Hi all, my first Saturn image for this season, and I was lucky to catch
the new storm. I've attached images in visible (RGB) , IR (742nm+) and
CH4 (890nm). The seeing was poor for all these images, and Saturn was
quite low in the sky, but the storm is so bright that it's easily
visible. It was clear even in the live video that the storm was brighter
than both the planet and rings. Surely this must be one of the brightest
and largest storms in the last few seasons?
Interestingly the CH4 (methane) image doesn't show the storm at all. I'm
not sure if this is simply because CH4 is not useful on Saturn (maybe
these storms are too low in the atmosphere to get any return?).
The IR image shows a hint of structure in the outline of the storm,
there seems to be an extension developing to the southeast.
Anthony great images, spectacular, the seeing was poor but better the in italy - po valley where jet streams are always > 35-40 m/s in this winter time period, terrible!!
Thanks guys, the storm will be visible again from eastern australia on Wednesday morning - at 4.51am, just into morning twilight. Should still look spectacular I hope, and should also be easily visible through an eyepiece.
reminds me of when I brought my 8" back from the states in 1990,
The first major thing observed was the big Ammonia Storm that finished up encircling the planet
Did you observe it
That was a great start to some memorable events observed through this now venerable SCT
Cheers