Moon 71.1% (+) C8 EHD Lunar Mosaic (8 out of 11 panels) - Going through the cherry-tree and over the edge - 20230131

Now, here’s the thing, on each image run, I want to get as close as possible to the moon, and I have this capturing scenario that I run through
So …
Step 1: Imaging through the RedCat
Step 2: Imaging through the C8, at native focal length, resulting in an 8 panel Mosaic
Step 3: Imaging through the C8, with Barlow 2x
At least, that’s the planned scenario …

But, it takes a lot of time to capture all these panels …

By the time I had captured the 8 panels at native focal length, the moon was getting already quite low on the horizon … too low for comfort.

I was starting panel 1 with the Barlow 2x at 2:46, with the moon setting at 4:52, quite low for starters, and the moonlight already filtering through the top-branches of my little cherry-tree (when I had set up the scope for the night, I hadn’t expected the moon to run this low before I could complete my run)

As I captured each panel the moon was sinking lower amidst the branches of the cherry-tree, filtering the light more and more. I had to increase the exposure time, the image gradually getting darker and darker, losing contrast and hardly any detail visible. The last panel (11) barely above the house top line, guess that the atmospheric seeing was like …

Although I completed all 11 panels for the terminator (couldn’t even see if I was clipping the edge or not), the lower images proved too low quality. The stitching only wanted to go as far as panel 8, at some of the panels where I did work, not even 100% perfect …

Image quality was very low, barely 10% out of 2000 frames stacked on each panel. The lower panels getting lots of artefacts because of the dim light. You could notice the quality dropping, then a branch of the tree came in direct line of sight … no cherries in the image though

Still, quite an achievement, I would say … first time I stitch the moon terminator with the C8 and Barlow 2x. The original mosaic at 7k x 19k, scaled down for file-size to 3k x 8.5k

C8 EHD, Barlow 2x, ASI174MM, IR685, EQ6-R Pro
Photons: 8 panels, 2000 frames (each), 10% stacked
AutoStakkert, PixInsight, Adobe LightRoom
20230131 2:46 (panel 1) - 03:17 (panel 8) - 03:30 (panel 11 - not stitched)

Any constructive guidance is welcome

Clear Skies everybody! 🤩✨🔭

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