Imaged Saturn September 14th in good seeing, due to an error of judgment the session was cut short. The 685nm IR nicely resolves the North polar vortex and vertices of the hexagon, both IR and R data resolve considerable detail within the concentric ring structure within the polar collar (NPR) with a prominent bright spot at approx Lat+63 L3 35.6.
Yes Marc the Hexagon is well defined this apparition in IR but there have been years when the difference in colour and contrast has seen it best resolved in RGB. From 2009 when the rings were last edge on through to 2012 there was little contrast or colour difference between the hex and the polar collar making it difficult to measure the hex vertices. Following solar conjunction at the end of 2012, at the beginning of 2013 there was a quite stark difference in colour between the hex and polar collar making the hex very well resolved in RGB. We only have a few more years until the rings go edge on again and then the apparent tilt will change for us on Earth as the South pole moves toward the South summer solstice. I think it unlikely that I will live to see the hexagon again so I am making the most of it while I can still get at it.
Thanks Anthony, Broken is a nice location for planetary imaging, generally stable seeing and a large proportion of cloud free nights. Currently I have just under 6000 data sets uploaded to the PVOL data base, of course most of them are of Saturn.
