Space Cowboy

Thanks Kostas. I nearly didn't bother setting up as the forecast showed high cloud but looking at the rest of the week it's now showing cloud every night! Frame rate was only 11fps but the on-screen view looked decent. Couldn't properly align the ADC for some reason and decided to try the mono but by then the cloud was so thick I lost sight of Saturn completely! Only managed the one 6 min colour capture. Quite impressed by the sensitivity of the QHY585 on Saturn. In good conditions it could produce a very nice image.

I make this my first Saturn image for 8 years. Sadly thin cloud almost totally blanked out the planet but seeing was quite stable. Very noisey image but better than I expected.

Could be collimation is out. Have you done a star test before imaging a planet?

Ok, there is quite a lot of noise on the image which suggests you need to stack more frames. At least a 3 min video would be ideal. Auto colour balance in Registax would be beneficial too as your colours are a bit out. Considering you have a small scope its a very good effort!

Great stuff Kostas! That looks very good considering the poor seeing. Transits are always a bonus even in less than ideal conditions.

What scope and camera did you use?

Nice start with the new scope. As Kostas said colour balance is best on the 3rd image.

Any image is an achievement at the moment Kostas. Even better getting the GRS 🙂

Thanks Simon, I'd hoped after an unsettled late Summer the autumn would be better than usual but so far it's living up to its usual pattern.

That's a shame the thin cloud has flattened out the detail. You can see it would have been a ripper otherwise.

Thanks Martyn it's surprising how much longer it takes to set everything up when you've not been out for a while. Even if the clouds roll in and no imaging is possible it's still a useful exercise. A well oiled imaging machine is far more likely to catch the best seeing and as we know it only needs a couple of minutes.

Thats too bad. I think we should start a petition for Jupiter's opposition to be in June.

Did you get anything? I didn't realize that next month's opposition will be Jupiter's closest to earth until 2129 😮

Thanks Kostas. Just keeping the wheels turning before rust sets in.🙂

Got a few images this morning. Apart from the thin cloud and poor seeing, conditions were excellent 😝 Oh well, I guess its practise as its been over a month since the last session.

Fantastic Kostas! You deserve all the credit. Considering you use a manual DOB it's a remarkable achievement.

Looking good Geoff. For a first go with AS that's excellent.

I had a play with those images but couldn't match the sharpness of your processed result. You're certainly in the processing groove now Kostas 👍 I'll have another go with astro surface. Got close with registax by turning Denoise off completely but still not quite as good as your AS result. PM me Geoff if you want to have a go with IA. I did promise to talk you through it 🙂

Seeing varies so much it's pretty rare to have 10 mins of similar quality. I often come to this conclusion unless the data is noisy and can't support a single stack. I'm currently working on some new software that will disperse cloud and promote excellent seeing.🧐

That's come out really well!

Clear sky is proving allusive around these parts for sure.

Nice result Kostas! I bet that duel speed focusser will make life a lot easier.

Love the animation!

Very good Martyn!

Super images!