My first images of Saturn.

[Wolvie]

Hi all,

Well here are some of my first images of Saturn, I used my ZWO CCD with FireCapture, on the Skywatcher Quattro, using a 2x barlow and a UV/IR cut filter.

Hopefully I will have the full LRGB set and I can start taking colour images by the end of next week.

As ever any tips or criticism welcome.

Thanks and enjoy,

Pat. 

[GaryA]

Looking at your images tells me I have a lot of work to do. These shots do tell me my Celestron TD 35webcam should be put on the top shelf without having the cover on.. I have been told the ZWO is the way to go but I live down under and we seem to be the last on the planet to be able to see and buy. We just hope and pray and order unknown or seen and hope it's what we want. I live in WA , Australia and the eastern states of Aust just realised there is a place called Western Australia. As for the rest of the world you don't know we exist!! In WA we don't have a good astronomy shop and we rely on EBay and the Internet. Yet believe me we do have some of the best conditions for viewing the above.... It is frustrating!

[Wolvie]

Looking at your images tells me I have a lot of work to do. These shots do tell me my Celestron TD 35webcam should be put on the top shelf without having the cover on.. I have been told the ZWO is the way to go but I live down under and we seem to be the last on the planet to be able to see and buy. We just hope and pray and order unknown or seen and hope it's what we want. I live in WA , Australia and the eastern states of Aust just realised there is a place called Western Australia. As for the rest of the world you don't know we exist!! In WA we don't have a good astronomy shop and we rely on EBay and the Internet. Yet believe me we do have some of the best conditions for viewing the above.... It is frustrating!

Thanks Gary, I started off using just my DSLR and a static mount and took the plunge bought a telescope and EQ mount and learned some more moved on to the CCD camera a few weeks ago and sorting out the filter set for it now. I dont know if I can give you the site I bought the ZWO from but I will be speaking with the owner tomorrow I can ask if he will ship to you and let you know. 

Pat.

[northcanadian]

Very nice....my first Saturns were nowhere near as good as these!

[sammak127]

yes these are amazingly good for a first try or a tenth try at that.

[GaryA]

Thanks Gary, I started off using just my DSLR and a static mount and took the plunge bought a telescope and EQ mount and learned some more moved on to the CCD camera a few weeks ago and sorting out the filter set for it now. I dont know if I can give you the site I bought the ZWO from but I will be speaking with the owner tomorrow I can ask if he will ship to you and let you know. 

Pat.

That would be Great Pat. Just for interest sake how much did you pay for it? I have a Celestron 8se Nexstar. I have the "T" ring for the scope and while waiting to ask my wife ( She will say buy it) if I can buy the ZWO I will carry on and learn as much about that as well.

 With Firecatcher - was it a pain to set up?  I am looking at a Youtube  documentary Tutorial and it seems I would need an IT Background. This could be a old program. v2.4.06 BETA though.   By the way the Celestron TD35d does not pick up planets but only the moon but on the pacet it seems to say that. I have fiddled with all the settings again but just no luck... Also I have tried to make the window smaller so as to get a full size of moon shot but that don't work. This webcam came with no menu other than the basics. Pretty ordinary of Celestron! I have search the internet for a manual to no avail. Anyway it's all part of the fun sorting it out. 

[stepping beyond]

I love the detail you pulled out of Saturn. Kudos on a fine job

[laudropb]

Lovely image. Thanks for sharing

[Kokatha man]

Looking at your images tells me I have a lot of work to do. These shots do tell me my Celestron TD 35webcam should be put on the top shelf without having the cover on.. I have been told the ZWO is the way to go but I live down under and we seem to be the last on the planet to be able to see and buy. We just hope and pray and order unknown or seen and hope it's what we want. I live in WA , Australia and the eastern states of Aust just realised there is a place called Western Australia. As for the rest of the world you don't know we exist!! In WA we don't have a good astronomy shop and we rely on EBay and the Internet. Yet believe me we do have some of the best conditions for viewing the above.... It is frustrating!

