Moon 06-20-2010

All in All you have a good image here.
IMHO, it doesn't look too dark, but does look a little focus soft. A little USM does help your image. If you're using photoshop use the UnSharp Mask set at 300%, 0.7px, 0 Threshold. And then you can adjust the levels and contrast just slightly. Doing that will show a significant improvement.

Tim,
As always, you are a great help! I did the tweaks that you suggested, and played a little in PS. I think it made it look much better.

I think that was the ticket. Looks great!! How much of a crop did you have to apply?

QueenChatty wrote in post #10404515
I think that was the ticket. Looks great!! How much of a crop did you have to apply?

Actually not much crop at all. The telescope itself is 1350mm, so I actually had to tilt the camera to make it fit better. A full moon barely fits. I have to adjust constantly to keep the moon from moving out of frame.

Paul3221

Looks good. Thanks for sharing. I would let the scope cool for a few hours before shooting to beat the thermals off the glass. Usually I leave my scope out an hour or so before sunset and let it acclimate to the ambient temperature so by the time I come out to shoot 2-3 hours later it has cooled significantly. Adding a simple computer fan to the back of the mirror does wonders to the cooling time.
clear skies
Vishnu

moonyguy wrote in post #10404575
Looks good. Thanks for sharing. I would let the scope cool for a few hours before shooting to beat the thermals off the glass. Usually I leave my scope out an hour or so before sunset and let it acclimate to the ambient temperature so by the time I come out to shoot 2-3 hours later it has cooled significantly. Adding a simple computer fan to the back of the mirror does wonders to the cooling time.
clear skies
Vishnu

Does this apply the other way too? Here in Phoenix at this time of year, it is usually in the 90's until after midnight. It was close to 100 when I shot this around dusk.

paul3221 wrote in post #10405955
Does this apply the other way too? Here in Phoenix at this time of year, it is usually in the 90's until after midnight. It was close to 100 when I shot this around dusk.

Cooling is a term used by amateur astronomers when we refer to allowing the telescope to equalize with the outside temperature. It doesn't necessarily really mean to cool down, it could mean to warm up like you say in the summer months.
Typically about an hour is good, but if you're using a closed Cassegrain telescope you should allow longer, and if you can use a cooling fan on the back end of the telescope.

BTW, the image does look better with those little tweaks.