Big Saturn, Brisbane, 19th April 2012 + Video

[von Tom]

Seeing in Brisbane was pretty good on the 19th and the sky was clear for the time being at least but I had to go to night shift :( I left the 12" Dobsonian set up until the very last minute to get Saturn as high in the sky as possible.

With about 4500 frames with the EOS 600D video set to Faithful picture style, with saturation maxed and contrast minimised (to catch the C ring, which seems to be helped by the Seeliger effect), along with a 5x Powermate and 2x Barlow I managed to get this image. I've left it at original capture size. I am normally heavy handed with processing so I've tried to ease off for this one. Manually tracked as I find it easier to keep it in the frame that way than correcting the tracking when needed.

Video of some Registax frames with the final result here:
http://youtu.be/t9MkYBA7_Sc

Also attached is an image recorded 3 minutes earlier in Landscape Picture Style, heavily processed to bring out activity in the North Equatorial Belt (NEB).

Thanks for looking and feel free to edit it if you like :),

Tom

PS: added a repro :)

[naskies]

Great work, Tom! I was also observing the incredible views of Saturn and Mars through my 10" Skywatcher on the 19th... and wondering whether you were out there capturing it.

[Quark]

Superb work Tom, your best yet, an amazing result for a DSLR.

Regards
Trevor

[asimov]

I echo Trevor's sentiments - Fantastic DSLR work Tom! Correct about the Seeliger effect helping us out right now, although 2 nights ago I noticed this is gradually lessening; according to my capture histogram.

[Ciarlotto]

Fantastic...:eyepop:... It's your best, I believe it.
Congratulation for your great work ;)

[jjjnettie]

:D What a massive image scale Tom. Kudos for hand tracking too. Been there done that with my first 10" dob so I know how finicky it is.
Great work. Looks like we're having another clear one tonight too.

[Cam]

Great pic!!!

[FlashDrive]

That is just great .. !! :thumbsup: ... nice ' big ' shot .. great detail in the rings.

Well done Tom.

Flash :hi:

[Derek Klepp]

Top stuff Tom agree with the others your best yet.

[von Tom]

Thankyou everyone for your comments. It definitely was a great opportunity to push the system to the limits. I'd like to bring out more contrast in the bands but I find doing so loses the C Ring. I've attached a copy of the original but distorted to display the rings as circular, and a rough mockup of the best quality parts of the ring rotated.

Tom

[Dennis]

Wow Tom – the title did warn me about a “big Saturn” but I guess I just wasn’t expecting to be smacked in the face by a GIANT Saturn. Fantastic work, you’ve really set the bar high with this series.

Cheers

Dennis

[von Tom]

Thanks Dennis :) OK, I ran the image through WinJUPOS and got a northern polar projection which I put in the middle of the rings mockup with an artistically added shadow on the rings.

Tom

[Astroman]

Very nice Tom, I am amazed at the detail the Canon cameras are producing. Well done

[RobF]

Yes, top stuff Tom. Wonderful images and fantastic scale. We're all going to want to run off and buy Goto Dobs the way you're going with your planetary work lately! :)

[von Tom]

Thanks Rob and Andrew. The Dob+DSLR system is a pretty convenient set up, and when seeing is great the images can work out pretty well too.

Tom

[Matt Wastell]

That is an awesome job!

[astronobob]

Fair SaturnTastic Tom, that is incredible, your definaltly onto something Big !

B E A U T Y :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[StephenM]

Nice work Tom!

Cheers,
Stephen

[Paul Haese]

At the risk of being yelled down I want to make the following comment. Yes big is nice but I think this image would look better at 70% of the current size. There is a lot of noise on the planet at the current size. At 70% this image really shines. Nice work for DSLR stuff anyway.

[von Tom]

No risk of being yelled down here Paul - your comment about size and noise is quite true. I've been struggling with sharpness artefacts/noise vs image detail/colour and size for this image and left it big as I didn't want to lose ring detail in the resize and sharpen. Big isn't always best - most likely true in this image- and maybe I need to take a step back (literally) as I try to improve on it.

Cheers,

Tom

[Stu Ward]

How did you track this so well ?

I watched the Vid and it hardly moves. If i set my goto dobbie up with a 5x powermate, i really struggle to keep Saturn in the viewfinder

Stu

[von Tom]

Hi Stu, the video is of frames aligned in Registax, so it looks rock solid. I'll post up a video of the actual capture. The 600D has a 1920x1080 crop mode whereas the 550D has a 640x480 crop mode. I have used both but needed continual monitoring and input of the Goto tracking. In the end I just stopped aligning the scope and tracked manually. Practice does improve things so don't give up. 5x on a 550D crop is quite a challenge. I first started with 2x, then 4x then 5x then used the 600D to get to this 10x image - although it is now pushing the limit of the system in terms of ISO. Hope that helps!

Tom

[von Tom]

Stu I've put up a video of the capture from the 600D .MOV file:
http://youtu.be/-zVp9NctpHk

Cheers,

Tom

[von Tom]

OK I had a go at reprocessing and reduced it in size a little. More disc detail is evident now. I've also attached the image to the original post.

Thanks for looking,

Tom

[venus]

Simply stunning!

[Frewi808]

Great approach there Tom !!!
Freddy