First time in space

[Zeineth]

Hello, need some advice from the pros in here. I normally spend my time up in the Performing arts section as Rock concerts are my speciallty. However the stars have always been of interest to me. Things in music are slow in my area so now I have time to experiment with the moon. I am using a Meade ETX 125 PE with adapter of my 50D and a I also have a modified web cam as well. Last night was my first time out and it was a learning experiance I tell you. First ting I found was how unstable this telescope is when trying to focus. I have read allot of the post in here over the last few months and have learned allot. One thing I found is I am not sure how to make the moon smaller to fit the camera. Any Suggestions? Here is a couple images from last night. Also any suggestions on how to make the webcam work better?

Oh and there is no croping on these images. I did forget to switch the camera to RAW so these were taken as small JPG. :-( stupid me.

50d images.
http://www.z-photography.ca/img/v3/p102730409-4.jpg

http://www.z-photography.ca/img/v4/p286849304-4.jpg

And one webcam image
http://www.z-photography.ca/img/v8/p344148345-3.jpg
How can i get better images with the webcam? I was just using the default software that came with it to capture this image. It is an MS Live camera, not very epensive. So software suggestions would be wonderful.

Thanks for looking.

[Celestron]

Certainly doing good for your first time ! Are you observing with your scope also ?

[Zeineth]

Certainly doing good for your first time ! Are you observing with your scope also ?

I use the live view on my camera to observe and focus. I had read about how to use the 5x and 10x zoom on the live view to get the focus in real tight but things move across the screen so fast and the scope is moving around so much that it makes it very hard to see what I am focusing in on. I was actually thinging about taking the tube off it's mount and attaching it directly to the tripod but then fiine adjustments in direction will be difficult. Any suggestions on software for the webcam?

[Celestron]

If things are moving so fast it maybe your not Polar Aligned correctly . Do you setup accordingly for Polar Alignment ?

[Zeineth]

If things are moving so fast it maybe your not Polar Aligned correctly . Do you setup accordingly for Polar Alignment ?
No, I just pointed it at the moon and started to take pictures. I will go throught the allignment process on Sunday night if the weather man's predictions are correct and I have clear skys again. I am assuming then that i can set the scope to track the moon? I find the instruction to not be very clear but it could be just me, and I am very techincal so I might be reading to much into them.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Nighthound]

You're off to great start Z. Proper balance and alignment should be job one.

Be sure to set up on a solid surface or at least place something solid beneath each leg of the tripod. You don't want the rig to settle and throw your alignment off as you're imaging.

To firm up the rig you could try to suspend some additional weight from the center of the tripod(hang between three legs). Also set the tripod as low as you can tolerate, the lower the tripod, the sturdier it will be. These things should help reduce the shake you're getting while focusing.

The atmospheric conditions on any given night can hinder your best focus efforts. Generally the higher in the sky an object is the less atmospheric effect you'll suffer, so try to go for Lunar shots above the 40 degree range. I find that many times the atmosphere is much steadier in the early morning hours after the Earth's radiational cooling has settled down. Even on poor nights of "seeing" there can be periods of steadiness so shoot a lot of frames, there may be a few that will be crisp among the more distorted ones.

Be sure to allow your 125 to "cool down" before shooting. If you take the scope from a warm house to the cool outdoors(or vice versa), it'll take a while for the temp inside the tube to match the temp outside. Until this occurs tube currents will distort your images. It shouldn't take long for your scope to adjust, the larger closed tube scopes can take a while. It will only be a factor if the temps from inside to outside are fairly drastic like in the winter or hot months of summer.

Mirror shift is a real possibility with the 125. It doesn't have a mirror lockdown and they can slip so check focus frequently.

I'm not aware of a focal reducer for the 125, that's the only way to reduce your focal length. Focal reducers alter focal length and as a result alter focal ratio. You might google it and see what comes up.

Best of luck, I hope this helps. Keep posting your images.

[Bernoulli]

These are pretty good shots, especially for the first time! I don't see any motion blur and the focus is pretty good. I downloaded one and sharpened it a bit and it's fine.

I have a 50D and several scopes so I can tell you that anwhere above about 1400 mm the Moon just won't fit into the frame. But, make lemonade out of lemons by taking two or three shots at identical exposure and just stitch them together to make one big, detailed image.

There's plenty of good advice above so I don't have much to add. For the webcam shots, take a few dozen frames and stack them; at those magnifications you'll see a big improvement.

Show us some more when you get them!

[Zeineth]

Thanks Rick, never thought of stiching them together. Should have some partly cloudy skys this weekend and a little warmer. Need to get a power cord out to the camera and the laptop also, the cold kills them pretty fast. Also need to make sure the camera is RAW and nothign else, was very disapointed I over looked that setting while I was playing. Thats the first time my 50D has ever shot anything other then RAW.

[Bernoulli]

I set up a custom function on C1 or C2 just for the moon with all my favorite settings because I can't get everything configured right in the dark.

[MidnightSun]

Nice shots....