Tonight's Moon

[480sparky]

Celestron 2000mm, using Field Flattener 0.63 (effectively a 1400mm f/6.3) Nikon D600, 17 images processed, then stacked.

ETA: FYI, this is what a 1400mm on a full-frame sensor does...no cropping is involved.

 

[DGMPhotography]

Ho-ly crap.

 

[tegeltka]

I would guess 100% crops reveal some pretty awesome details...

Very nice work.

 

[480sparky]

I would guess 100% crops reveal some pretty awesome details...

Very nice work.

I can see where Neil Armstrong wrote his name in the dust.........

 

[pisto1981]

Awesome

 

[Judobreaker]

Damn.... That is nice!

 

[amolitor]

What does the stacking do, in this case?

 

[480sparky]

What does the stacking do, in this case?

It's similar to focus stacking. The software combines the sharpest part of the images into a composite. Rare is the single image that is sharp. Atmospheric turbulence makes the moon appear to 'boil'.

 

[amolitor]

Ah, interesting! I did not know that, thanks.

 

[480sparky]

Ah, interesting! I did not know that, thanks.

It's called 'seeing'. Good seeing means less turbulence and sharper images, poor seeing results in crappy images.

TCampbell explains it well here.


Edit to add:

Single frame:

Stacked set:

 

[mike_rambo]

wow, beautiful work

 

[Dray1027]

What does the stacking do, in this case?

It's similar to focus stacking. The software combines the sharpest part of the images into a composite. Rare is the single image that is sharp. Atmospheric turbulence makes the moon appear to 'boil'.

Ok, I'm kinda new to photography & allot of the lingo, so what do you mean by focus stacking & how do you do it?

 

[480sparky]

Ok, I'm kinda new to photography & allot of the lingo, so what do you mean by focus stacking & how do you do it?

Focus stacking means taking a series of images, each with a different focus point in the image, and combining them into one image so everything is in focus. For instance, pay attention to the bug just below the center of these images:

Are all combined to create

 

[leeroix]

Do you need to account for the rotation of the earth and movement of the moon when taking the shots? or does the stacking process line up all the layers whilst stacking?

 

[480sparky]

Do you need to account for the rotation of the earth and movement of the moon when taking the shots? or does the stacking process line up all the layers whilst stacking?

No. My scope is motorized, so I could take hundreds of shots with no detrimental effect. However, the gain is marginal after a certain point..... there's simply no more detail to be gained. The stacking software can be set to 'follow' a small portion of the surface chosen during the process. A well-defined, contrasty subject works best.