Hexed from Saturn Day/Night

[LostInSp_ce]

Just got around to processing this one. Taken back a couple of weeks ago. Viewing in between clouds and clear patches, luckily no rain. Had a little trouble nailing focus so it's a little soft however, still managed to get some bands appearing. Also tried my best to beat rotation so I could define the hexagon but I just couldn't pull it off.

12 inch Dobsonian
ASI 120 MM-S
2 x Barlow
4 position manual filter wheel
R = 454 frames
G = 475 frames
B = 503 frames

AS3, Registax, WinJupos, Photoshop

[xelasnave]

That looks a rather decent image to me...and with a dob ..that is so hard to get my head around.
Alex

[LostInSp_ce]

Thanks Alex. I've had a little bit of practise with this technique now. The first time was a different story. It took hours to get usable channel data from all three filters. Now on a good night I can capture everything in about 15-20 minutes.

[xelasnave]

15 to 20 minutes wow...it takes me that long to focus.
Alex

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Very similar to the one I took with the same camera a few weeks back. I have no filter wheel and was actually taking the camera off the telescope to change the filters. I focused each colour filter after I put the camera back into the eyepiece holder. Very crude but it worked. This was taken with an 8 inch Newtonian and I had the luxury of an equatorial mount to keep Saturn in the frame. Had you got closer to focus, your shot would have been much better than mine. It still turned out nice though, so you should be very happy with the result, especially under cloudy conditions. Good stuff!

[LostInSp_ce]

Thanks Mick. Your image is exactly what I was aiming for. Your nailed both focus and exposure. I can see that I didn’t quite get my exposure right either. Thanks for posting, it’s a great example for showcasing the differences between the two setups and acquisition methods.