Saturn storms Dec 30th

[Quark]

Hi All,

Imaged Saturn this morning in pretty ordinary seeing, have 1 RGB and 1 807nm IR data set. When I hit the deck at 3 am CSST this morning it was still 28 degrees C in my dome which I had left open all night.

My final RGB at 19:06 UTC is the best image. I note that Anthony also imaged Saturn this morning and his RGB from 17:39 UTC, besides being a real bottler of an image, is very interesting. The hi res structure of the storm at CMIII 248.3 in Anthony's image would seem to fit nicely with the structure of the storm in my 19:06 UTC image CMIII 297.3.

When I initially looked at Anthony's image I didn't pay attention to the UTC and thought it must have been from a very similar time as the storm looked similar, Anthony's with North on top and mine with South on top, however these images are 87 min's apart so the storm detail in my image would tack on very nicely to the storm detail in the other image. This storm structure must extend at least half way around the planet with very bright cells at either end.

Thanks for looking.
Regards
Trevor

[DarkRevenge]

Wow, that storm is still growing!
I've been waking up at 4am the last eight days to see Saturn, but unfortunately I haven't been able to distinguish the storm yet (the days it is suposse to be visible, of course). I don't know very well why. I know it's a small scope (76mm), but I thought the storm was big enough to see it with it...
However, I have your images to follow it's evolution and that's something for what I'm really greatful. Thanks a lot for sharing, Trevor.

Cheers, Luis.

[Quark]

Thanks Luis, still growing at an amazing rate, I think you should see it with your scope. I noticed on CN that Rafael Defavare in Sao Paulo Brazil has imaged it with a 90mm refractor and a DSLR. In his image the storm is very bright, even with a small scope.

This storm Luis is enormous and just so bright. I have been having pretty crook seeing in the mornings but even so, I can still see the storm in the live feed of all channels, even when the image is distorted by the crook seeing.

[Troy]

Both great shots Trevor :)

[Liz]

great shots Trevor, amazing the size!! :thumbsup:

[DarkRevenge]

Thanks very much for the info, Trevor. I'll try again tomorrow morning... let's see what happen.

Cheers.

[michaellxv]

Great work Trevor. Any ideas as to what is making this storm so bright?
Is it light genereated by the storm or is it something about the storm making it more reflective?

[samilag]

Trevor,
spectacular storm and details.
Thank you very much (you and Anthony) for these pictures,
we can see the phenomenon waiting an Italy seeing / waether good, to let an abservation in the early morning, also from here.

Giuseppe