Gary - don't feel so bad mate!

I live in South Australia & it's probably true to say that I'm ZWO's principal camera tester  - or at least that I'm one of the first cab's off the rank when Sam needs someone to test out any new cams he builds & needs to get them fully-operational before releasing them to the AA public...you'll find plenty of my images on the ZWO website http://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/  

Living here hasn't seemed to cause me much harm in that respect - & Adelaide itself certainly doesn't have the retail stores the Eastern States do..! I'd recommend purchasing any ZWO camera straight from Sam btw...great, fast service & back-up!

FireCapture is relatively easy to use, like most things it just takes a bit of experience.

There are a few planetary imagers in WA & you do get great seeing...if you need some help with software etc I'm always available with a PM or contact through our website...

Btw - a good start Pat - some barlow amplification wouldn't hurt when the seeing is reasonable but you're off & away my friend!

Visit our website: http://momilika.net/

[xtreemchaos]

great image of saturn,lovely detail.thanks for sharing..charl..

[Syed Saif Alam]

Nice work ! Best of luck with future captures !

[Pete Presland]

Great start some pretty good detail there.

[Wolvie]

Thanks everyone for the kind words :-) looking forward for the weather to improve here and to try and make a lunar mosaic, and trying my hand at LRGB imaging and then onto some deep sky images.

Pat

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Really nice first images

[GaryA]

Thanks everyone for the kind words :-) looking forward for the weather to improve here and to try and make a lunar mosaic, and trying my hand at LRGB imaging and then onto some deep sky images.

Pat

I will be looking forwards to see this Pat

[GaryA]

Gary - don't feel so bad mate!

I live in South Australia & it's probably true to say that I'm ZWO's principal camera tester  - or at least that I'm one of the first cab's off the rank when Sam needs someone to test out any new cams he builds & needs to get them fully-operational before releasing them to the AA public...you'll find plenty of my images on the ZWO website http://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/  

Living here hasn't seemed to cause me much harm in that respect - & Adelaide itself certainly doesn't have the retail stores the Eastern States do..! I'd recommend purchasing any ZWO camera straight from Sam btw...great, fast service & back-up!

FireCapture is relatively easy to use, like most things it just takes a bit of experience.

There are a few planetary imagers in WA & you do get great seeing...if you need some help with software etc I'm always available with a PM or contact through our website...

Btw - a good start Pat - some barlow amplification wouldn't hurt when the seeing is reasonable but you're off & away my friend!

Visit our website: http://momilika.net/

Thanks for the kind words Kokatha. I have already met one of these Guys. Fantastic to see what he is doing and he just lives down the road - 40 mins away and we are going to get together at his place and he is going to show me how to pull the ropes so to speak. He also said Steady! and I said yes I want my cake and eat it at the same time.  I am too impatient and I know I am going to now spend a little time finding out what I can really do with my scope and then take the plunge and spend a little money to buy the correct and right type of Camera and gear to do all outer space captures, but thats later on and maybe another scope. When I met this Guy he had a 11" Celestron and now here has a 14 inch and about $3000 worth ccd and equipment and wow! I just look in awe at what shots he is taking. I myself have done very little work with my scope but that was because after a few time assembling and disassembling it I knew I had to get a dome or something. ( months have gone and in that time never went near the scope but built an Observatory with all the goodies to do what i want to do. It has a roll away roof and is double skinned with marine ply on the inside and Galvanished sheets on the outside and insulation in between. All this covering is held together by a sturdy welded steel frame. I have had offers from a firm wanting to make a copy of the observatory and supply them in WA but they have not been back yet. My observatory has been made inside another shed and takes up about a 1/4 of the entire area and also this allows me to have a area to have people around to watch what i am doing and see everything unfold as I go searching. I will get some pics up shortly of it.

[phileefan]

Pat,

Very nice detail in your pics. Like Darryl stated above, a barlow lens will give you a larger outcome. The ZWO camera has made a world of dirrerence for me also. Thanks for sharing. Clear skies.....