My first planetary images for this season and my first chance for any kind of astro for a while... looked like some decent seeing so I made the call to stay out a little later than normal. I only took a few captures - but as luck would have it Tethys and Rhea were in transit.
The RGB images were not the best but I was pleased with some of the detail captured in IR - and especially Tethys, which was not visible at all in RGB, was visible (just) in IR. So yeah pretty happy with being able to capture the double transit plus bonus double lunar shadow transit.
I made a gif to show the lunar transit a little clearer. Tethys is hiding right on the edge of the rings and presents as little notch in the rings moving in sync with Rhea and the 2 shadows...
Excellent images and a great catch of the transits, much better detail than my feeble efforts. Aperture rules.
Trying to find any info on the possibilities of Titan transits being visible for us this season.
The detail is so amazingly sharp. I guess that's the difference between 14 inches of aperture and the 8 inch scopes I play with when it comes to planetary. Great images David!
I do have a 5 times TeleVue Powermate I'm yet to play with for planetary but I don't expect my results to be near as good as what you've captured.
Don't forget, I know someone who can print these if needed.
Thanks guys I really appreciate the kind comments. Still another month till opposition but we don't get too many nights of good seeing so I'm glad to have had the opportunity to get some pics.
Jeff - I'm not really sure how to predict the Titan transits other than plugging times into Winjupos, or sites like Sky&Telescope that have a real-time position. I tried it but for some stupid reason I get conflicting answers - but try these dates:
20-22nd Nov 2024
8th Feb 2025
...it'd be great to catch this very rare event!
Thanks Murray & Maurice- Saturn is a real gem and a fun target cause you’ve got so many moons in play. Plus the whole games changes when the rings close up. Having said that I think this is the first ever transit I’ve captured so pretty pleased with the result. Thanks for looking!
Dave,
I nearly missed this one
Top notch images of Saturn and transit
So clean and sharp too
A rare occurrence having the rings almost at wings level , such a unique perspective
That big rig shines again and again on planetary work
Well done !!
Martin
Thanks Martin! This is the first time I’ve experienced the rings nearly edge-on and while it’s a little challenging to capture detail in the equatorial bands there’s so many more opportunities to capture transits. Definitely a unique perspective!
