The Moon through a refractor

Here is a single shot of the moon from 02/11/2014 through an old 10" refractor at prime focus. The seeing was decent for the winter (which is pretty bad here), I'm going to try to stack some later.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …53298814@N07/12​473649225/

Amazing!

Thanks! Maybe I should have put this in the official moon thread

Very nice indeed.
Few points and I am a bit worry if you are seeking C&C or not, so if that is not your intent, just pm me and will remove this.
10" is a monster. Not sure about you exact type of glass but with say Schmidt-Cassegrain focusing can be very difficult and if you miss the sharp focus point, opposite direction same extend move of focuser won't take you the the same exact point. So its hit it or miss it situation. That is if you are focusing manually and not with motor focuser. Assuming your tracker is on and then more importantly with that short exposure time you need for bright moon, motion artifact doesn't seem to be playing the big show of blur image, it has to be incorrect focus that I know is very difficult to achieve unless if you have a large monitor and large magnification LiveView or check each few images taken on a separate monitor for accuracy of focus (WiFi / Manual card transfer etc). Looking at edge craters, your exposure is perfect for shadows and crater but then looking at Tycho, you are over exposing it. Here my suggestion is to aim for one and crop the rest or play selectively in post processing.
As is, to improve your image, I would add USM to add more edge enhancement. I am sure you can make image better if only adding some sharpness. Just keep a high "Amount" say 200 % or more, a very low "Radius" say 0.6 pixel or less and a low "Threshold" or best 0. Then judge for your self if image is better or not but then do your work on critical focusing for that next shoot.

Thanks Samsen, The seeing was pretty bad ("good" for winter, -22C) so getting a pin sharp image wasn't really possible there. Just sitting watching it on live view with 5x zoom was ridiculous with the scintillation. To focus I had to make an adjustment and wait for a couple minutes to see if it was focused through waves of scintillation. I did the shoot-check method as well. When I get out in the summer it will be exponentially better.

How much does light pollution mess with planetary imaging?

Allan.L wrote in post #16688639
How much does light pollution mess with planetary imaging?

Fortunately Moon is very bright. In the Apparent Magnitude order, sun is -27. Moon (When full) is half of that at ~-13. Then Venus and ISS are half the brightness of moon at ~-5 -6 followed by Jupiter & Mars at -3 and next comes Saturn at -1, so all are quit bright and no problem in most situations to see and picture them well even with urban locations and light pollution. Its smog or temperature effect that can distort more than light pollution when dealing with Planetary imaging so overall you should be fine to work around with solar system without leaving comfort of home. Deep sky is a totally different ball.

nice shot, what kind of refractor did you get?

This one isn't mine, its a ~4m focal length 10" refractor that I have access to, it was built in the 1940's. Its right in the city which is too bad (red/white zone).

Allan.L wrote in post #16693397
This one isn't mine, its a ~4m focal length 10" refractor that I have access to, it was built in the 1940's. Its right in the city which is too bad (red/white zone).

WOA! a 10"! That is insane, take a picture of it if you ever get a chance, I'd love to see it!

I have access to a 12" Zeiss refractor and that thing is a MONSTER.
Me too, like to see picture of this glass.

samsen wrote in post #16698284
I have access to a 12" Zeiss refractor and that thing is a MONSTER.
Me too, like to see picture of this glass.

I remember you mentioning the Zeiss a while back when I posted a picture of Jupiter, that thing is a beast. Besides the scope being located in a red zone I have been having a blast using it (learning lots). I may wait until it warms up to do more planetary imaging.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …53298814@N07/12​614907875/

Oh yes Allan. I now remember.
Very nice glass and you surely can bring light of life back through it.
Wish you all the best and share your result as you proceed.