Saturn and the Moon - 17/18th Feb 2006

[Dennis]

Hi

Managed to get out last night, after 2 weeks being clouded out. Saturn and good ol’ faithful Luna made periodic appearances through the clouds, but the seeing was quite reasonable (7/10) so I persevered. In the end, I managed to grab 10 avi’s of Saturn and 5 of the Moon, although only 1 of each was worth processing. I used Virtual Dub to cut out the frames where clouded scudded across the avi’s in capture.

By the time Jupiter made his appearance, clouds blanketed the skies, so reluctantly I packed up having waited patiently from midnight to 3:00am with only the occasional 10 second sucker hole.

Here are the results for Saturn and the Moon:

Image details
Saturn 1024 frames from 2100
Moon 790 frames from 1010

Equipment Details:
Celestron C9.25
Takahashi EM200 Mount
TeleVue x2.5 PowerMate
JMI NGF-S motorised focuser
Philips ToUcam
10 fps
1/25 sec
Captured in K3CCDTools
Processed in Registax

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman]

Both very nice shots Dennis! I love the moon shot.. so detailed.

I was out last night and this morning as well, and got my best seeing i've had all year.. busy busy processing!

[Dennis]

Hi Mike

That's great news about your seeing - its terrific when it all comes together isn't it? I look forward to seeing your images….don’t keep us waiting toooo long eh.

Cheers

Dennis

PS - By the way, I’ll be posting the DVD’s (you & DaveP) of Joops from 4th Feb today – computer re-builds and work got in the way.

[RB]

They're totally sick Dennis (sorry I'm only 13 :lol: ).

Ice don't talk about last night, I'm so frustrated I didn't set up, it looked great outside, but I was too tired :(

Great work Dennis, the lunar shot is unreal, feels like I'm in the LM orbiting the moon.
Saturn's got fantastic colour and sharpness.

Don't rub it in guys ok? :scared2:

[asimov]

Good images Dennis! Great colour & CD on Saturn & the moon shot is fantastic!

[Dennis]

Thanks Guys

Just read my Rukl Lunar Atlas and the area I managed to image is on Rukl Plate 73, with Moretus being the large crater with the prominent central peaks.

The stuff on the "horizon" may be the ring mountain Amundsen.

Also, this is my first Saturn where I have managed to capture the Cassini Division all the way around the (visible) rings.

Cheers

Dennis

[davidpretorius]

moon looks like a orbiter shot, well done.

your saturn is another rippa.

ooooohh, can't wait for the cd

now, i have been drifting over to cloudynights while the site has the odd hiccup, but they are sorely in need of your wide sequece of jupiter and the rising moon. i am happy to post on your behalf with your details, or if you have not been in there for a while, jump back on and show em your stuff. One of the guys had a moon like ice's the other week "Peek aboo". I immediately thought how well the IIS guys rank in imaging when compared to cloudynight images and thought when i saw this image, they would be gobsmacked with yours!! plus i could feel some more IIS & national pride on an american forum!!!

Well done!

[Starkler]

The Saturn has excellent detail. I can always pick a good Saturn shot when the discrete steps of brightness of the inner rings are visible :)

[Dennis]

Hi Dave

I'm not a member of CN and my needs are being satisfied by IIS right now, so I'll probably not be joining CN in the near future. So, I would be very happy for you to post the sequence; it seems that we down under are having a better season with Jupiter.

Thanks

Dennis

[Robert_T]

Dennis - the most beautiful moon shot I think I've ever seen! And that saturn has incredible ring detail :). Your portfolio of lunar and planetary is truly stunning.

I got up at 3.30am to cloud but it cleared by 4am, nice seeing too.

cheers,

[Hammerman]

Beautiful photos, both of them, Dennis! I really love the blue tints in the Saturn photo. Great detail too! Always nice to see something a bit different than the normal colors. I agree with Andrew about the moon shot where he said he feels like he's in the LM. Nice of those astronauts to let you go up there with them to take that photo!