Average Saturn

[John K]

Hi everyone, and happy NY.

It's a while since I have posted. Managed to get up on Sunday morning to capture Saturn only for the second time, the first effort having been on Oct 11th last year!. Average seeing conditions!

PROCESSED IMAGES:
http://www-us.flickr.com/photos/johnkazanas/84537975/

http://www-us.flickr.com/photos/johnkazanas/84537974/

MY ORIGINAL AFTER REGISTAX INC. WAVELETS:
http://www-us.flickr.com/photos/johnkazanas/84537972/

[iceman]

Hi John. Welcome back!

Great work on your 2nd Saturn! I prefer the wavelets only version, as the other ones look a little too overprocessed to me.

It looks like it's a little desaturated too (like Dennis's early ones) - try bumping up the saturation to max when you're capturing and you should get more of (what I call) the natural colour.

Well done!

[davidpretorius]

Hey john,

yes average conditions means not good data to start with and hence no amount of ME or LR deconvolution can help.

This planet really is tough to get right.

I have noticed you are towards the darker browns like asimov.

Sorry for my forgetfulness, what is your scope and imaging equipment again

It should be great at the end of the month - weather permitting

[John K]

Hi David, the scope is an JMI NGT 12.5" f/5 with Torus Optics. I am using a NexImage web cam.

Thanks Mike, good advice, appreciate it.
p.s. cannot wait for Jupiter this year!

[davidpretorius]

it is so huge already. I only remember it as a 192x magnification through my 6.5mm series 500 and toucam back in june when i first started.

Even in the 5mm vixen, there is so much detail so low on the horizon!!!

We gave the 5mm vixena a run in the 5x powermate the other night and managed a some bandings etc.

Yes..... it is going to be a rippa!

[Astroman]

Nice shots John. did you use somesort of noise reduction program on them? they look a little over smoothed. But look quite artistic at the same time. Well done, look forward to seeing more.

[Robert_T]

Hi John, nice Saturn given the conditions - not sure if it's my CRT, but it looks a little under-exposed and hence requiring a lot of post-processing to bring out the detail. I use the neximage too and find I can get good results running 1/10th sec exposure at 10fps. This gives plenty of light without having to go ballistic on gain etc.

cheers,

[matt]

G'day John.

Good effort. I also use a NexImage (like Rob and yourself). Would really like to know your set-up re: extenders, barlows, Powermates etc????

What settings did you use for capture?

And what did you do once you took your avi to registax?

Cheers

[John K]

thanks for the comments guys.

Andrew I use Alpha Trimmed Mean or Median 3x3 or 5x5 as a means of smoothing out my images.

Matt in terms of NexImage I tend to keep gain to as low as possible a setting to reduce the noise and increase the brightness to as high as needed. This time around these shots were at 1/20 second 10 FPS. Have never had any good results at 5 or 15 FPS. All this is attached to a 5 x Powermate.

John K.

[davidpretorius]

John if you get a good seeing night, try a higher gain setting.

I have found 1/25 exposure and at least 50 - 75% gain. If you can get 1500-2000 odd good images, the gain sorts itself out when stacking

[ving]

nice one john :)
I too prefer the browns inthe waveletted version :)

[asimov]

Damn. I can't view your pics John, my rotten dialup connection is lousy today. :mad2: I'll no doubt get to view them at a later date I guess.

Welcome back anyway.