Saturn June 12th, head of the storm in good seeing

[Quark]

Hi All,

Sorry about clogging up the planetary forum with Saturn data.

Imaged Saturn again last night in an effort to obtain hi-res data of the head of the storm. The seeing was good for the first hour but then got softer.

Have attached 2 good RGB & 807nm IR data sets. There is excellent detail in both, especially the IR. The 3 moons in IR are from left to right Titan Dione & Tethys.

Tethys can be seen in the 2nd RGB in transit as a tiny white dot above the ring plane on the right hand or following limb.

Have also attached inverted (negative) versions of the 2 RGB images which tend to hi-light even more the structure in the region of the head of the storm.

Also attached a link to a most interesting animation of all the RGB data.

http://iceinspace.com.au/uploads/20110612SatRGBanim.gif

Thanks for looking
Regards
Trevor

[von Tom]

Clog away Trevor! Good images of the storm head, very pronounced.

Tom

[renormalised]

Great piccies, Trevor. Like the head of the storm. It looks like a crab or a spider:)

[Lester]

Outstanding imaging Trevor, the negative view enhances the detail. Even adds some shading to Titan. Thanks for the views.

[Derek Klepp]

Great shots Trevor especially the colour Negatives . Its as if the storm has a core which seems to be more pronounced.

[Frewi808]

Wonderfull Trevor !
It seems that there are no 'spokes' lately.
Freddy

[Troy]

Nice collection of data Trevor. The storm head has certainly changed. :)

[Clayton]

Nice shots Trevor,
The storm head looks quite compact and strong, I haven't seen it like this for a while

[Shiraz]

Top images Trevor. As Tom says, "clog away" - this storm is a fascinating event and all of your posts are really appreciated. Regards Ray

[Saturn%5]

Keep them shots coming Trevor as i have no scope at present (in the market for one just can make up my mind) its always nice to see what people are doing there very nice :)

[Quark]

Thanks Tom, this was my first opportunity for over a month, with good seeing, to capture the detail around the head.



Thanks Carl, it does reveal a quite interesting structure in the negative that also is clearly recognizable in the IR.



Thanks very much Lester, with Titan I processed another version of the RGB data but aligned on Titan rather than Saturn and then copied and paste the aligned Titan over the original Titan. The negative of this has shaded the entire piece.



Thanks very much Derek, the negatives certainly add another dimension to the storm structure.



Thanks very much Freddy, the spokes seemed very prevalent closer to opposition.



Thanks Troy, yep, the morphology continues to evolve.



Thanks Rob, many of the research groups involved in this also remain very interested in the active region around the head of the storm and I know of one that has put in another proposal for time with the VLT to image these bright knots at thermal wavelengths.



Thanks Ray, the storm shows no sign of easing, I think the material that has been and continues to be dredged up will still be visible next apparition.



Thanks Grame, June is shaping up to be a much more productive month than May was for planetary imaging. I could only record data on 3 nights in May.

[icytailmark]

Excellent work Trevor. What filters do you use for imaging Trevor?

[von Tom]

Could that be Tethys on the 08:45UT image at 2 o'clock on the limb? I checked with CalSky for that time and here's what I got:

[Quark]

Thanks Mark, I have a set of Astronomik LRGB Type II filters along with an Astronomik Planet Pro 807nm IR filter so all five holes in my filterwheel are filled.



Yes Tom, the tiny white dot on the limb is Tethys it also shows up in the animation as it transits the limb. All 3 moons came up well in IR and I mentioned the positioning of Tethys in this RGB in my original post. I use WinJUPOS to identify the moons of Jupiter & Saturn, it is freeware and a most excellent resource indeed.

[von Tom]

:doh:Thanks Trevor - I was too busy looking at the pics again!

[John Hothersall]

Those are all pretty good but the IR's are the best and the negative works best on contrast. I think the best days are over but worthwhile imaging continues. Slight hint of Encke there.

John.

[michaellxv]

Wow, the inverted image gives a very different view of the structure. A very nice set of images.