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Noel Carboni
08-25-2008, 10:03 PM
Well, I'm in my seat for the moment on this historic first consumer flight to break free of Earth's gravity. I've been floating about the cabin for a while but I needed a little stability. After a bit of a bout of nausea at first, for which I'm sorry to say I had to use one of the new vacuum-assisted barf bags, it actually has become quite a lot of fun. The nicest part is, except for the occasional spurt from the attitude engines, the flight is so peaceful and quiet... Not at all like air travel.

Anyway, Marvin, the pilot, turns the ship occasionally to show us different views. They have this nice satellite relayed Internet access setup, and I have my camera and laptop here (I strapped it down with these little bungies on the tray tables; they think of everything) so I figured I'd send you all a photo from out my window.

http://forum.ourdarkskies.com/gallery_images/1219717607/gallery_131_16_43907.jpg (http://forum.ourdarkskies.com/gallery_images/1219717607/gallery_131_7_470269.jpg)

I see Bill Gates is back in his seat up a few rows... I think I'll float up and chat with him... :D

-Noel

Paul Marcellini
08-26-2008, 09:06 AM
Haha, too funny. Love the window frame. The view is incredible. I haven't seen a shot so sharp and detailed of the moon. Awesome it is.

Noel Carboni
08-26-2008, 09:27 AM
Thanks, Paul.

For those of you viewing this image, don't forget to click through the small image to see a higher resolution version. :)

-Noel

Johannes Glännman
08-26-2008, 11:15 AM
I hope you dont mind. But this is now my new view when I am looking at the computerscreen...

I have never seen such a good picture at the moon. It is interesting, sharp, good frame. Everything....

But I must know how did you get it so sharp?

Cheers // johannes

Stephen Stephen
08-26-2008, 11:39 AM
Very nice Noel. Could you please post some specs on how you created this image? Thanks.

Noel Carboni
08-26-2008, 01:00 PM
Thanks guys. Of course I don't mind if you use it as your wallpaper.

This was taken by mounting my Canon 40D on my Meade LX200 10" telescope at the Cassegrain focus, which essentially makes the scope a 2500mm f/10 lens for the camera. Focusing is manual, insofar as the camera does not control the focus, but I do have a Meade "Zero Shift Microfocuser" which is electrically controlled by the scope's handset. I used the 40D's Live View function to zero in on best focus, then took 6 overlapping images (the moon does not fit in one frame at 2500mm). A second nice part about the Live View function is that the start of the exposure does not involve the physical shutter, and so no scope motion is induced, which yields a sharp image.

I did all the processing in Photoshop, converting the images in Camera Raw to upsized 24 megapixel resolution, aligning the color channels carefully to compensate for atmospheric dispersion (basically the atmosphere acts a bit like a prism if you're not shooting straight up), then downsizing to half (still 6 megapixel) size. At this point I stitched the images together using Photoshop's Photomerge function, which does a dynamite job of making seamless panoramas, then employed several forms of contrast enhancement and sharpening, including some of my own tools.

Finally, I created the window frame using a selection I created, then shrank slightly and moved up, and added some texture and light and shadow to make it look like the sun was coming in. I wanted the window to give an enhanced feeling of depth.

Thanks again for your comments!

-Noel

Kaushik Balakumar
08-26-2008, 01:07 PM
Incredible !
The best moon image I have ever seen. So sharp, so detailed, the stars add to it !
Thanks for sharing the info on how u made it, Noel.
Well, its now my wall paper too :)

Harold Davis
08-26-2008, 04:08 PM
you continue to amaze me with these shots of the universe!!! amazing detail in this. maybe the best i ever saw too!! thanks for sharing!!

Robert Amoruso
08-27-2008, 07:12 AM
Cool looking image and story. I like the idea of the frame - very realistic.

Johannes Glännman
08-27-2008, 08:01 AM
Fantastic and interesting story. I dont know what to say...

Cheers and thank you// johannes

Roman Kurywczak
08-27-2008, 12:42 PM
Hi Noel,
Agree with the others above. Very cool and the frame does add to it IMO.

Leroy Laverman
08-27-2008, 11:35 PM
Lovely shot - well done in all respects. Although you might want to us a flash next time to bring up the shadows some..:D

Judd Patterson
08-27-2008, 11:53 PM
Your moon photographs are always unparalleld. Great work once again Noel, and a nice story to go along with it.