Saturn pic from about 5 mins ago

[Andyfx]

Hi am just taking a break while I wait for the moon to rise and thought I'd post this pic of Saturn taken using my Skyhawk 1145P and Philips SPC880/900 webcam.

Hope you like!

[trickytree]

Wow, that's fantastic!! Im so looking forward to getting my first scope next Friday - Saturn is my first target!!

[Andyfx]

Thanks, finally a night without wind... oh and the weather was ok too lol! What scope will you be getting?

[vyeshaun]

Well done. Great image. I cant wait to see this little beauty myself as soon as my scope is delivered.....Should be here by Wednesday latest! So heres hoping for some great viewing conditions

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice one!

[trickytree]

I ordered the Skywatcher Heritage 130p Flextube, should be here end of this week!!

[Dave]

Small, but perfectly formed.

Nice one.

[coxy63]

nice one

[Andyfx]

Thanks everyone, looks like some of you have some pretty impressive kit!

[Andyfx]

Thats a nice scope apparently trickytree, let us all know how you get on.

[trickytree]

I sure will, don't worry!!

[Stargazer Jack]

That is a great picture Andy Did you track it with a motor or was it manual?

[Andyfx]

Hi there, I used a motorised mount for the photos, it's just a synscan goto mount so Alt Az.

[Sinbad]

Nice one...don't stop now...

[Stargazer Jack]

How did you bring out so much detail from quite a little but good scope? How many frames were stacked?

[Andyfx]

Hi there. To get that image took a fair bit of fiddling with the focuser, as I only have a standard one and not a fancy Crayford or anything. Other than that I used SharpCap to capture an .avi of around 2500 frames, I had the SPC880 set at 5 frames per second only and spent sometime fiddling with the exposure, gain and other settings. My webcam had a skywatcher 2x barlow in the nosepiece and was then slid into my GSO 2.5x barlow at the time, however I have now got a Revelation 5x barlow which i will be trying tonight

When using Registax I chose a frame that looked sharp then put the quality setting at 90% and aligned etc.

Hope this helps

PS: I forgot to mention that I have removed the LED from my Philips SPC880, not sure it helps but I know it has been mentioned in several threads.

[Stargazer Jack]

OK thanks for the information and I might try that setup with my 130M but I only have a 2X Barlow

[Andyfx]

No worries, I'll let you know how the Revelation 5x barlow works out, you can pick one up from Harrison Telescopes for just under £40.

[Stargazer Jack]

That's cheap for what you get because I have seen some for about £120.

[Andyfx]

Yea I have seen this barlow discussed in other threads and people have said it is good for the money but will be trying it myself shortly.

[Stargazer Jack]

Yea I have seen this barlow discussed in other threads and people have said it is good for the money but will be trying it myself shortly.

Jolly good can't wait to see a picture with it (if you are imaging)

[Andyfx]

Yes I will be imaging with it, I dont believe that using a 5x barlow is recommended for observing with an eyepiece. If just observing I use my BST Explorer eyepieces which I love to bits.

No photos tonight though as my new neighbours decided to start burning stuff on a bonfire grrrrrrrr! Still fingers crossed for a clear night tomorrow.

[Andyfx]

Here's one of my lunar pics.

[Stargazer Jack]

Nice lunar image Great amount of detail on it.