Our closest celestial companion is of course our own Moon.

After a month of fully overcast skies 25 November 2023 finally had a more or less clear sky over InFINNity Deck. Seeing was reasonable this day and evening and I started imaging the Moon around 22:06UTC, after having imaged by Saturn around 17:02UTC and Jupiter around 21:03UTC. Imaging was done with the SkyWatcher Esprit 150ED, ZWO EFW with ZWO LRGB filters, and ZWO ASI1600MM Pro Cool. Focussing was done visually.

Using FireCapture four LRGB-sequences of 30 seconds per filter at 12FPS were collected. This was done at unity gain, resulting in exposure times of 0.5ms for L and 1ms for RGB.

Processing was done in AutoStakkert!, stacking 75% of the L-frames and 65% for RGB, without sharpening. Postprocessing was done in PSP. The image was given 40% saturation an additional sharping.

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On 30 December 2019 there was a lovely crescent Moon. Like last time imaging was done with the Esprit 150ED in combination with the ZWO ASI1600MM Pro Cool. Focusing with SharpCap, processing and sharpening in AutoStakkert, post-processing in Paint Shop Pro (slight sharpening).

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It has been a while since I last imaged the Moon, while it is such an obvious and charming object. So on 12 December 2019 I gave it a try again. This time imaging was done with the Esprit 150ED in combination with the ZWO ASI1600MM Pro Cool. Focusing with SharpCap, processing and sharpening in AutoStakkert, post-processing in Paint Shop Pro (slight curve pulling).

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Adjacent image is a composite of two images taken with the SkyWatcher Esprit 150ED and ZWO ASI174 planetary camera. Being close-by the moon provides stunning views that change by the day due to the moving terminator (the region between day and night on the moon).

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