Cassiopeia Observatory

Lunar "Double-Double Star",
Jupiter D7000 DSLR Video Tests
Posted: 9 January 2014

Viewed the moon at 1821 MST using 83X. Seeing was very good this night. The view along the terminator was very nice at 222X and 444X. Mountain shadows along the rim of Mare Imbrium were especially nice. Began setting up for 8" telescope prime focus imaging of the moon using the D7000 DSLR. This image was taken at 1840 MST, 1/400sec, ISO 800:

I added the 2X PowerMate and took this photo (cropped) of Mare Imbrium, "Hat Trick", ISO 100:

Ended imaging at 1854 MST and resumed lunar observing, 222X. Sunrise at Mare Imbrium was fascinating to watch. Two peaks just east of the terminator line were shining like stars in the darkness (visible in the above photo). At 1905 MST, the "stars" were looking very similar to Epsilon Lyrae ("Double-Double Star"). I took this photo of Epsilon Lyrae on 28 May 2013 using an iPhone 4, cropped and rotated to match the lunar "Double-Double Star":

This night I handheld the iPhone 5s for this afocal 444X photo showing the lunar "Double-Double Star":

By 1919 MST, the lunar "Double-Double Star" was looking very impressive at 444X. There were many nice sights along the lunar terminator, but the Lunar "Double-Double Star" was the best. The "stars" were visible at 83X, as seen in this iPhone afocal photo:

I slewed to Jupiter at 1941 MST. Using 83X, the four Galilean Moons were visible, one having just ended a transit of Jupiter. The view of the planet was good at 222X. I tried 444X, but that was too much magnification for Jupiter's current elevation in the east.

At 1950 MST, with some clouds becoming more evident in the southwest, I decided to start my D7000 DSLR video recording tests of Jupiter. I did recordings for 30 seconds at 1/200sec, ISO 3200; 1/60sec, ISO 3200; and 1/60sec, ISO 1600, using eyepiece projection at 222X. Two video recording modes were used: HD Video (1920x1080, 24 fps) and standard (640x424, 30 fps). The best exposures were at 1/60sec, ISO 3200, for both modes. I trimmed the videos to remove camera shake from the start/stop recording button presses (the camera remotes don't work in video mode) and stacked the resulting videos using Keith's Image Stacker.

The smaller image size at 640x424 did not scale up well, so I will continue to use the HD video recording mode for future planetary imaging with the D7000 DSLR.

Ended the video tests at 2024 MST. Took a last look at Jupiter, 222X. Then slewed back to the moon for a check on Mare Imbrium, 222X. The "stars" were still visible.