Moon Shots

Below are my first shots of the moon.  But first, here's a recap of my outing:

Equipment Summary:

1. Orion StarSeeker 80mm Goto Refractor
2. Dielectric Diagonal - prevents loss of light common in standard diagonals
3. 3x Orion HighLight Barlow
4. Orion StarShoot Planetary Imager
5. PHD Planetary Software - used to control camera and takes pics  
6. RegiStax 5.1 - used to process images 

Date/Time:  6/18/10  9:00pm

Location:  Backyard - Pittsburgh, PA

Seeing:  Clear

Weather:  Warm, Humid

Exposure:  64 ms x 1 image

Experience:  Very good.  The scope, PHD software, and imager were pretty easy to set up and use.

Notes:

1. Through a 26mm eyepiece, the entire moon was visible.  But when I replaced the eyepiece with the imager, I was only able to see a portion of the moon.  Next time, I may try an extension tube instead of a magnifying barlow.
2. Try to lighten up these pics.  I actually have five more.  But they display darker on my PC and lighter on my laptop.  Strange!

Lessons Learned:

1. Wear long sleeves/pants or apply bug spray.  The mosquitoes were attacking like fighter jets on Godzilla.

Next Time:

1. Sun (with a solar filter), one of the planets, or the moon again.

Enjoy!