images were rubbish and really need erasing from the disk. 2020 saw the big improvements - helped by attending a couple of 1 day lunar imaging workshops run by Damian Peach (1st time was information overload, 1 year later I could actually ask sensible questions).

Dave