Saturn season

[bird]

Last night was a comedy of errors, but I eventually got everything working and had time for one imaging run on Saturn before sunrise...I shoulda set the alarm for 3.30am instead of 4am, I left myself with too much to do and not really enough time.

Anyway, here is Saturn from this morning. I'm using my Lumenera LU075M camera at the moment while the Dragonfly Express is away being looked at - either it died or I killed it, not sure which one yet, but I've got the LU camera going under Linux now so I'll be using that for the next few weeks until the DX comes back.

The LU has some nasty artifacts and lines at high gain, you can see it best in the blue image here but they're also present in the other images. Astra Image has some really nice lowpass filtering that can get rid of these sorts of things, so they've been filtered out of the final image.

Equipment: 10" f/6 newtonian @ f/48
Lumenera LU075M camera
red & green: 15fps (66ms) and maximum gain for 2 minutes each
blue: 7.5fps (140ms) and about 50% gain for 2 minutes

Filters: Astronomik RGB narrow bandpass

Edit: added a slightly better colour image

regards, Bird

[iceman]

Holy cow that's an incredible shot!

I just knew you'd be out this morning, I was too.. up at 4am after imaging Mars at 11pm :) The seeing this morning was fantastic.

I'm processing my Saturn's now, but gee they're nothing like yours. Just beautiful.

[h0ughy]

Dispite you problems mate that is an awesome shot!

[matt]

You've done it again, Bird!!!!!!

[acropolite]

Excellent work Bird.

[Exfso]

WOW very very nice. :

My body wont let me stay up that late, will have to wait until it rises earlier. Once again you have raised the bar, damn hard act to follow.

[davidpretorius]

hey, you stole my pictures!!!!


hang on , on closer inspection, yours are simply fantastic!!!!!!!!

well done bird.

having met you and with your willingness to help us, these pictures seem to hold more than just an superb image. It is that little x factor that accompanies a noobies first image post, or a ripper like yours. A feeling of pride???? is the best way to describe it I think????

[bird]

Thanks for the comments guys. DP, I feel like I still have a long way to go until I'm happy that I'm getting everything that I can out of this setup, if the weather cooperates then I'll be trying to make this a Saturn/Jupiter season to remember :-)

The best way to keep improving is to share ideas and try different things, I'm hoping that we'll all be much further along our respective curves by the end of the season next May ..

regards, Bird

[iceman]

How's your 13" coming along Anthony?

[bird]

Still waiting for optics... Mark is a little late in finishing the 13.1" mirror.

Bird

[xstream]

Wow mate if you call that not so good, I can't wait to see the good ones.

[Striker]

I like Saturn so much more then Mars.....Mars is nothing compared to these shots of Saturn.

Very nice Anthony

[iceman]

The problem with Saturn is, it looks the same every time.

At least with Mars and Jupiter, you potentially get a different face to look at each time.

[bird]

You know, there's probably clouds n storms n stuff if we can get a good enough look...

One of the items on my list is to see something other than just smooth belts - something that's not an artifact :-)

Problem is, I don't really know what the rotation period is. There's some data from cassini that suggests it's about 10 hours, like Jupiter. That might be a problem.

Bird

[robin]

Just choked on my weetbix Bird.Absolutely stunning.Fabulous.Worldclass bar none.

[TidaLpHasE]

:prey2:Awsome shots Bird, makes me really want to learn how you do it.
I have tried with a few pics in registax, registar and iris, but have failed each time and given up, not having my mount tracking yet or polar aligned doesn't help me any either.

I will have to dedicate some time in reading how and what is the best way to use these programs, your pics definately inspire us newbies to want to achieve similar results.

Thanks.

[Hitchhiker]

That's a spectacular image of Saturn, bird! You're in a league of your own.

[Robert_T]

hard to find words to describe, but that is one exceptionally beautiful piece of imaging - the colour in the banding is fantastic... and this from your backup camera ;)

cheers,

[asimov]

Anthony.....What can ANYONE say mate.....To my eyes it is world class!! That's simply stunning man! I can't stop looking at it. Oh man, that's GREAT! Should I shut up now??:lol:

NO! THATS GREAT! :scared: :prey2: :)

[asimov]

How can anyone match this image!? Geez, it won't be thru lack of trying anyway. Awesome!

[atalas]

Awesome !

[bird]

Okay, so I guess you likd it ?? :-) Thanks Asi, that reaction makes it all worthwhile.

But be warned, I'm hoping for much better than this before the end of the year...

Bird

[asimov]

Hey, no need to warn me Bird!...it's what I EXPECT from you ;) Be warned I intend to get somewhere like 50% near to your quality image above! :lol: (are you scared yet!??):)

[asimov]

Hey! Have I told you I LOVE that image lately!? NO!? ok.......I LOVE THAT IMAGE!!

[bird]

I'd LOVE to see a bunch of you guys improving and getting great images...there's no point me figuring out all this stuff on how to take good images and then not telling anyone now is there?

There's no doubt that we're already seeing improved images from you, Iceman, DP and others, we just gotta keep on working at it.

Bird

[asimov]

Quote by bird/"there's no point me figuring out all this stuff on how to take good images and then not telling anyone now is there?"

Correct Anthony. And we all appreciate you passing the knowledge onto us..Thanks mate!

[danielsun]

Hey bird that is stunning!!!!! you just have to send that in to the mags to print. Surely they cant go past that one!!!!

[asimov]

Here I am once again drooling at this image...Oh hell! That's totally awesome!!

[davidpretorius]

when/where did bird post his mug shot????

I know you have a thing for guys with a beard, but this sort of behaviour should be kept in the privacy of your own home.

Bird was kind enough to lets us process these at star camp. He took them at rockhampton in near perfect conditions.

Drool away asi, cos i have been drooling since star camp

[bird]

Hmm, comparing the saturn from April with the one from a couple of nights ago shows the difference that 6 months and a new camera can make...

The April saturn was shot with Saturn transiting just after sunset, even with the good seeing conditions in Rocky it wasn't possible to get any better than that.

But now Saturn is well placed for imaging pre-dawn and it will be there for at least another month, all I want for christmas is a couple of good nights...

Bird

[davidpretorius]

tonight is looking good down here, my new temp sensor is up and running and it is very clear! Jet stream looked good too!

[gaa_ian]

Great Shot Bird .... I hope I can see views like that when i get my 16" scope !

[rumples riot]

Nice image Anthony, now hoping to get similar images with my new setup pending the new OTA. Right now, it is cloudy and the scope is nicely cooled.

Keep em coming Mate, gives me something to aim for.

[bird]

What did you buy/build for temp reading DP?

[davidpretorius]

got a thread running here and i am tracking the temps

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=5541

it is a monitor we bought from the chemist for our first born 5 yrs ago. it has two sensors. it is now on the scope

[asimov]

Drool, Drool!!!!

[asimov]

For my 2500th post...I'll spend it looking at my favorite saturn picture. :)