Huge Craters, Dramatic Shadows
An evening of superb views and experiments in image making.
Details
- Camera: ZWO ASI662
- Scope: Stellalyra 150mm Classical Cassegrain
- Mount: Sky-Watcher HEQ5-Pro
- Software: Autostakkert, PixInsight, GIMP
- Filters: None
Lucky imaging: best 25% frames from 10000 video frames.
Notes
Seeing index: 4/3
Jet stream: Poor 30-40 m/s
Transparency: 3/2
Seeing forecast
Early in the evening, when the sky was totally overcast, I made one of my first astrogravures from an image of Copernicus taken last November.
Moon astrogravure (click for large view)
There was little sign of clear sky until around 10.30pm when all of a sudden the Moon showed beautifully clear high on the Meridian. I quickly set up the 8" Dobsonian and enjoyed fabulous views of the craters Schickard, Schiller, Phocylides and Nasmyth, the latter two displaying a huge separating shadow as they sat right on the terminator.
Craters Schickard, Schiller, Phocylides and Nasmyth (click for large view)
A little later I noticed the bright image of the Moon projected on to my jacket as I swapped eyepieces and this gave me the idea of experimenting with snapping the projected image with the Night Sight function of my Pixel 5 smartphone. It was a curiously moving experience to be aware of the live projection of the Moon on my skin.
Moon on a Pixel 5 smartphone
Moon with clouds, early evening
All in all, what started depressingly cloudy after weeks of no clear skies, turned out to be a wonderful, exploratory and inspiring evening which ended as clouds rolled in again at 1.30am.
