Saturn - 24/1/05

[[1ponders]]

Hopefully a taste of what's to come. Quite a nice night last night though the transparency was only about 6/10, seeing about 6-7/10

This is the first of 5 avies. Just a quick registax process and crop in PS to see what potential is there. Might get time to process the rest this weekend at Lostock :P

[iceman]

Wow! A planetary image from ponders! :)

Great job Paul, lokos really nice. Did you use the ToUcam?

Looks like you're suffering from the browns, like Dennis used to. Try increasing the saturation to 100% during capture.

Look forward to more!

[davidpretorius]

ppsssst mike, is he allowed to post planetary pics??? i thought there was a forum rule about moderators posting images?????

Nice work, great to see that the conditions are getting better.

Have fun at camp!

[Thiink]

Are you jumping on the planetry train Paul? Would be good to see you processing some planets. :)

Which of your babies was this taken with? Details man!

ps. see you at Lostock on Saturday.

[[1ponders]]

Thanks guys.

Mike I tried to up the saturation but that only made it worse for some reason. I haven't had much of a chane to get out an do planetary work for quite a while. Either the weather has been terrible or the seeing where I am has be lousy. Here's hoping for bigger and better things.

Details:
8" meade SCT with 2X barlow and ToUcam. Focused using hartmann mask on Procyon (used mirror lock to prevent flop) then swung back to Saturn.
Settings: 10fps, 1/25 exp, 100% brightness, 40-50% gain, about 50-60% saturation, 0 gamma. 1300 frames using classic setting and 90% in registax. 100 frames for reference frame. Low to moderate waveletting on 2,3 4 and 5 sliders

Nahh Simon just taking up where I left off last year. I haven't done any real planetary imaging since about march last year

[RB]

Nice one Paul.
Looking forward to many more.

Quick question, is the focus just as good for the planet when a Hartmann is used before hand to focus on a star? Since the planet is not a point source but the star is?
If so then I need to build myself a hartmann because I was under the impression it only was for stars (DSO work). :jump2:

Your's is nicely focused Paul. :clap:

[fringe_dweller]

Very Nice Paul! :-)

[Robby]

Nice natural colour Paul.. I had a look at Saturn last night, but the seeing was crap here, so didn't image it....
Cheers

[ving]

andrew is right, stars are at a different focal point to planets. you image would have been better still if you had focused on saturn instead of pokemon... i mean procyon

fine image paul :)

[Robert_T]

Hey Paul, nice Saturn, lot's of subtle detail ... though there must be some breach in copyright with you doing planetary imaging :confuse3:

[Striker]

Great stuff Paul....

It seems like months pass between our images up here atm....hope that changes soon.

Well done a very nice Saturn Image.

[rumples riot]

Nice Saturn Paul, glad to see one of the non imagers joining in. Keep em coming.

[[1ponders]]

Don't know about the difference in focus between star and planet. I've never been able to get a better shot using the planet to focus on than using a star. To my mind they are both virtually at infinity so the focal point should be the same. As a guide I use the casini division. If it peeks in nice and sharp every now and then I know I'm close. If it's hard to see I usually don't bother imaging.

[rumples riot]

Paul, with practice you don't need to use a mask. Beside focus will differ a little between star and planet. I usually stand back two to three feet just to see if the image is sharp. I have found that this works quite well.

[[1ponders]]

I'd try that Paul if I could see the damn image from that far back :lol: I gotta get new glasses :)

[rumples riot]

Oh sorry, did not know you were blind. Perhaps if you use binoculars. :P

Perhaps when you get glasses.

[jjjnettie]

Very nice Paul.
Thanks for letting us know the processing details cause it really helps us beginners.

[[1ponders]]

Nah not blind just astigmatism=getting old