Two pane Lunar mosaic with version 0.68.1 AstroDMx Capture for Linux, an SVBONY SV205 camera and a Skymax 127 Maksutov.

The 8Mp SV205 camera, fitted with an SVBONY UV/IR cut filter was placed at the Cassegrain focus of the Maksutov, which was mounted on a Celestron AVX, EQ GOTO mount. AstroDMx Capture for Linux was used to capture 2 overlapping, 1500-frame SER files of the Plato/Sinus Iridum region of the 85% waxing Moon. Using mapping to grey scale, and real-time flat-field correction to remove pixel vignetting suffered by the SV205.

The 8Mp SV205 can show some frame lag which can hamper focusing. A feature that Nicola has incorporated into AstroDMx Capture to reduce the frame lag for focusing was used to achieve an easier focus and was then turned off for the capturing of data.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Linux capturing a SER file

The best 70% of the SER file frames were stacked in Autostakkert 3 and the resulting images were wavelet processed in Registax 5.1 and stitched in Microsoft ICE. The resulting image was post processed in The Gimp and ACDSee.

The Plato/Sinus Iridum region of the Moon

A closer view

The USB3.0 SV205 is a challenging camera to use, but it is capable of capturing very pleasing lunar images.