Monday 16 December 2013

Maria Smythii et Spumans

November 13th brought a favourable libration around the eastern limb of the moon so I couldn't resist taking a few videos on the ImagingSource DBK camera through the C9. The C9 is the society's 9.25" Schmidt-Cassegrain, which is ideal due to its long focal length and having retained its collimation well from last year. I decided to not use a barlow lens as I was at f/10 with a focal length of 2.35m, and captured low noise lunar detail at first quarter with exposures of under 10 milliseconds. I processed in Registax 6 using multipoint alignment and geometry correction and mosaiced 4 sharpened frames, which I've cropped here. I filled in the gaps with a bit of quick clone brush - so don't trust the detail at the bottom. I was aiming to capture the aesthetic beauty I've experienced from viewing the sharp, grey edge of the moon. Mare Smythii and Mare Spumans show up well in this image. Unfortunately, Mare Orientale - the Eastern Sea, discovered partly
by Patrick Moore, is now officially classified as being on the western edge of the moon.
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