LRGB Saturn with the little firefly

[long_arms]

Hello,

I acquired some cheap rgb filters last month and a filter wheel.

The firefly is a very noisy little camera and I didn't think it would be sensitive enough for an RGB image of anything let alone Saturn. Only cost £30 though

Last night I got 2 minutes of data for each channel and as this is my first ever LRGB image I have spent today learning how to do it, quite a steep curve.

I thought the data was horrible, you could barely see it on the blue and green channels.

Anyway here it is, Saturn with a 200p, 3x barlow and Point Grey firefly mono camera.

No filter for the luminance.

Please give me criticism and feedback, I have no idea what I'm doing when processing RGB images.

[Rihard]

That's a cracking pic!

[sologuitarist61]

Nice image!

[SnakeyJ]

Dan,

Nice image and the rgb colour definitely adds. I gave up with the filter wheel last night and just did ir-pass from midnight to 1 and 2 til 3 I was shooting through the trees on a few runs and the seeing was pretty poor at 25 degrees. My results not a patch on yours -though the cooled firefly performs well even at 24dB.

Did a little rough gardening this pm to improve the horizon. So may get another go tonight if conditions improve. If I can sort the wheel I have the Baader ccd lrgb filters waiting for their first light...

Just had a proper look at the image from the computer rather than phone and that really is very good and a huge step up on my capture from last night - which I'd rather keep to myself for the time being. Out of interest what time did you get your best data? There was quite a heavy frost here early this morning, so the seeing might have improved a bit later on (I'm looking for an excuse for my own poor performance!)

Also did you use photoshop to build the image from the RGB frames?

[long_arms]

Thanks guys!

Out of interest what time did you get your best data? There was quite a heavy frost here early this morning, so the seeing might have improved a bit later on (I'm looking for an excuse for my own poor performance!)

Also did you use photoshop to build the image from the RGB frames?

I only got one lot of data as I left it a bit late and I have a heavily obstructed garden. About 700 frames for the blue and green channel, a bit more than that for the red channel. 4000 frames for the luminance (definitely overkill, I should have lowered gain and got less frames)

All between 2:30 and 3 oclock. The seeing didn't look amazing at the eyepiece, but the luminance frames show it to be pretty good!

Yes. I didn't use PIPP (it hated the data, discarded every frame) so straight into autostakkert as it did a better job than registax. Then registax for wavelets and photoshop for the lrgb combine and tweaking.

Dan

[TonyD]

Dan, that image is BEAUTIFUL.

Mike

[long_arms]

Dan, that image is BEAUTIFUL.

Wow thanks so much!

I must say, I've just read back through the first post and don't I sound miserable! I haven't actually mentioned how happy (and tbh completely surprised) I was when I saw this emerge from the LRGB combine

[andyboy1970]

Very nice image.

I haven't tried RGB on Saturn yet and stuck to I/R pass on the 30th due to atmospherics.

RGB is a new learning curve isn't it, but the mono images from the different channels look great.

[Cath]

Luvly image of Saturn

Especially as you used a FireFly to capture it, it's not the greatest bestest camera in the world is it (very noisy and unreliable I find).

[TonyD]

The other pictures you've posted on your photostream are wonderful too. I'd be very proud of them if I was getting those kinds of results. The mono Saturn and Titan is, in my mind, spectacular. For me it will be very emotional pointing my telescope up in the sky and getting images like that, knowing that I have captured the real deal out there. I never want to lose the awe and wonder I feel when I experience those emotions.

[stellawolf]

Nice capture well done