Saturn, April 12 + NED candidate

[bird]

Hi all,

Some good seeing this morning between midnight and 3am :-) Here's an
image of Saturn showing the storm in the far north, it does seem to be a
bit more prominent than a few days ago. There are other, fainter, storms
visible to the south at the same approximate longitude. I've included an
inset that shows these storms more clearly with extra enhancement (red
light only).

I was having some problems with cooling the scope (my peltier was out of
action last night) and so there are some slight vertical ghosts caused
by mirror thermal currents. This will be fixed today if the courier arrives on time :-)

cheers, Bird

[bird]

One more image - from a few minutes earlier in red light only, showing more clearly the storm complex.

cheers, Bird

[jsmoraes]

Great shot ! It is clear. Good sight of the storm. Thanks for share it!

[lepton3]

Thanks for posting Bird.

Had heard there was something happening on Saturn, it's great to see it. There's excellent detail in both the colour and red images.

I took some images around 14UT, but the seeing down here was too dodgy for good detail. The lighter band is visible, but not the spot.

-Ivan

[Clayton]

Interesting shots Anthony, it would be nice to have another big storm, but probably unlikely :(

[Shiraz]

fine images Bird. thanks for update on the storm activity - looks like there is still some significant upwelling going on. regards ray

[Deeno]

Superb!

Your setting the bar pretty high....

[Quark]

Top stuff Bird, certainly looks promising, hope you sort the pelt problem pronto.

Regards
Trevor

[bird]

Thanks Trev, all sorted. I upgraded to higher rated peltiers and then found I needed to upgrade the heatsinks and fans as well, but it's all working fine now.

cheers, Bird

[iceman]

Really nice image Anthony. Well done!

[Quark]

Sounds just great Bird, but I see the prospect of even further innovation. Reckon now with this extra cooling capacity you will be able to come up with a add on mod to cool a couple of stubbies & the odd bottle of wine while utilizing the excess heat for a pie warmer.

This would take planetary imaging to a whole new level, Those long nights & early mornings would be just that bit more enjoyable, looking forward to your next visit.

Cheers
Trev