Lunar images on Feb 5, 2006
I’m working on some of the Astroleague Lunar2 targets and decided to image some of them while I was at it. All images taken with Celestron Nexstar11 with F6.2 focal reducer and a Phillips Toucam 740K camera. Partly cloudy skies, temperature was 34°F, no wind, transparency generally good, though a number of thin clouds drifted through.
Lunar2 target, Cassini A, is a 10 mile wide crater within the larger (35 mile wide) Cassini crater.
Heading south of Cassini to the next Lunar2 target is Rima Hadley, a north south winding rille. This area was visited by the Apollo 15 crew on the 4th US mission to the moon in 1971.
February 9th, 2006 at 9:04 pm
I’ve never imaged the Moon with the ToUcam I have. So if I put my f/6.3 focal reducer on my 10″ LX 200 I would get similar results?
February 10th, 2006 at 11:47 am
You should be able to. You can image the moon with or without a focal reducer of course. I tend to use a focal reducer as the field of view is wider. Also, effects of air turbulence aren’t as much a problem. I use 640×480 format and record for about 3 to 3.5 minutes. Recording longer than that will result in a file size greater than 1 Gbyte which can cause Registax to crash. Set the gain low and shutter speed to 1/250 or 1/500.
February 12th, 2006 at 7:21 am
Thanks Vern. I’ll try that next time I am out.