Saturn 5 April 2013 1628UT

[Paul Haese]

Finally went down to Clayton on Friday night to capture some Saturn data. It was a busy day with capturing solar data in the morning, DSO imaging during the night as well as some time lapse and then some Saturn data in the small hours. Lots of data to look through and work on, but this was a first for me to capture all the various imaging pursuits in the one day that I am into at present.

Saturn is looking rather nice now for us southerners and we have waited a long time for that to occur. Seeing was around 7/10 with some nice spells of great seeing. Earlier in the evening I looked at Saturn through Tim's 22" and saw the buttery colouring of the planet, and compared this to the view I was getting in the C14. Graeme brought down his AP scope and mount and was doing some visual with it while I was imaging. I heard Tim and Graeme commenting on the views they were getting and it all sounded very positive.

In the Saturn image you can see the Enke quite well, as well as the hex at the pole, some nice structure in the rings and a few spots here and there in the belts. Overall quite happy with this image.

Click here (http://paulhaese.net/Saturn5april20131628UT.html)for larger image

Edit, I have included a refined image now for everyones consideration.

[strongmanmike]

Wow another corker Saturn :eyepop: pretty similar level of detail to Steve's there Paul and it is interesting to see the changes in the globe and rings over the intervening year. Very nice work and sounds like you had a super astronomy day/night too :thumbsup:

Mike

[multiweb]

Pretty awesome. :thumbsup: The transparency of the inner ring is really obvious along the limb. Superb colors and details.

[Larryp]

Superb image, Paul:thumbsup:

[asimov]

Nice work, & good to see an image from you, Paul.

[EricB]

What a great picture Paul!!

Eric

[allan gould]

Brilliant picture Paul, as usual.

[iceman]

Beautiful image!

[Quark]

Off to an impressive start Paul, good seeing has been a much scarcer commodity this year compared to the last 5 or 6 years.

Regards
Trevor

[h0ughy]

just got off the floor - simply amazingly lovely shot Paul!!!

[Saturn%5]

:eyepop: Super work Paul.

[UniPol]

Nice

[U.K.Cowboy]

Very nice image Paul!

[Paul Haese]

Just letting everyone know I have done a reprocess of the data. It is the one on the right. Certainly a lot nicer I think.

[barx1963]

That is a ripper!

Malcolm

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys for the comments. Appreciated.



It's a bit like waltzing in a bit late really. You, John and Tom have been putting in the yards for months. My various imaging interests now mean I cannot put at much time into planetary imaging as I once did. So getting a great shot to start with eases the pressure to get out a lot more.;) If I see the same sort of predictions occur again in the next month I will be down there again though.

However, I must say it took be a bit to get setup on the night. I have not done any planetary imaging since March last year. Almost forgot what I needed to do next, as well as monitor what was going on in the observatory with the DSO imaging gear.

[Shiraz]

Pretty image Paul - excellent detail. regards Ray

[John Hothersall]

Nice processing and detail resolved, good to see the Master returning to planetary imaging. Forgetting your setup routine after a long absence happens to us all.

John.

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys.

John funnily I was getting the odd comment from the lads after I said how does this go together again? I thought it sounded a little that's what you get when you give up the faith. :lol:

[Phil Hart]

Very nice work Paul. Confirms some of what I saw in a very quick look through Alex' big scope on Saturday night.. particularly the darker shading on the southern half of the planet. Nice!

Phil

[Paul Haese]

Hey thanks Phil, that is what I was aiming for, to capture what can be observed by the eye in good seeing.

[Satchmo]

Paul - these images are way over-sharpened - the artifacts in the rings are just ridiculous -multiple false shadow rings as a result of oversharpening . I don't understand why you are being so encouraged in present these images . I respect all the effort you go to - I don't respect rather uncritical nature of all the other posters - they are not exactly helping you to produce more realistic images in the future.

Just my 2c.

[Shiraz]

I am sure that Paul will speak for himself, but as one of the uncritical posters I think these images do an excellent job of representing the limited detail available at 14inch aperture - the rings have lots of internal structure, and these images show it. for example, Paul's images clearly show the global zones and the main features of the rings in http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys235/saturn/saturn_in_color.jpg

[Paul Haese]

No offence Mark, but let's see you do better! These are not over sharpenend. There are some processing artifacts, particular on the limb without the shadow. The shadow on the rings appears on many other peoples images. The rings themselves are actual. Go away!

[Hagar]

Mark, I fail to see the artifacts you elude to in your rather critical comments. After looking at the image for quite some time it seems to have a lovely 3D effect that I find quite catching. I understand from what you have posted in the past that you are quite an authority on optics but to make a critique on an image when I don't recall seeing any of yours and have to question if you have the skills or abilities to produce an image such as this let alone critique someone elses.

Paul, I find the image quite catching and a pleasure to look at and admire. I look forward to more like this.

Just my 2c worth.

[niko]

Mark,

is it really necessary to adopt the agressive position you have in your post?

Even if you have reservations about the quality of the image most people would see it as reasonable to introduce these concerns in a positive frame.

To use words like "ridiculous" is un-necessary and to say that you don't respect those that have commented positively on Paul's amazing work in simply rude.

People are impressed with Paul's work and choose to express that. We all benefit from positive feedback too. There's a certain amount of selfish pride we all get from our peers encouraging us.

I would suggest to you that nothing in your post contributes to Paul continuing to improve it just makes you look like a dick.

I know that Paul, as with most of us, welcomes constructive criticism but yours is far from constructive; it boarders on aggressive and at the very least is unhelpful.

From what I can see you have never posted an image yourself on this forum and perhaps "put up or **** up" might be an appropraite phrase here.

I find Paul's work inspirational and let us not forget he is taking an image of another frickin' planet that is 1.2 billion kms from us!

Treat others as you would have others treat you.

Your comments could easily have been conveyed in a more constructive manner

"Paul, terrific effort with Saturn so early in the season. Is it possible it's slightly over sharpened? I can see some artefacts in the rings and perhaps some false shadow. What do you think? To me it looks a little unrealistic because of that. Still, you've had a great imaging run of luck recently. Keep up the good work. Mark"

There ya go, exactly the same sentiments without the hurtful tone.

Easy, any adult can do it it just takes practice!

niko

[asimov]

Well hell, didn't realize this thread had taken a turn...Ok me being a fellow planet imager & all, looking at the image (reprocessed version much better than the original IMO) I'd say it's well within tolerance as far as 'over processing' goes.

What crappola Mark...Having a bad hair day or what?

My 20 bloody cents.

[U.K.Cowboy]

Nice repro Paul.

Over sharp is certainly the right term for Mark's post! What an insult to everyone who has praised these fine images!

[allan gould]

Paul, you could take better images through a coke bottle than I can through any of my scopes as you have proved time and time again. Loved your image as I said previously and keep them coming.
Allan

[Solar]

Holy CRAP have you pinched the Hubble or something Paul.:eyepop: