Saturn photo

[starfinder]

This morning (Sunday) from about 2.30 to 4am, I had one of my best observation sessions of Saturn for quite some time. The atmosphere was very steady.

Through the eyepiece in my LX90 8" SCT, I visually saw lots of detail, including possibly the elusive and faint "C" ring. I observed from about 200x to 400x magnification. The Cassini division could be seen right through the front, as was the shawdow of the rings on the front globe.

I also did some CCD imaging with my cheap and good Phillips Toucam Pro II webcam. Here is one image, made from 2041 frames and stacked and processed only with Registax, and later converted into a JPEG file to save space for uploading here.

The orientation is as seen from Singapore through an erect-image diagonal, although i did not use any diagonal during imaging.

I think the "C" ring is plainly visible here. Notice also the part of the Cassini division which is in the shadow of the globe. And also the various regions and bands on the globe.

I think i see detail within the A (outer) ring. What are they called? Encke, Keeler, or something.


Imaging details:
Saturn: Sunday 27 Nov 2005, 3:40am.
Meade LX-90 8" SCT operating at f20 (i.e. 2x barlow)
Phillips Toucam Pro II webcam without any filter.
2041 frames aligned, stacked, and sharpened with wavelet feature, all using Registax version 3.
640x480, 10 frames per second, at 1/33 second shutter speed.

Imaged through my flat room window (of course, window was open, what I mean is that it was done indoors).

The only skill I applied was focusing the image. 99% of the "effort" was done by the author of the Registax software.

[weixing]

Hi,
Nice... You finally got your saturn... Did you crop the image or resize the image?? Want to know how big the image is at 8" f20 (at focal length 4060mm).

Anyway, the centre of the Saturn's globe seem a bit too bright... can't see the feature clearly... may be it'll be better if you lower the brightness of the globe.

By the way, you know how to determine which point of the Saturn's globe is north?? Top right or bottom left with reference of your image??

Have a nice day.

[starfinder]

Hi,

The image has not been resized. I would not want to lower the brightness of the globe only because that would not be realistic in relation to the rings. Also, if the overall image brightness is reduced, the C ring and some other features would not be visible.

Looking at the S&T chart for November for Saturn, North is on the left and below, i.e. the thinner end. That should be the case for the next few years I think.

[kayheem]

Great shot Gavin! Any chance that we might see your work published on S&T soon?

Kay Heem

[siahheng]

Hi Gavin, great picture of saturn. I was wondering if your LX90 is using a alt az mount or is it on an equatorial. At 400x magnification, i have trouble tracking using my CPC 800.

siah heng

[VinSnr]

Hi Gavin, great picture of saturn. I was wondering if your LX90 is using a alt az mount or is it on an equatorial. At 400x magnification, i have trouble tracking using my CPC 800.

siah heng

If you are using a webcam, you don't need perfect tracking. Just make sure the planet remains inside the webcam field of view will do.

[ovc17m]

Wow.... which place did you have this saturn taken? Somewhere our neighbourhood? Still seeking for a better place for our supposed obing. haha

[Airconvent]

My goodness, Gavin, you did it again!
Extremely sharp and nice details and even though you used a toucam webcam, I cannot see any of the over-contrast effects I have seen from similar photos taken with this camera.

as with all others, I would request that you also post the single raw image for comparison. thanks

rich

[starfinder]

hi,

Siaheng, my LX-90 is the standard-equipped set-up, tracking in Alt-Azi mode. I did rough alignment by only levelling the scope and pointing it north, and then centering on Saturn after "going-to" it (a bit lazy). Saturn remained within the field of view of the computer screen window of the capture software for just a few minutes (around 2-4 mins).

VinSnr is right, as long as the object like Saturn is within the capture window, the Registax version 3 software will automatically align on the object as it moves around the screen (i just have to select the point of the object for tracking).

I think at 400x visual use, it remained in the field of view of the eyepiece for a few minutes.

Kay Heem, S&T? ha ha. maybe if I do a better one. well, since email is free, perhaps i will just submit for the fun of it. however, i'm sure many many others have just as good or better pics submitted to S&T. thanks for the suggestion. i would like to capture the "C" ring better. i noticed that using the 2x barlow as i did for this image produced better images than the 3x barlow.


Airconvent Richard, ok tks, here is one raw unprocessed frame from the .avi file which is saved in .jpeg format. I used "VirtualDub" freeware to extract out this frame. i noticed that there is quite a bit of variation of quality amongst the frames due to the atmospheric condition. this is one of the better frames, though most were quite good as the seeing that time was very good compared to many other times.


ovc17m, as i don't have a laptop and my LX-90 is quite heavy, i have only imaged through my home flat window in the centre of town. apparently, it's better to image outdoors due to thermal current disturbance from buildings. however, i suppose at 4am, the building had already cooled down.

[Bergkamp_]

that is nice! gd work! sob sob.. if i can do this 1 day..