Saturn in better seeing - 19th Jan

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi all

This image of Saturn was captured on the morning of the 19th January 2009, in variable but at times quite stable seeing conditions. It’s been so long since I’ve seen excellent seeing conditions that I feel i’m over-estimating the conditions of late, and have done so again with this image but it’s the best seeing I’ve had this year so it’s a start at least.

The improved atmospheric stability has helped to make this image my best Saturn for this apparition so far, and it’s giving me inspiration to continue to sacrifice sleep on clear nights and continue imaging. Now I just need a night of excellent seeing to recalibrate my scale and put things back in perspective

Image link, Capture and processing information here:
Saturn in better seeing - 19th January

Thanks for looking.

[rat156]

Nice Mike,

I love the colour contrast between the rings and planet, must be that advantage of rgb imaging. Have you considered using a clear or light yellow filter and doing LRGB imaging?

How do you get Registax 5 Beta??????

I might have to pick your brains on LR deconvolution, I've never been happy with the results when I use it.

Cheers
Stuart

P.S. It's great fun getting up in the wee small hours isn't it?

[Quark (Trevor)]

Top effort Mike,

It is getting much higher now but, out here, the seeing has been shocking until just before twilight. Last night it was still 26 C at 3 am.

Keep at it I am keen to see what you can produce with good seeing as Saturn rises to higher altitudes.

Regards
Trevor

[beren]

Very nice Mike.

[AlexN]

Looking good Mike.... I've still only managed one image thus far of saturn... Patiently waiting for clear skies (impatiently as all hell..)

[Rodstar (Rod)]

I was out observing on the night of the 19th, Mike, and it was quite stable at Point Clare, too. I recorded seeing as between 3-3.5/5 for the three hours I was out.

Nice to see our old mate, Saturn, at such an unusual angle.

[Matty P (Matt)]

Very nice indeed Mike. Very sharp.

I'm just a bit curious why your images appears to be more so blue? I'm used to seeing Saturn more yellow.

[matt]

Good work, Mike....and a definite improvement.

It certainly makes a difference to get a patch of better seeing, especially with Saturn being quite a tricky object.

[iceman (Mike)]

Originally Posted by rat156

Nice Mike,

I love the colour contrast between the rings and planet, must be that advantage of rgb imaging. Have you considered using a clear or light yellow filter and doing LRGB imaging?

How do you get Registax 5 Beta??????

I might have to pick your brains on LR deconvolution, I've never been happy with the results when I use it.

Cheers
Stuart

P.S. It's great fun getting up in the wee small hours isn't it?

Thanks for the feedback, Stuart. I did actually try a clear filter to do some LRGB imaging during this session, but I ended up throwing away the L data - after processing it just didn't come up sharp. The seeing just wasn't good enough for it.

I'm on the beta testing program for Registax 5.. a full release isn't that far away so you don't have long to wait.

Originally Posted by Quark

Top effort Mike,

It is getting much higher now but, out here, the seeing has been shocking until just before twilight. Last night it was still 26 C at 3 am.

Keep at it I am keen to see what you can produce with good seeing as Saturn rises to higher altitudes.

Regards
Trevor

Thanks Trevor - it sure is nice having it at 44deg instead of 30 like last year.

Originally Posted by beren

Very nice Mike.

Thanks Stuart!

Originally Posted by AlexN

Looking good Mike.... I've still only managed one image thus far of saturn... Patiently waiting for clear skies (impatiently as all hell..)

Thanks Alex, we've had a few good clear nights lately but the overnight temps have been shockingly warm, throwing the seeing out.

Originally Posted by Rodstar

I was out observing on the night of the 19th, Mike, and it was quite stable at Point Clare, too. I recorded seeing as between 3-3.5/5 for the three hours I was out.

Nice to see our old mate, Saturn, at such an unusual angle.

Hey Rod, nice to hear from you. I've been meaning to give you a call!
Nice to hear you out with Mary Rose. Not long until your trip!

Originally Posted by Matty P

Very nice indeed Mike. Very sharp.

I'm just a bit curious why your images appears to be more so blue? I'm used to seeing Saturn more yellow.

I'm pretty sure with Saturn it's because of the very dim blue channel when recorded at 15fps, compared with the red and green. When the blue channel is converted to greyscale and brightened to match the other channels, the relative intensity of the blue is high compared to the others so it's giving it a bit of a blue bias. I could easily process it out, and looking at it now I can see what you mean.

Originally Posted by matt

Good work, Mike....and a definite improvement.

It certainly makes a difference to get a patch of better seeing, especially with Saturn being quite a tricky object.

Thanks Matt, it sure is tough. Also with the lack of any big moons or storm details, it can get quite "same old same old" to go out and image Saturn a few times a week. So i'm hoping for some better seeing soon to keep me trying.

[GrampianStars (Rob)]

G'day Stew
try here
http://www.astronomie.be/registax/V5/index.html

Originally Posted by rat156

How do you get Registax 5 Beta??????

Cheers
Stuart

P.S. It's great fun getting up in the wee small hours isn't it?

[ving (David)]

nice effort mike. those rings, are they completely edge on now?