Why does my moon have jagged edges?

[zeva]

So i tried shooting the moon with my 1-4 this morning and all of the edges are really jagged not like some of the pictures here where the edges are nice and fine... What am i doing wronG? shooting at f/8 100-800 ISO shutter speeds from 500-1250ish i have no idea whats going on... thanks

[zeva]

800 ISO F/8 spot metering shutter of 1000 cropped like crazy.. i dont get whats going on... i m gonna assume the high ISO?

[zeva]

for somereason i cant embed the image... http://img374.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img5076ay9.jpg probably too big haha i m so bad at this!! thanks for your help!

[Celestron]

I think it maybe the cameras pixel size to start , second maybe under-exposer , thirdly over PP .

[Bernoulli]

It looks to me like severe atmospheric turbulence. Was it near the horizon when you took this?

[zeva]

Hmm it was taken with a 40D with 1-4 And yes it was fairly close to horision maybe a 5-15 degrees up from my eye level? it was taken outside of my house across a street and the moon was above another house so id estimate 200 feet or so to get to the other house and the house was a single story house maybe 15 feet high or so... so id guess maybe atmospheric turbulence? is there anyway around this? thanks!

[Bernoulli]

That's exactly what it is. Especially if it was above another house that's producing heat.

Use the same settings with the moon well up, at least 30 degrees, and I bet you get a great shot. Let us see it when you do.

[A.S.I.G.N. Observatory]

Originally Posted by Bernoulli

That's exactly what it is. Especially if it was above another house that's producing heat.

Use the same settings with the moon well up, at least 30 degrees, and I bet you get a great shot. Let us see it when you do.

I concur. Looks like thermal currents to me.

Baz.

[zeva]

OH thanks for the help! ill probably try on the next full moon its great that its not me being an idiot forgetting to change a setting though!

[dale65bama]

Full moon is tough to start with as it will be very flat. Try this weekend - I am about to go out in a bit to get the moon with some light from the side. That is really a suggestion from my brother who is a serious astronomer/astro-imager. With stuff rigged up to 400mm, the moon is only about 325 pixels wide in my 5D. The extreme contrast between black space and the bright moon will result inthe jagged border of light and dark pixels.

Dale

[zeva]

alright Any tips for next time to not get these crappy images? i m guessing dont shoot over another house?

[carpenterken]

Originally Posted by zeva

alright Any tips for next time to not get these crappy images? i m guessing dont shoot over another house?

I played with the Moon last week.
My horizon shots where not good, but when the Moon is high in the sky it became much easier.
The horizon shot, 40D 100-400+1.4 tc. F14, 0.6 sec. (the exposure was to long)


Now the better one, 40D, f8, iso100, 1/80 sec @400mm without the 1.4tc.


Start with camera on a tripod, use center focus, af,(aimed at center of moon) remote trigger (if you don't have one use the timer) manual mode iso 100, f8 and 1/60 Take your shot, step up one ss, and take again (repeat for 6-8 shots) .
Shoot in raw if you have software to convert. The WB temp on these where 4000

[zeva]

Hmm i think the next thing i need to purchase is a remote...

[carpenterken]

Originally Posted by zeva

Hmm i think the next thing i need to purchase is a remote...

Compared to the rest of your equipment, the remote is cheep.
You can get by with just using the timer drive mode though.

[zeva]

Hmm i rather get a remote i can do stuff like star trails! lol and ya.. its like 30-40 conpared to the about 5 grand ive spent haha