[APML] OT: Webcam Lunar Mosaic

[Juan Conejero <skycad@ctv.es>]

Hello,

It has been a long time since my last posting here; now I come back with a 
new lunar mosaic. This is definitely off-topic, but I hope you'll like to 
have a look at it.

You can see a reduced version here (1.6 MB):

http://www.astrosurf.com/pleiades-ap/20030409/mosaic-rgb-atw.3000.jpg

Details:

- Philips ToUcam Pro webcam, unfiltered.
- Meade LX200 12", prime focus (f/10)
- AVI video capture with K3CCDTools 1.0.6
- Video frames aligned and stacked in RegiStax 2.1.13.0 beta
- Mosaic composed in Photoshop 6
- Image restoration and noise reduction by A Trous wavelets processing done 
in Pleiades PixInsight 1.0.0.33 beta

Some facts:

- Mosaic composed by 50 subimages
- 4651 video frames used, about 40% of total frames captured
- 4.9 GB of raw data

I took the original AVIs on a good and steady night, past april 9, and they 
have been waiting to be processed until now. Seeing was reasonably good 
(8/10), though not spectacular. I tried to do my best to keep color data as 
accurate as possible. I "calibrated" the camera with a white source before 
taking the videos, and carefully planned exposure, contrast and gamma 
settings, which were not changed during the whole acquisition process. 
Nevertheless, there are slight color differences between some frames which 
I have been unable to fix/explain, and in general keeping consistent color 
has been a very difficult task with this mosaic, especially for the 
brightest areas. Mosaic frame boundaries are also well visible; I know they 
should be corrected, but really don't have the time.

I'll appreciate your comments and advice regarding this image, especially 
about color.

If you definitely hate to see a color lunar image, here is the processed 
luminance:

http://www.astrosurf.com/pleiades-ap/20030409/mosaic-L-atw.3000.jpg

Enjoy it.

- Juan Conejero.


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