First Saturn of 2012

[JamesF]

I'm not overly happy with this one, but it was captured early on the morning of 6th March with Saturn still below 30 degrees so I'm not entirely surprised. There's too much noise in the background and too much blue altogether. It's not as good as my best from last year. I think I'll have another go at processing this later though it's entirely possible I'll be trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

James

[sanmatt]

What did you do to capture it James?

I dont think its bad at all, I;d be quite happy if I managed to image Saturn and got that

[Clayton]

Not too bad James!

Blue is the "in" colour for Saturn this season

[JamesF]

Thank you. I used an SPC880 with the 127 Mak and Revelation 2.5x barlow on an EQ3-2. Oh, and some big stones in the tripod tray Stacked 3000 out of 6000 frames @ 10fps.

Saturn is a bit of a pig at low altitude with (relatively) small aperture. The planet itself appears very grainy on the sensor, and the gain has to be up to the point where noise starts to become intrusive on the black areas. Doesn't stop me trying though Ideally I think more light and aperture is required, but at the moment I'm not able to set the C9.25 up on the NEQ6.

I'll play with it later to see if I can't bring out a bit more yellow and if the promised clear skies arrive this evening (which look rather doubtful at the moment, it has to be said) I'll have another crack at it either with a 3x barlow or the 2.5x and an extension tube.

This is my best from winter/spring 2011:

I feel that I've learnt a good deal since then and given the images of Mars and Jupiter that I've done this winter I'm very much hoping I can improve on it this year.

James

[JamesF]

Not too bad James!

Blue is the "in" colour for Saturn this season

I have a healthy disregard for fashion though Rob. I've always said that there's a world of difference between fashion and style

James

[sanmatt]

Thank you. I used an SPC880 with the 127 Mak and Revelation 2.5x barlow on an EQ3-2. Oh, and some big stones in the tripod tray Stacked 3000 out of 6000 frames @ 10fps.

Saturn is a bit of a pig at low altitude with (relatively) small aperture. The planet itself appears very grainy on the sensor, and the gain has to be up to the point where noise starts to become intrusive on the black areas. Doesn't stop me trying though Ideally I think more light and aperture is required, but at the moment I'm not able to set the C9.25 up on the NEQ6.

I'll play with it later to see if I can't bring out a bit more yellow and if the promised clear skies arrive this evening (which look rather doubtful at the moment, it has to be said) I'll have another crack at it either with a 3x barlow or the 2.5x and an extension tube.

This is my best from winter/spring 2011:

I feel that I've learnt a good deal since then and given the images of Mars and Jupiter that I've done this winter I'm very much hoping I can improve on it this year.

James

wow!!!

Just wondering, has or does anyone get a decent image just using the DLSR to image planets? or might I be fookling myself thinking I can?

[si@nite]

Nice images, well done. SIMON.