Lunar eclipse photography advice for two telescope setups

William Optics Redcat 51 ZWO ASI2600MC Pro ZWO ASI585MC
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Reid avatar
Reid avatar

Hello all!

I am hoping on shooting the lunar eclipse on Tuesday morning, providing it is high enough to see, and have zero experience in lunar photography. I am planning on using both of my rigs and looking for advice. As I understand I should be capturing video.

The first rig is a Sharpstar 140ph (677mm focal length) with an ASI2600mc pro.

The second rig is a Redcat 51 (250 mm focal length) with an ASI585mc Air.

Where should I start with exposure lengths and how long should the videos be?

Should I use any filters?

TIA!

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Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

Both setups will be fine. Since you’re shooting color camera, all you’ll need for filters will be a uv/ir cut and that may already be incorporated in your cameras. I would use SharpCap for this, 8 bit color to ser file. For processing you can use autostakkert or my fav, Astro Surface.

I would start practicing now if you get a chance.

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Bob Lockwood avatar
Bob Lockwood avatar
Reid:
As I understand I should be capturing video.


Only if you want a video, most just shoot single exposures. Remember the eclipse takes a long time, just take a shot of whatever phase of the eclipse you want to capture.
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Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

As I’m sure you know, the reason to shoot video is to be able to apply lucky imaging techniques to gain a much higher resolution result.

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andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
Shooting full frame single shots (say 1 sec) is the way to go. Don't bother with the RedCat, waste of time.  Video is pointless.
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

I guess we need to know just what the OP wants, a sharp full disk image or series of images or a time lapse of the event or all of the above.

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Reid avatar
Reid avatar

I want a sharp full disc image of the eclipse.

Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

If you can get the full disk in the larger scope, use that. If not use the smaller.

To get the sharpest possible final image use lucky imaging as I outlined in my first post.

If you want to keep it simple, do single exposures. The actual exposure time will change as the event progresses. Keep an eye on the highlights, you don’t want to clip the highlights which is very easy to do when most of the moon isn’t in shadow.

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