Saturn Feb 15th, spot, hex, vortex.

[Quark]

Hi All,

Imaged Saturn this morning in reasonable seeing. Of interest in my 742nm IR data, is what I believe to be, the vortex within the Hexagon at the North pole. It is in all three of my IR data sets.

Each IR image is made from two consecutive 3 min IR captures derotated and combined in WinJUPOS, the 1 min between them means each IR image here is captured over a 7 min period. There is just over 1 hour between the mid point of my 1st & 3rd IR images and while the vortex is most prominent in the 1st image, it is also visible in the other two as well.


Also of interest in both my RGB & 742nm IR data is a quite prominent dark spot. I measure its position to be at L3 333.2 Lat +46.9.
There are also some diffuse bright spots in the NEB, the dark spot comes up very well in my animations of both IR & RGB data.


Interestingly the dark spot, which is also visible in my IR & RGB polar projection maps, lines up very nicely with one the the hexagons vertices in the 1st IR polar map at approx 333 Sys III. The rotation of the spot in Sys II makes for a nice comparison with the hexagons Sys III rotation when considering a comparison with these movements over the approx 80 minutes covered by this data.

Thanks for looking.

Regards
Trevor

[allan gould]

Most excellent images and analyses. Very well done and very informative. It makes me want to try something similar.

[John Hothersall]

Did not think the hexagon was possible, strange how the hexagon point matches the dark dot on the disc which makes it stand out better. In a few years this will be an easier target - amazing what amature CCD's can now spot in terms of detail.

John.

[Shiraz]

wonderful images Trevor - very fine work and fascinating to see so much detail this year. The new scope is really delivering the goods. regards Ray

[Larryp]

Great images and very informative, Trevor:thumbsup:

[asimov]

Certainly possible with good seeing to get the Hex. Well done Trevor.

[Paul Haese]

Nice work Trev, great colour and even with spots.

[icytailmark]

what programs do you use in processing and sharpening your images trevor?

[samilag]

Very good images and interesting analysis

Very well work

Thanks Trevor

[Derek Klepp]

Very interesting.What does the dark spot represent? A comprehensive representation of the data .
Derek

[Saturn%5]

Very nice work Trevor.

[Quark]

Thanks John, for sure the hex will get easier as Saturn's apparent tilt continues to open over the next few years. The ring opening combined with the extremely favorable alt means we are in the box seat for at least the next decade to image Saturn.



Thanks Ray, large aperture, quality optics, hi alt & reasonable seeing makes for good results. Still have not stuck a night of what I would class as good seeing yet but when it does happen I have very high expectations of the data it will produce.



Thanks Laurie, certainly a lot still happening at Saturn, even with the demise of The Great Storm.



Thanks Asi, for sure the quality of the seeing is key.



Thanks Paul, the most interesting thing in this data I almost overlooked and only noticed last night when uploading to PVOL. Have another look at the first IR image, far South on the edge of the polar region is a tiny but quite bright spot. I have measured it to be at L3 318.9 degrees Lat +67.9 degrees, it is very close to the CM in the first IR image. Then check the IR animation and it becomes quite obvious and then check the IR polar projection map animation and it is easily seen in that as well. Have sent it off to Georg for his thoughts. I have never previously seen a feature like it so far South.



Hi Mark, Castrator, AutoStakkert, RS6, Astra Image Pro,WinJUPOS, CS4. Occasionally Virtual Dub is handy. If I capture FIT files instead of avi then Birds most excellent ninox.



Thanks Giuseppe, appreciate your comment.



Thanks Derek, I believe the black spot is a long lived feature, I have previously imaged it. Currently there is no lightening being detected but obviously it is a cloud of some type. There has been conjecture that The Great Storm might have resulted in producing carbon and that it may be in large enough volumes to be detected, I guess we need more data from the mass spectrometer on Cassini.



Thanks Graeme.



Thanks Alan, there really is quite a lot that can be gleaned from amateur data and by presenting it in different way, ie with WinJUPOS maps or polar projections or even with animations, a whole new perspective becomes open for analysis.

[Derek Klepp]

Thanks for the reply Trevor