My best Saturn yet

[Muddy Diver]

I know I still have a way to go but I was very pleased with my effort last night. I discovered that the seeing was not as bad as I had thought and have posted in some other threads and that the reason for my poor seeing was collimation! It was way out, I cant think what has happened to move it so much as my little Mak hardly moves but when I looked up the jetstream conditions yesterday and saw it has improved greatly, then I still got c..p images through my scope, I realised something else was wrong. Perhaps I should practise collimation more as more I do the easier it gets (and i get better results each time too). Thing is its so difficult on my scope as the back has to be removed to gain access to the adjustment screws then replaced to view the result each time.

Anyway, thought I would rejoice a bit and post the result below.

[ving]

great one muddy! what camera was used?
got some good colours in that.

[Muddy Diver]

[quote=ving] what camera was used?
quote]

Thanks Vingster!

I used a neximage and took four avi's at 10fps each one for 40secs.

Have taken a look on the yahoo site for my scope and am producing images akin to the best there. All thanks to the advice I have got from all in this forum. Really pleased.:)

[davidpretorius]

i like it, well done! I check collimation every night. was extra careful before cooling scope and b4 i started imaging due to the excellent seeing and jupiter events that was up for grabs.

can you adapt the back for easier access?

also keep in mind that saturn is up early and temperatures will generally be dropping quickly after sunset? This will affect your imaging as well.

Down here in tassie, i have given up on saturn. I drop 15 degrees in 2 hours or less. Too hard to keep the mirror cooled

[Robert_T]

Ya Muddy, improving all the time.:thumbsup: One thing you might try is to increase your capture time. I often run 180sec capturing 1800 frames at 10fps and stack over 600 of the best to get a smooth image.

cheers,

[davidpretorius]

do be aware that if you are chasing surface detail ie when the storms were present, saturn rotates like jupiter ie around 10hrs.

so generally for smoother colours, grab a heap of frames, but for specific detail on an otherwise boring surface stick to 90 seconds.

[asimov]

Good one Muddy!:thumbsup: Keep 'em coming.

[h0ughy]

Nice one Muddy! way better with my efforts, i am not game to post at all. Horrid they are. be proud of that mate!