My first ever Saturn

[allan gould]

Dodged rain and clouds last night to see if I could image Saturn for the first time with my 10" SCT and ASI120MM camera using a 2x barlow. Used SharpCap to capture and Autostakkert for processing. No other fiddling.
I was quite pleased with the end result and then realised that I had several moons in the frame as well so I processed an image to show them as well.
The seeing wasnt particularly good (5th April) - I estimate about 6/10 and the planet kept bouncing around but I took what I could get.
Comments welcomed

[asimov (John)]

Great first result for the new camera, & you by the sounds! You need to go the full monty & process in Registax (waveletts) after stacking though IMO.

Well done.

[allan gould]

Not in your league John but I thought I would show what the camera can do with someone inexperienced at the other end. I will have to fiddle with the camera capture parameters and processing procedures but this is how it came out of Autostakkert.
I will have a fiddle with it.
Allan

[astroron (Ron)]

Good start for the new camera Allan,
The Encke division comes out quite well.
Cheers

[EricB (Eric)]

Great result Allan. Wishing you all the best with your new camera!

Eric

[asimov (John)]

Well Allan I'd disagree somewhat about the 'not in my league' statement because you have some nice detail in that image (Encke, ring detail) & with some further processing as suggested...Equal to one of my images minus the colour

[allan gould]

Ron and Eric, thanks for the kind comments - its fun to play with new toys.
John, I have to get a set of filters as well as a filter wheel to get some colour for these images. What type do you recommend as I need all the help I can get?
Allan

[asimov (John)]

The Astronomik type 2 C is what I have http://www.bintel.com.au/Astrophotog...oductview.aspx & would recommend, although there are other breeds out there that others would probably recommend over the Astronomiks's...Comes back to budget I'd say.

As to the wheel, once again Budget. I run the manual Orion wheel http://www.bintel.com.au/Astrophotog...oductview.aspx which I am totally satisfied with. Expect to blow the budget out considerably if going motorised..

[Shiraz (Ray)]

wow, that's an excellent result Allan.

agree with John - Astronomik 2c filters seem to be pretty good. regards Ray

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

Nice definition in that first image Allan.

[Saturn%5 (Graeme)]

Great first shot Allan

[allan gould]

Originally Posted by Shiraz

wow, that's an excellent result Allan.

agree with John - Astronomik 2c filters seem to be pretty good. regards Ray

Thanks for that Ray, its appreciated and thanks for the advice

Originally Posted by peter_4059

Nice definition in that first image Allan.

Should have come over and joined in.

Originally Posted by Saturn%5

Great first shot Allan

Thanks Graeme for the comment.

[skytry (Peter)]

hi Allan,
well done,
and hoping for many more as exciting,
regards,
Peter.

[Dennis]

Lovely Saturn Allan – good to see you moving closer to home, imaging within our own solar system rather than capturing photons from the outer reaches of inter-galactic space!

Cheers

Dennis

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Good work, Allan!

[Ross G]

Great looking first attempt Allan.

Good luck.

Ross.

[Nortilus (Josh)]

looks good al, wish i could just get clear sky up here for 5 mins

[RobF (Rob)]

Heck, that's some Saturn for a first ever image!

[allan gould]

Originally Posted by skytry

hi Allan,
well done,
and hoping for many more as exciting,
regards,
Peter.

Thanks, Peter

Originally Posted by Dennis

Lovely Saturn Allan – good to see you moving closer to home, imaging within our own solar system rather than capturing photons from the outer reaches of inter-galactic space!

Cheers

Dennis

Dennis, at least planetary imaging only needs a few sucker holes for a decent image and a few minutes of time. But it's a whole different ball game compared to galaxies or nebula.

Originally Posted by Larryp

Good work, Allan!

thanks, Larry

Originally Posted by Ross G

Great looking first attempt Allan.

Good luck.

Ross.

thanks, Ross

Originally Posted by Nortilus

looks good al, wish i could just get clear sky up here for 5 mins

know what you mean as its raining again here.

Originally Posted by RobF

Heck, that's some Saturn for a first ever image!

thanks Rob but it's more the equipment and software than me these days
Allan

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Great result Al, seeing all the moons is cool too.

Mike