First Saturn images (also at opposition!)

[meryck]

Had my first shot at Saturn just now. Also a bonus chance to catch opposition this year. Using Skywatcher 200P and ZWO ASI034MC imager, with 3x and 3x+2x Barlows.

Here are a couple of the results, processed crudely in about 20 mins:

3x Barlow (pretty sure I can get this much sharper with some fiddling):

3x + 2x Barlow:

Better with just the 3x I think... the trouble is with the stacked Barlows is I had to increase the exposure and gain massively, which led to noise and slower framerate...

Would have done more but blasted trees kept getting in the way.. Why does Saturn have to be so low in the sky???

[VikkiFord]

Doesn't that exceed the practical magnification of the telescope? I stuck with a 2X Barlow on a ZWO ASI120MC  and that gave me about 333X.

Oooo, the little perisher is low in the sky. I managed to get my shot at quarter past midnight instead of hanging on till 2am. It's very similar to your shot. 200pds with a 2X Barlow. 1000 frames and AutoStakkert to do the business.

To be honest, I did think about slapping a 3X Barlow on it but memories of an over-magnified Jupiter tickled the back of my mind.

Good picture you got there  There's nothing like seeing the rings and the Cassini division in your very own first pic is there?

Oh, I used a Bahtinov mask to get critical focus on a bright star and then had the scope slew to Saturn. I was surprised how well it turned out because the video showed masses of heat waves

Looking forward to seeing your next photo

[meryck]

@Vikki: Yes, it's my first go at Saturn. I used to think that was exceeding practical magnification too - but I got my best Jupiter results that way. I pulled out detail I never saw with the 3x or 2x alone. But Jupiter is a lot brighter and higher in the sky, so I could keep the framerate nice and high and didn't have to whack up the gain! Saturn is much more challenging.

[VikkiFord]

Thanks for the info, I'm going to give that a go. My best Jupiter pic was done on a 130p with the ZWO and a 2X Barlow. I accidently hit good focus at that time and got better than I expected. My next attempt was terrible using a 200pds (this was before the Bahtinov mask arrived).

It is moving off at a rate of knots so I'm looking forward to trying Jupiter again when it comes into opposition next March. Given your info I'll try it with a 3X.

Vikki.

[meryck]

@Vikki: Lovely shot! If you stack 2x and 3x with good seeing in March you might be surprised at how well it comes out. But I'm using a lower-res sensor, so get decent resolution I kind of have to magnify as much as possible to fill up the pixels. WIth your ZWO120MC you might get results just as good with just the 3x. I'm still using random lucky focusing with no mask... Best of luck! Looking forward to your posts in the future!

[Pete Presland]

Congratulations on your 1st Saturn image very nicely done.

[Astrobuff]

Nice job!  I think I'm going to have to pick up a 2" Barlow. Any reccomendations?

[jimbo84]

Nice images and great that you had the chance to see Saturn at opposition! What with work commitments and clouds I have only seen him for about 10 minutes these past few days!

I hope I get some more chances, as the planet will be even lower next year I should've taken up this hobby ten years ago.......

[meryck]

@Astrobuff: Thanks! I'm using a Seben 2x barlow and Ostara 3x (each about 20 quidon Amazon)

[meryck]

@Jimbo84: My thoughs exactly! Saturn was great in 2009. I only started in February...

[meryck]

@bunnygod1: Thanks for your comments! Was so exciting to see Saturn for the first time.

[jimjam11]

@Vikki: Yes, it's my first go at Saturn. I used to think that was exceeding practical magnification too - but I got my best Jupiter results that way. I pulled out detail I never saw with the 3x or 2x alone. But Jupiter is a lot brighter and higher in the sky, so I could keep the framerate nice and high and didn't have to whack up the gain! Saturn is much more challenging.

I did as well when imagining Jupiter. Another option is to add a spacer after the 2x or 3x Barlow and before the camera. A 20mm spacer combined with my 3x Barlow yields f20 on my 150p, so that is the theoretical optimum with 4um pixels...

[Astrobuff]

@meryck thanks! I will take a look!

[meryck]

I reprocessed the image data for the larger picture more aggressively, and then did some edge-detection mask-based sharpening in GIMP. Followed the tutorial here, which was extremely useful: http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Smart_Sharpening/

More pleasing to the eye, I feel. There's just so much learn and so little time...