December 4, 2024

Archives for January 5, 2024

Waning Crescent Moon – 1/5/2024 5:30am EST

Telescope: Astro-Tech RC8 @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Canon EOS Ra, Baader Mk III MPCC, GSO IR Filter

Exposure: 98×1/400 sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Seeing: Fair, 3/5, haze

Software: Backyard EOS, Nebulosity, Autostakkert, Registax, Photoshop

I took advantage of the clear evening last night to pull and all-nighter imaging run. When I stepped outside this morning to check on my gear I found that the sky was closing in and my scope was buried under a thick coating of frost. I was about to begin the process of covering my gear up and saw that the moon was in a hole in the overcast just large enough to grab a quick set of images, so I went back inside, slewed to scope over to the moon, set the exposure, and free-ran the camera until it started to fade, ending up with 98 usable frames. The result was kinda neat with the setting sun just barely catching the eastern rim of Copernicus. A pretty neat end to a very long night.