Saturn March 10th

[Quark]

Hi all,

Had a very nice drop of rain on the morning of March 10th. It was very cloudy for most of the day but cleared up by 8pm. Often out here in the outback, after rain the seeing can be stunning, so set up to image Saturn. Started at 10:05 pm CSST.

Although it was clear the relative humidity was much higher than normal, we are supposed to get rain over the next two or three days. Strewth this must be what its like over on the coast. The seeing was only fair about 6 to 7 / 10.

Tried experimenting with my capture setup. These images are all RGB's, each channel was a capture of 1,800 frames at 30 fps, Gain was set at 870 for R & G channels and 1,023 for the B channel. This gave a histogram of 190 for each channel.

I used Virtual Dub to convert my avi files to bmp's then used Birds most excellent ppmcentre to centre, crop and rate the bmp's. Used Registax V5 to stack my bmp's. Used Astra Image Pro 3 to merge my RGB's.

Thanks for looking
Regards
Trevor

[kinetic]

Hi Trev,

as always , consistently great results.

Have you ever thought of going higher FL?
Do you think the sensitivity of the DMK would still give
a good image brightness on the 16" for high frame rates?

I know exactly what you mean about post rain shower seeing!
I noticed it once during the day years ago, me and another
tradesman were up on a rooftop servicing something and we
saw right across the whole of Adelaide to the foothills, probably
a good 20 mile away, to see the Steamranger train making it's
way through the trees.
The clarity of the air was breathtaking and really noticeable.
And it was right after a morning shower.

Steve

[Lester]

Nice images Trevor.

Just got my first calm night here in weeks, so hoping for some images also.

[Quark]

Hi Steve,

Yeh, I am sure I can push it to longer FL, at the moment the only thing stopping me is the cooling system on my primary, I just can't get my mirror close enough to ambient just using fans. I have begun work on a peltier cooling system that I hope will make a big difference, that will allow for higher res at a larger image scale. Might take me a while but I think it will be worth it.

Trevor

[peter_4059]

Amazing clarity and detail in these images Trevor.

[jjjnettie]

:)Beautiful work Trevor.

[bird]

Nice work Trevor, thought I was on to some good seeing here as well, but the clouds have moved in :-(

cheers, Bird

[Dennis]

Another portfolio of superb image Trevor – you’re making this look too easy!

Are the S and W directions as would be viewed by an astronaut on Saturn, or are they as we would see them from planet Earth? I think it’s about time I learned a little more about celestial mechanics and nomenclature – all this GoTo stuff has made me a little lazy! LOL!

Cheers

Dennis

[RB]

Wonderful, wonderful work Trevor !
Very nice detail in there.

[Quark]

Thanks Dennis, Bird, Jeanette & Peter, for your kind remarks.

Dennis, I use the conventions laid out by The A.L.P.O. for labeling my images. I have attached a pdf file from them for the "General Nomenclature For Saturn". Hope this is of interest.

Regards
Trevor:thumbsup:

[Quark]

Thanks Lester, just had a look at your Jupiter image, looks great for so early in the season.

Trevor

[Quark]

Thanks Andrew,

Always trying to fine tune my planetary imaging to get more from my data. It's a steady progression, working on subtle adjustments to capture and processing routines to find what works and what doesn't. Much like what you have been doing of late with your stunning works around the harbor.

Regards
Trevor

[Dennis]

Thanks for the A.L.P.O. Saturn Section pdf file Trevor.:thumbsup:

I see that the cardinal points are drawn for Saturn as viewed in the N hemisphere through an inverting telescope.

I always have some fun with the mental gymnastics involved in having to rotate the view by 180 degrees, or flip (Vert) and then flop (Horz) the view to obtain the perspective from down under!

Cheers

Dennis