Saturn this evening, June 15

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

Here is an image of Saturn from a couple of hours ago. We've been
getting very thick fogs rolling in around midnight so Jupiter is out of
reach at the moment but at least I can get some images of Saturn just
after sunset. I've attempted to balance the colours a little better to
match approximately how Saturn looks in the eyepiece view.

This image is the first taken with my new scope, the primary is my spare
(a 14.5" Royce conical that's been sitting here in a box for the last 2
years) as an interim mirror until my 16" mirror is finished. The Royce
mirror gives me about 20% more light than the 13.1" conical, but the
real payoff will be the 16" at 50% more light and greater resolving
power too of course :-)

The 16" mirror is still several weeks away at least, so for the next
little while I'll be using this Royce 14.5.

regards, Bird

[liljpo (Jessica)]

Absolutly awesome picture..
Must have a great telescope.
I havnt had time to go out in ages.
But seeing that pic...WOW
Ill definently have to make time.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

It's still a bit of a shock looking at Saturn the way he is at the moment.
I hope your new mirror is finished soon as I'd love to see a comparison image taken with it.
Thanks for posting

[Chippy (Nick)]

Great image. The Royce 14.5 does a fine job!!

[Wavytone]

Lovely image for a 14.5", Bird - I doubt the 16" will be able to give much more detail. That's a good mirror you have.

[Analog6 (Odille)]

Great image, Anthony.

[iceman (Mike)]

That's a beautiful, smooth looking Saturn, Anthony. Lovely colours, and you've got the white spot storm.

How long did you capture each channel for? What framerate and shutter speed?

Lovely work, a great first light - especially for no cooling!

[Dennis]

Lovely image Anthony – thanks for the stunning view of this ringed giant! The storm really jumps out at you on my monitor.

Cheers

Dennis

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

Thanks,

Mike - the settings were (about) 26fps in all channels, with my 5x powermate wound back as close to real 5x as I could get it, so maybe 5.5x or something. The Royce mirror is 1.8m focal length so I guess that's something like 10m effective focal length.

I captured 90 seconds in each channel and stacked the best 1000 frames in each channel.

cheers, Bird

[Lester]

Very, very nice smooth detailed image Anthony.

I bet you are hoping for a go at Jupiter soon.

All the best.

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

Thanks Lester, yes that would be nice :-)

Not much chance while there's so much water around, the fog rolls in by 11pm and doesn't clear until lunchtime at the moment...

Anyway, I spoke to Ray at Newport Glass this morning and my 16" blank is close to finished (this is #2, they broke #1 on the curve generator). If all goes well then it might be ready to send from the US by mid next week.

cheers, Bird

[Quark (Trevor)]

Lovely image Bird,

A brilliant piece of work, exceptional capture and beautifully processed.

Bird, you clearly have captured the storm in the STrZ, it is just entering stage right in this image. I just looked at my ephemeris for Saturn and on the 15th June the storm would have been at the CM at about 9:30 UTC.

Very well done
Regards
Trevor

[erick (Eric)]

Who turned off the lights on the rings?

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Great image Anthony!

Cheers,
Stephen

[Paul Haese]

Lovely image Bird, smooth processing and even a capture of a moon. 3D look to the image too.

Weather is being a bit non co-operative at present, with the lateness of the opposition we should be able to bi-pass the inclement weather and get some great captures.

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

Thanks all, fingers crossed for some more clear nights.

cheers, Bird

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Top shot Bird, very space-crafty.

I'd give my eye teeth for some fog occasionally rather than lots of huge gum trees and road lights


Mike

[Jen]

beautiful pic Bird
Just stunning, your on a roll Thanks for sharing