Saturn in near perfect seeing

[Paul Haese]

As John Wick says, "I'm thinking I am back".

Last night I image Saturn in what I can only describe as near perfect seeing conditions. I took video of the green channel being recorded and it did not move. I don't think in the 13 years I have been imaging the planets that I have ever seen seeing that good with Saturn. I have only seen it that good once with Jupiter in 2008 when I had a real nice spell of great seeing. I think though this should illustrate that you are only as good as your seeing with the planets. Good seeing produces great data that needs very little processing.

In this image the Hex is easily seen, definition in the rings, the south polar can be seen through Cassini's division, the crepe ring is delicately shown and there are two moons off to the left near the edge of the frame. I have included the red channel once again.

So much fun to see such good seeing again. Jupiter images to follow.

[Atmos]

Fantastic Paul!
What telescope did you use?

[leon]

Peter that is just amazing man, :eyepop: if I only had those skills 40 years ago, :rolleyes: beautiful. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Leon

[Paul Haese]

Thanks Colin. I have a C14 that I bought 10 years ago that gets used just for this sort of imaging. I had a bit of a hiatus from planetary imaging for a couple of years whilst the planets were too low for me to bother imaging, but last nights seeing really has enthused me to continue to get data on the planets again.



Thanks Leon. I am sure you meant to say Paul. I was on the phone to Anthony Wesley this morning and we were reminiscing about how long we had been doing planetary imaging. It's hard to believe I have been imaging the planets in digital format for since 2004. Things have changed a lot. I started out with a Toucam. Then planetary imagers were fewer in number and looked upon with some amusement. Now planetary imagers are vast in number and their data is being used for lots of scientific research including helping identify certain storms during a close imaging run of the Juno mission. It's been a real pleasure to watch the changes occur.

[Camelopardalis]

Beautiful Paul :thumbsup: thanks for sharing with us.

Certainly not the average nights seeing :eyepop:

[astronobob]

Grouse one Paul, yes, after so many yrs, I see you havent lost your 'touch' :thumbsup:
Envious of your 'seeing' conditions, Imaging processing capabilities & the extra 2 inches, Lol :lol:
The Hexagon is looking very prominent aswell :thumbsup:
Rgrds ...

[leon]

Yep it was Paul, :rolleyes: sorry about that. :)

Leon :thumbsup:

[traveller]

Wow, that's fantastic resolution. Well captured and processed Paul!
Bo

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys for the comments.

[Wilso]

Hi Paul,
Another great image like always !
Hope your not missing your tsa too much 😊

[RobF]

Impressive. Thanks for sharing Paul.

[sil]

fantastic!

[FlashDrive]

Now that's really nice...great detail and clear .... :thumbsup:

[LostInSp_ce]

Superb!

[stefang]

Incredible images.

now if I close my eyes I might just be able to get the fairies to change my 11" EdgeHD into a 14". :)

I'm now clicking my heels together and crossing my fingers and toes.
sG

[LewisM]

Don't fret it Leon, at least you didn't call him Mary.

[el_draco]

You can see the planet through the cassini division... How cool is that!

[batema]

Stunning.

[Bart]

Great stuff Paul, fantastic shot! :eyepop:

I am continually amazed at the skill level of amateur astronomers and the quality of the images produced with moderate aperture. :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Thanks guys for the comments. I am still working through data from these two nights, I am hoping to have all the data processed in the next week or so.




It was a fine scope for me and I am glad it went to a good home. I expect you have been enjoying views through it regularly.

[ags_]

Excellent Paul, congratulations on a perfect capture. Hope you obtain some more great seeing which will increase your enthusiasm for the planets.

Cheers!

[Paul Haese]

I doubt I'll ever have the enthusiasm I had 10 years back for planetary imaging again. I think it is important to keep in touch with skills though and that is more enjoyable than feeling the burden of getting out each clear night to watch wobbly looking planets. Given that next year we will have all the major planets at high opposition it is probably going to occupy my interest at least for that period of time. :)

[gregbradley]

Brilliant image Paul. I don't think I have seen the polar Hex before.

Greg.

[Pharian]

Wow.

[niharika]

Beautiful image Paul

[Quark]

Returned from the dark side Paul, a nice result hope this a sign of things to come from you.