Hercules and Atlas

November 16, 2007

Uploaded 11/30/07

North is left in this image, more info below.
Object Key on Left While the seeing was particularly poor on this evening, it gave me an opportunity to hone my processing skills on the lunar details. As sub optimal as it was, this is the first image I have ever done that reveals many of the small craters as conical shaped pits with dark flat bottoms. The crater inside Hercules is one example, another is inside and just above Posidonius. All other lunar close ups I have ever taken show small craters as mere circles or rings. Processing Lunar images to give that certain look of a scene from a Lunar Orbiter is very difficult, and its going to take me a lot of patience to learn the craft. But I'll keep trying...

Processing Notes:

200/1000 images were MAP processed in Registax with 52 alignment points. The resulting image was deconvolved in PixInsight with Regulated Van Cittert Deconvolution, contrast Layer Masked in Photoshop CS3 to eliminate white clipping, then deconvolved with the Focus Magic plug in.

Instrument: 12.5" f/5 with 1.5x Barlow Platform: Astrophysics AP1200 CCD Camera: Image Source DMK 31AU03.AS Exposure: 1/15 sec 15fps Location: Payson, Arizona Elevation: 5150 ft. Sky: Seeing Poor , Transparency 8/10 Outside Temperature: 45F Processing: Registax, PixInsight Pro, Photoshop CS3, Focus Magic Plugin