Saturn IR time laps.

[Rac (Raymond)]

Here's a time laps of Saturn from two nights ago done in IR. It's three hours in ten images.

Shot with my DIY 18" f3.3 mirror
ASI120mm camera
Baader IR685nm pass filter
5X powermate


http://media.giphy.com/media/xTiTnsO...I7Wo/giphy.gif


https://farm1.staticflickr.com/359/1...2ab4d098_b.jpg
Sat_184028 12-7-2015x2 by Raymond Collecutt, on Flickr

[AlexN]

That's very cool.

Did you build your 18" with visual astronomy in mind or is it purely an imaging scope? Just curious because an f/3.3 mirror is quite a lot of work to figure compared to an f/5 and for planetary imaging I would have thought the longer the better. Obviously that's all dependent on if your mount could handle an 18" f/5.

[Rac (Raymond)]

I made it as a planetary imaging scope with visual use on the side. I needed it fast to keep it short for using it on an eq mount.

A longer fl would have been better no doubt but just wouldn't be possible to mount the thing.

The figure ended up very good, it'll holds up very well at very high powers well over 500x so long as the mirror is cooled as it's plate glass and it tests a bit over corrected if the temps are dropping too fast.

[AlexN]

Sounds great. I had figured that it must have been mounting constraints that dictated the short focal ratio. You must be pretty chuffed producing images this fine with an instrument of your own blood sweat and tears.

[Somnium (Aidan)]

wow, great shots

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Raymond, these photos are astounding. The Hexagon is so clear, and the animation is spine chilling. Thank you for all your work to produce these images. Excellent stuff! You have inspired me to chase down the Hexagon visually. Let's see how I go...

Alex.

[Quark (Trevor)]

Very nice results there Ray, you have the +63 spot & disturbance quite well resolved.

Regards
Trevor

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

I think that may be one of the best images of Saturn I've ever seen.

[MGTechDVP (Mariusz)]

That is awesome, the hexagon is so clear.

[Rac (Raymond)]

Originally Posted by mental4astro

Raymond, these photos are astounding. The Hexagon is so clear, and the animation is spine chilling. Thank you for all your work to produce these images. Excellent stuff! You have inspired me to chase down the Hexagon visually. Let's see how I go...

Alex.

I did do a bit of visual on the same night and I could make out the hex just but only if i used my eye that has a new lens in it. A few years ago I stuck a multimeter probe right through my left eye hitting the lens so now I have a fake one in that eye and it is much worst than my good eye for normal use.
The strange thing is on very dim objects at high powers of 400X or more the image I see with my bad eye is 100 times better and I mean totally amazingly better! The planet looks just as sharp and perfect as the best images I've ever seen. The bad point is it's very hard to hold my head in just the right place as it's like looking through a pin hole.

And what's more is my good eye has very good vision so the next time you think it's your scope, eyepiece or seeing causing the image to be soft or have low contrast just stab your eye out and get a new lens put it

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Originally Posted by Rac

A few years ago I stuck a multimeter probe right through my left eye hitting the lens so now I have a fake one in that eye and it is much worst than my good eye for normal use.

I came across this irksome photo of yours in your flicker portfolio! At first I thought your kid had scribbled on the picture. Then I noticed the regular pattern of each 'scribble' and realized they are cornea STITCHES!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/463028...n/photostream/

I left the photo as a link as some people may not like to see such images of eyes and surgery.

My dream is to have leopard eyes transplanted once they work out how to successfully do animal to human transplants. Failing that some way to artificially widen my pupils...

Why leopard? Nothing to do with the mystic around the critter. But these animals probably have the best night vision of all beasts.

Getting a bit off topic, sorry. Hell of a trade-off though to no vision at all, Raymond. Not being flippant either with that comment. From a purely visual-astro point of view, I am very much aware of fatigue when observing. My vision is good in both eyes, but when fatigue sets in, nothing to do about it but rest and sleep. Many nights when conditions had been a excellent, fatigue killed things for the evening. I try to plan some rest during a day when I will be heading to a dark site. Even sometimes take a nap when up at the dark site during the night when I notice my vision weaken. All about fatigue management.