Moon Through Guide Scope
The guide scope and guide camera that I use with my astronomy gear is old. Actually, by digital standards, the guide camera is considered ancient! I've wanted to test this guide scope/camera combo again at night so I can determine if upgrading would be worth it. I haven't been all that happy with the imaging I am getting with that camera. Last night, we had completely overcast skies so there were absolutely no stars visible but the moon was faintly glowing through the clouds.
I quickly mounted my guide scope on my tripod. Then I attached my guide camera to the little guide scope. Then I grabbed my Windows tablet and headed outside to the deck with everything in tow. I pointed the guide scope at the moon and then adjusted the settings of the camera using my tablet... and here is the resulting image...
There are a few things worth noting here.
First, considering how overcast the skies were last night and how the moon was mostly obscured by those clouds, it is amazing that I captured anything at all. Needless to say, at first glance, I was very impressed with the result. It seems it is always exciting to get an image on the screen while you are pointed skyward toward darkness. The clouds in this image sort of make our moon look more like one of Saturn's moons... Enceladus or Dione, I think.
Next, it turns out that the resolution is really lousy here but it might be good enough for decent guiding. The guide scope is supposed to lock onto a star and then tells my telescope mount which directions to move and at what speed to move in order to keep my telescope locked onto whatever target I am imaging. The better the resolution and crisper the image, the better the guiding. The better the resolution, the less problems. The crisper everything is through this guide scope, the better. So, a guide scope/camera combo that "might" be good enough is probably not good enough if you desire trouble-free imaging. You can get by with some frustrations but it definitely won't be a trouble-free endeavor.
The other bothersome thing, for me, is that there is a fine hatching pattern over this entire image. I'm assuming this is because this sensor is ancient. These old sensors had a difficult time in low light whether you are talking about photography or astrophotography. Viewed on small devices, this hatching pattern that this old sensor creates is probably not seen but just knowing it is there is very bothersome to me. (Note: Upon further research about this problem, this might be an inherent 'feature' of all astro cameras.)
I think it might be time to upgrade to one of Sony newest astronomy sensors that sports far greater resolution. I've been a big fan of Sony Imaging products for about six years now and they now also rule the science research imaging world in addition to the photography imaging world. So, for me, I definitely lean toward Sony sensors for astrophotography as well as my photography (and televisions). For what it's worth, this old sensor that I used for this moon photo was produced by Micron and I think it is from the 2006-2009 timeframe and, even then, I don't think it was highly regarded.
Even though I had intended to test this guide scope/camera combo on faint stars, it was nice to test it on a faint moon through clouds. I'm always interested in the best image quality so "good enough" and especially "might be good enough" probably isn't really good enough for me.
May 3rd, 2020: It is now the following night and I had an opportunity to test this guide scope and camera on some stars. We had a clear night for a change! While I had no problem locking onto stars, I still had that annoying cross-hatch problem that was irking me. I know that a newer sensor would be far better and, hopefully, would not show any cross-hatch patterns.
Maybe I can combine uses for a new astro/guide camera... sometimes for guiding, sometimes for planets, sometimes for the moon... the need for guiding is most often for deep space imaging so I wouldn't need to guide when imaging the moon or planets. For that type of imaging, I could use the new astro camera for guiding and then use one of my Sony cameras for imaging. This isn't ideal but it can be done on a budget.
I quickly mounted my guide scope on my tripod. Then I attached my guide camera to the little guide scope. Then I grabbed my Windows tablet and headed outside to the deck with everything in tow. I pointed the guide scope at the moon and then adjusted the settings of the camera using my tablet... and here is the resulting image...
There are a few things worth noting here.
First, considering how overcast the skies were last night and how the moon was mostly obscured by those clouds, it is amazing that I captured anything at all. Needless to say, at first glance, I was very impressed with the result. It seems it is always exciting to get an image on the screen while you are pointed skyward toward darkness. The clouds in this image sort of make our moon look more like one of Saturn's moons... Enceladus or Dione, I think.
Next, it turns out that the resolution is really lousy here but it might be good enough for decent guiding. The guide scope is supposed to lock onto a star and then tells my telescope mount which directions to move and at what speed to move in order to keep my telescope locked onto whatever target I am imaging. The better the resolution and crisper the image, the better the guiding. The better the resolution, the less problems. The crisper everything is through this guide scope, the better. So, a guide scope/camera combo that "might" be good enough is probably not good enough if you desire trouble-free imaging. You can get by with some frustrations but it definitely won't be a trouble-free endeavor.
The other bothersome thing, for me, is that there is a fine hatching pattern over this entire image. I'm assuming this is because this sensor is ancient. These old sensors had a difficult time in low light whether you are talking about photography or astrophotography. Viewed on small devices, this hatching pattern that this old sensor creates is probably not seen but just knowing it is there is very bothersome to me. (Note: Upon further research about this problem, this might be an inherent 'feature' of all astro cameras.)
I think it might be time to upgrade to one of Sony newest astronomy sensors that sports far greater resolution. I've been a big fan of Sony Imaging products for about six years now and they now also rule the science research imaging world in addition to the photography imaging world. So, for me, I definitely lean toward Sony sensors for astrophotography as well as my photography (and televisions). For what it's worth, this old sensor that I used for this moon photo was produced by Micron and I think it is from the 2006-2009 timeframe and, even then, I don't think it was highly regarded.
Even though I had intended to test this guide scope/camera combo on faint stars, it was nice to test it on a faint moon through clouds. I'm always interested in the best image quality so "good enough" and especially "might be good enough" probably isn't really good enough for me.
May 3rd, 2020: It is now the following night and I had an opportunity to test this guide scope and camera on some stars. We had a clear night for a change! While I had no problem locking onto stars, I still had that annoying cross-hatch problem that was irking me. I know that a newer sensor would be far better and, hopefully, would not show any cross-hatch patterns.
Maybe I can combine uses for a new astro/guide camera... sometimes for guiding, sometimes for planets, sometimes for the moon... the need for guiding is most often for deep space imaging so I wouldn't need to guide when imaging the moon or planets. For that type of imaging, I could use the new astro camera for guiding and then use one of my Sony cameras for imaging. This isn't ideal but it can be done on a budget.
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