Saturn - the Seeliger Effect and ring tilts

[starfinder]

I did some imaging of Saturn this evening. Here is one of the shots; still plenty more to process.

Saturn near Opposition. Power to the planet!

Details: Meade LX-90 8" SCT with 2x Barlow. Used my old Philips TouCam Pro II. 70 seconds, 2116 frames. Stacked and processed with Registax 6. Further processed in Photoshop. South is up.


I'll try a 3x barlow next to increase the image scale. I need to get a more updated imaging device too!

I also did some visual observation today. The seeing was quite good. At 300x (6.7mm Meade UWA) and 400x (5mm UO ortho) in the LX-90, I saw a black hair-line feature at the two outer ends of the 'A' ring: perhaps I managed to see the Encke Gap? Is that possible in an 8" scope? I also saw the northern-most tip of the globe as a darker brown patch.

Also, in the eyepiece, the ring appeared significantly brighter than the globe. This is apparent in the image above too. I think it's due to the Seeliger Effect which happens during the Opposition period; here is an article about it:
http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2013/04/ ... believing/

[Gary]

Nice soothing colours! Nice link explaining the Seeliger Effect. Enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing.

[starfinder]

Thanks, Gary.

Below is an interesting image comparison of Saturn with different tilts of the rings.
I took the upper image in March 2009 when the tilt was -3.1 degrees. I think it means Earth was then south of Saturn's plane and so its south was facing us.
The lower image was taken yesterday when the tilt was +18.0 degrees. Conversely, I think it means Earth is now north of Saturn's plane and so its north is facing towards us.
(Data sources: PlanetDroid for Android, and SkySafari Plus for Android.)

Both images taken through a Meade LX-90 8" SCT. South is up in both images. I resized the images so that the globes have the same apparent size.

[Airconvent]

Nice details Gavin. The crepe rings is so clear too! If you need another Barlow, I can lend you my Televue X2 but at the crazy mag, your image will probably break down and you would have gone where Samuel Ng has gone before!

[shirox]

[yltansg]

Hi Gavin,

Nice pictures with great details. Philips Toucam did great things for imaging.

Looking forward to see more from your upgraded imaging camera

[rcj]

Good illustration there, starfinder! Saturn's rings with their considerable tilt is favouring a significant amount of sunlight reflection from the ice grains within. Have yet to capture it these days though!

[starfinder]

Hi, thanks all!

@Airconvent: thanks for the offer, but I already have 2x and 3x apo barlows. Have not tried stacking them before for planetary imaging. Ya, if I did, it might beam me right up to the Casini division...

@yltansg: yup, I hope to get another planetary imager soon. Don't know which one to get, though.

@rcj: hope you do manage to image Saturn this Opposition season. Look forward to seeing them!