I know there are a few Astronomy folks around here, so I thought I'd share some of my first image attempts of the moon.

As most of you know I have a Celestron CPC1100 scope that I purchased about a year ago. You may also not be aware, but Webcam AstroPhotography is the cheapest and easiest way to get started. Down the road, you can purchase more expensive CCD based cameras for deep space stuff.

Anyway, I found a cheap Logitech Quickcam on craigslist, modified it by removing the lens, super glued a 35mm film case to it which fits right into the focuser, and bingo, my 11" scope just became one big a$$ lens.

I won't get into a lot of details on the capturing/processing, but basically you capture an AVI file, adjust the exposure, frames per second, gain, etc., then use another program to break up the AVI into seperate images, remove the garbage, then stack what you have left into the final image.

For my first attempt, I limited my captures to about 40seconds, which is like a 500mb AVI file. To really get better results I need to increase that time, especially for planets which you use 3-4 minutes.

Anyway, here are my first pics ever of portions of the moon.

Very cool Randy!

Backyard Astronomy sure has come a long way since I did it seriously. Most I use anymore are binoculars since they are easy to carry when out camping. Phoenix has become so bright and often so polluted viewing is usually very poor.

What are the coolest things you have seen?

Sounds like fun!

I saw this through my telescope while looking at the moon once.

That is very cool Randy. Sounds like you had fun turning the scope into a camera.

What jerks. They go off galavanting and leave Rosie home alone to clean up after them?

Thanks guys,

Hey Grunt, so are I'd say the coolest things I've seen visually using an eyepiece are The Great Hercules Star Cluster, Orion Nebula, various Galaxies like Andromeda, Whirlpool, etc.. The planets are also great, I can normally see at least 4-5 moons around Jupitor and Saturn, and also the great red spot on Jupitor and the rings of Saturn are awesome with this larger scope.

Probably what is the neatest feature is the GPS ability of the scope, and the hundreds of thousands of items in its database. Once I do the skyalign, I can take a tour of the sky, planets, clusters, galaxies, etc. at the push of a button, and the scope tracks them automatically.

Wow! That is a great setup. That's the best use of a GPS ever!

That is a cool use of GPS!

Nice work Randy.


quote=RickF]I saw this through my telescope while looking at the moon once.

[/quote]

You hitting the shrooms again Rick?

I reprocessed them in b/w, looks more natural to me.

Randy, very impressive for that relatively simple camera that you set up.

I don't know if it will be visible when it occurs, but I saw mention of this on the NASA channel this morning... Lunar impact

Scott

I suppose if I was looking at the exact location I could see something. The smaller craters in my pics are around 10 miles in diameter, with the larger ones close to 100miles in diameter.

The folks at LCROSS indicated that the debris plume would extend 12Km up! I guess if you look real careful like, you might something.

Nice pics, Randy...I missed them the other week(vacation). It's difficult to see much here because of all the reflections from Toronto/Mississauga but 2-3 hrs North(Axiom country) and it's unbelievable the numbers of stars you can see up in the Muskokas, literally millions.....

BTW, on the right side of the first pic, it looks like 3-4 impacts in sequence much like the ones that hit Jupiter years ago.

What? Were you there?

I cannot tell you guys, you'll only ridicule me....

More?

I was abducted by an alien race where all of them looked like Kylie Minogue.....

Luuuuuuckeeeee!

The problem is I just can't get them outta my head.

Was your alien experience anything like this?


Alrighty, then ... picture this if you will.

10 to 2 AM, X, Yogi DMT, and a box of Krispy Kremes,
In my "need to know" pose, just outside of Area 51
Contemplating the whole "chosen people" thingy
When a flaming stealth banana split the sky
Like one would hope but never really expect
To see in a place like this.
Cutting right angle donuts on a dime
And stopping right at my Birkenstocks,
And me yelping...

Holy f*cking sh*t!

Then the X-Files being,
Looking like some kind of blue-green Jackie Chan
With Isabella Rossellini lips, and breath that reeked of
Vanilla Chig Champa
Did a slow-mo Matrix descent
Outta the butt end of the banana vessel
And hovered above my bug-eyes, my gaping jaw,
And my sweaty L. Ron Hubbard upper lip,
And all I could think was:
"I hope Uncle Martin here doesn't notice
That I pissed my f*ckin' pants."

So light in his way,
Like an apparition, [that]
He had me crying out,
"F*ck me
It's gotta be
The Deadhead Chemistry
The blotter got [right] on top of me
Got me seein' E-motherf*ckin'-T!"

And after calming me down
With some orange slices
And some fetal spooning,
E.T. revealed to me his singular purpose.
He said, "You are the Chosen One,
The One who will deliver the message.
A message of hope for those who choose to hear it
And a warning for those who do not."
Me. The Chosen One?
They chose me!!!
And I didn't even graduate from f*ckin' high school.

You'd better...
You'd better...
You'd better...
You'd better listen.

Then he looked right through me
With somniferous almond eyes
Don't even know what that means
Must remember to write it down
This is so real
Like the time Dave floated away
See, my heart is pounding
'Cause this sh*t never happens to me

I can't breathe right now!

It was so real,
Like I woke up in Wonderland.
All sorta terrifying
I don't wanna be all alone
While I tell this story.
And can anyone tell me why
Y'all sound like Peanuts parents?
Will I ever be coming down?
This is so real
Finally, it's my lucky day
See, my heart is racing
'Cause this sh*t never happens to me

I can't breathe right now!

You believe me, don't you?
Please believe what I've just said!
See the Dead ain't touring
And this wasn't all in my head.
See, they took me by the hand
And invited me right in.
Then they showed me something
I don't even know where to begin.

Strapped down [to] my bed
Feet cold [and] eyes red
I'm out of my head
Am I alive? Am I dead?
Can't remember what they said
God damn, sh*t the bed.

Hey ...

Overwhelmed as one would be, placed in my position.
Such a heavy burden now to be the One
Born to bear and bring to all the details of our ending,
To write it down for all the world to see.

But I forgot my pen
Sh*t the bed again ...
Typical.

Strapped down [to] my bed
Feet cold and eyes red
I'm out of my head
Am I alive? Am I dead?
Sunkist and Sudafed *
Gyroscopes and infrared
Won't help, I'm brain dead
Can't remember what they said
God damn, sh*t the bed

I can't remember what they said to me
Can't remember what they said to make me out to be a hero
Can't remember what they said
Bob help me!
Can't remember what they said

[We] don't know, [and we] won't know (x12)

God damn, sh*t the bed!

alright, satin or Egyptian cotton?

Very nice!

Glad to hear your Celestron GPS Goto scope works well for you. I've wondered if those GPS-assisted goto systems are worth it. I had horribly frustrating experiences trying to use Meade's Autostar system (non GPS) on two different scopes. I've sort of been turned off to the idea of ever owning another goto scope. Nice to know Celestron's system works.

One minor benefit of living in the Midwest, decently dark sky sites aren't impossible to find.