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Lunar South Pole Region

Posted: 8 January 2012


I opened the observatory Saturday, 7 January 2012, at 2120 MST, 48°F. The sky was clear. At 2124 MST, the moon was viewed at 77X and 206X. Seeing was much better this night than on recent nights. I selected to image the lunar south pole region. Removed the diagonal, added a focal reducer and visual back. Then mounted the D7000 DSLR at prime focus. I began imaging at 2138 MST.

I took a series of images of the moon, about 1 day before Full phase, at ISO 100 with various shutter speeds. This is the 1/400sec exposure, slightly cropped from the full-frame image:

photo

Removed the focal reducer and then did two series of eyepiece projection (222X) images. The first series was taken using the "Hat Trick" method at various ISO settings. Since the moon was so bright, I did a second series of images at various shutter speeds and ISO settings. This is the 1/250sec, ISO 800, exposure (full-frame):

photo

Notice the crater walls rising above the lunar limb.

At 2159 MST, I ended imaging. Removed the visual back and switched to the diagonal. Viewed Jupiter at 206X and 77X. Four moons were visible.

Closed the observatory at 2217 MST, 47°F.


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Copyright ©2012 Michael L. Weasner / mweasner@me.com
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