Mars & Saturn Feb 23rd UT in good to very good seeing
Hi All,
Imaged Mars & Saturn this morning in good to very good seeing. Mars was pretty stable in the live feed and I captured 3 RGB & 807nm data sets over a 60 minute period. By then Saturn had risen to just over 50 degrees, Saturn looked extremely impressive in the live feed in all channels. I have rated the seeing 7 to 8/10 for the whole night over about 3 ½ hrs. For Mars the seeing spent more time around 7 but for Saturn there was more data closer to 8.
Have attached 1 RGB & 807nm IR data set for Mars along with an RGB animation of the 3 RGB data sets.
For Saturn it was hard to pick the best data set so have attached 2 RGB’s at the native scale along with a 130% resampled version and also a very hi res animation covering just under 2 hrs of Saturn rotation. Besides the storm remnant there are other cloud features that show up in the animation.
Have been up since 1am this morning, been processing all day, have a community observing night tonight that I had previously arranged which will probably go to midnight, then it will be time to capture Mars & Saturn again as the condition should be good again tonight.
Thanks for looking.
Regards
Trevor
Yep you got the better end of the seeing for sure Trev. I will try again tonight as the shear map looks pretty good once again. With any luck it will be up near what you saw last night.
Razor sharp Encke bursting out and Mars is beautiful, wondered if clear weather would produce results, its cloudy in Brisbane unfortunately. You can see very tiny detailed bits in the Saturn animation and 8/10 is just luxury hope it continues. Keep busy with your mountains of data.
Thanks very much to all for your most generous comments, this data was my best for this apparition. Still processing my data from Feb 24th UT which may be even better than this.
Regards
Trevor
Wow, amazing detail Trevor. Your image is revealing so much detail all over. Some of the ring detail I don't think I have seen before.
Thanks Trevor for the view.
That is awesome! One of the best - congratulations!
Thanks very much Matt, this was pretty special data and was just such a pleasure to process, it really did require a fair amount of restraint, certainly a much gentler processing regime than normal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lester
Wow, amazing detail Trevor. Your image is revealing so much detail all over. Some of the ring detail I don't think I have seen before.
Thanks Trevor for the view.
Thanks very much Lester, I really do appreciate your comment. All who image the planets realize just how solitary a business it is. With Mars & Saturn at the moment I am hitting the deck at 1am local and imaging through until 5am. I think Asi also raised this point earlier, at times when really good data is coming in I would love to be sharing that moment with others. It was great to have Bird here in 2010 and to have Bird & Paul here last year, to share in the moments of good seeing, sort of a fellowship of planetary imagers.
phew, what wonderful images Trevor. yeah it sure is solitary work, especially noticeable when the seeing is varying around 2-3/10. Regards Ray
Thanks very much Ray, reckon it is all the hours that we put in looking at crook data on the live screen that makes the times when the data is good, all the more special and thats when it would be great to have a like minded soul there to share it with.
Trevor just looking at your pics over the last few days and this picture is almost surreal.You must be happy with this run.
Derek
Thanks Derek, yep, pretty pleased with the data I have been getting. Reckon a fair bit of credit must go to Mark Suchting for the effort he put into my primary mirror.
Quote:
Originally Posted by asimov
Lovely images, Trevor. Getting flooded out here slowly so no imaging for me for awhile I don't think. Rain has stopped as I type actually.
Anyway, lovely work again & keep them coming; and I'm sure you will, weather permitted.
Thanks Asi, as a matter of interest we have had 3 inches of rain today with more forecast for tomorrow but as I mentioned elsewhere, next week is looking great.
Mars & Saturn Feb 23rd UT in good to very good seeing
