Uranus - Sep 25th

[lepton3 (Ivan)]

I wasn't sure whether to post this image, but you don't see many images of Uranus so I figure may as well.

The seeing was pretty poor last night, but I set up anyhow mainly as an exercise to get an idea of the camera settings and capture and processing methods that might be involved in getting a decent image when the conditions are better.

This is a dim target, and the fact there was a 40 to 50 m/s jetstream made it difficult to focus. Therefore I did not use any barlow, just the native 2.8m f/10 focal length of the C11. Overall, the final image has been digitally zoomed by 2.5x.

The image is IR+RGB. The IR channel was heavily contrast stretched to bring out some mottling. To be honest I expect this is more processing artifact than actual planet detail -- I think the seeing was probably too poor to allow any detail.

I plan to try for real if the jetstream ever drops below 20 m/s!

-Ivan

[Varangian (John)]

Very crisp. I have just come inside from observing Uranus for the past 30 mins, really nothing more than a blue-grey disc, seeing was not good though.

[Matt Wastell (Matt)]

Thanks Ivan - always great to see this aqua dot!

[Troy]

Nice Ivan 8-)

[lepton3 (Ivan)]

Originally Posted by Varangian

Very crisp. I have just come inside from observing Uranus for the past 30 mins, really nothing more than a blue-grey disc, seeing was not good though.

I wish you good luck and good seeing John. I can only recall seeing one visual report of any detail. Certainly all I've ever seen visually is as you described.

Originally Posted by Matt Wastell

Thanks Ivan - always great to see this aqua dot!

Cheers Matt, it will be well placed for a while, so hopefully I'll get some more images in the next few months.

Originally Posted by Troy

Nice Ivan 8-)

Thanks Troy.

-Ivan

[nandopg]

Hi Ivan.
Great result, as Matt said is always nice to see this pale blue dot imaged.

Thanks for sharing,

Fernando

[Larryp (Laurie)]

Great image, Ivan

[Sarge (Rod)]

Well done Ivan. Looks a treasure, colour is fabulous.

Might even give it a try myself.

Clear skies

Rod

[stardust steve (Steve)]

Awesome. Thanks for the view. I don't recall ever seeing and image of this before.
Well done.

[lepton3 (Ivan)]

Originally Posted by nandopg

Hi Ivan.
Great result, as Matt said is always nice to see this pale blue dot imaged.

Thanks for sharing,

Fernando

Thanks Fernando, it's good to be able to give Uranus a bit of exposure. Obviously it's not as photogenic as Jupiter, but for us down here it is better placed!

Originally Posted by Larryp

Great image, Ivan

Thanks Laurie.

Originally Posted by Sarge

Well done Ivan. Looks a treasure, colour is fabulous.

Might even give it a try myself.

Clear skies

Rod

Hi Rod,

I tried to keep the colour balance in the final image to what the histograms showed during capture. Possibly a bit green, but we know Uranus is green, right?

Hope you get good conditions and have a go yourself.

Originally Posted by stardust steve

Awesome. Thanks for the view. I don't recall ever seeing and image of this before.
Well done.

Thanks Steve. Actually there have been some images recently posted to the Cloudy Nights forum, which are certainly worth a look if you are interested.

-Ivan

[Shiraz (Ray)]

impressive image Ivan - will sure be nice when the jet-stream finally dies down a bit. regards Ray

[lepton3 (Ivan)]

Originally Posted by Shiraz

impressive image Ivan - will sure be nice when the jet-stream finally dies down a bit. regards Ray

Thanks Ray,

It looks like tonight/Monday morning might be OK! Here's hoping.

-Ivan

[asimov (John)]

Good one Ivan. I've imaged this target a couple of times the last few years in good seeing but I've never ever seen any detail on it with the C11.

[lepton3 (Ivan)]

Originally Posted by asimov

Good one Ivan. I've imaged this target a couple of times the last few years in good seeing but I've never ever seen any detail on it with the C11.

Thanks John, it seems that there are only controversial reports of features visible in normal light. I think IR longer than 630nm is required to see the banding. Uranus will be well placed for about 6 weeks more, so hopefully I've got a reasonable chance to get an image with detail beyond reproach.

-Ivan