My fourth Saturn

[iceman]

Well as I said in teh Jupiter thread, once I saw the clouds covering Jupiter, I turned my attention to Saturn, as I knew I had about 10 minutes before the clouds would cover it as well.

Seeing was pretty good, Saturn was a little higher and a little more west than usual as it was later in the morning.. instead of having Saturn drift across the FOV from right to left, it was going diagonal from upper right to lower left.. made it a bit harder to align it each pass, but i'm getting better at it anyway.

Here's a stack of about 100 frames (out of around 400), processed in registax 3.

The colour is off - i'm not sure why, I may have had the saturation too high in the capture settings. Anyway it's a fairly crisp image this time, cassini division and cloud band visible.. Probably on par with the other recent image of Saturn I took last week.. one day i'll pull out a blinder :)

http://www.iceinspace.com/images/images/planets/20041222-saturn1.jpg

Comments welcome.

[Frosty]

Looks good, good work Ice.

I cant wait to see Saturn for the first time.

[iceman]

You will love it! Just don't be too disappointed if the seeing is bad or if saturn is close to the horizon, as the view will swim about and morph and not be what you expect.

It also takes practise to observe the planets.. at first view I couldn't make out the cassini division on Saturn, couldn't make out cloud bands on Jupiter, but with time and practise, and better seeing, all these things will pop right out at you!

Can't wait to read your reports when you do see it for the first time! :)

[ving]

you are certainly getting there ice. its crisper than any other you have done and it has a hell of a lot more detail! cassini div is quite visible :)

[Exfso]

Nice Iceman, there is obviously a knack in grabbing these piccies. I dont have a webcam as such, mind you I have a Sony DCR TRV50-handycam which should be able to be adapted. Must look into that. Anyone else here using handycams in lieu of webcams for this? I would be interested to find out what is involved.

[ving]

change it to greyscale and see what it looks like?

[Robby]

Good work Ice,
I haven't viewed Saturn this year yet, but can tell from your image that the rings are more tilted away than last year.
I noticed it straight away then checked one of my images from last year, and you can definately see the difference in tilt!!
Unfortunately by the time Saturn gets nice and high for us here the rings will be virtually edge on. Oh the joys!

Rob

[seeker372011]

here's what it looks like in grey scale-I was curious too

Just noticed -this was my 100th post
:eyepop:

[rumples riot]

Nice shot Robby, I hope to do something as good as your shot soon. I know it is not perfect like Wes Higgins, but must say that I would be happy at present with this level of photography. No offence intended.

Paul

[seeker372011]

and here's what the same picture looks like with a one step photo fix in Paint Shop Pro

[iceman]

Hey the colour's right now! :) Thanks seeker! :)

I need to reinstall PSP again, I think my trial version expired :(

Thanks for the comments guys.

Robby that's a great Saturn, the ring tilt change is definitely noticeable - and I love your image scale. I don't want an f/5 for imaging :)

[Daring Dave]

Ive been thinking the same thing... I have a brand new Canon MV700 mini dv and have wondered how to connect it up....

Im not sure of the lux rating though.....must find the book....

Surely a dedicated vid camera should produce good results???

Off to google it ...

Cheers

DD :astron:

[iceman]

Video cameras have been used very successfully to take great astrophotos of the moon and planets.

You just need the appropriate adapters to hook it up to the eyepiece, save the video as .avi and away you go in registax.

Use your optical zoom to get closer..

If you're using a dob like me, you'll have the same problems I do with having it drift out of the view quickly.. but for exfso with his tracking mount he won't have any such problems.

[Robby]

Hi Iceman,

My Saturn was at f/10 with a 2.4x Barlow. so effectively f/24.
I have just got a 2.5x Powermate so it will be interesting to see the difference in image quality with that.... If these darn clouds would naff off!.
Cheers
Rob

[iceman]

Can't wait to see your results robby!

Where did you get the powermate from and how much did it intrude into the wallet?

[Robby]

Hi Ice,
Got the Powermate from Astromart and it set me back about US$140 incl. shipping.
Thing was I brought it in October and the wally sent it surface post and it only just arrived last week.
Still better late than never!!! as it wasn't insured.