How can I improve imaging Saturn

[lensman57]

Hi to all,

With Saturn coming into opposition ( under a full moon I think ) I am trying to sharpen up my imaging of Saturn. I have so far done 3 sessions and one , last night was a total waste of time. Attached thumbnail is the best of about 12 capture that I have managed so far, I am using a SW MAK 127 with an opticstar P 75C camera eion a GOTO AZ or an EQ5 pro SynScan, I use a Baader Neodymium filter with the camera, I do have an ED 2.5X Barlow but the image is too dim in the Barlow. I also do have a

very sensitive 1/2" format mono camera and some RGB filters but no filter Wheel, I personally don't know if the mono camera would be better or not as the P 75c is 1/3" CCD format fast framerate. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Regards,

A.G

[leelee970]

I’m not sure if you have/use one but I use a Bahtinov mask to get pin sharp focus on a very near by bright star, then remove mask and slew to your target planet.

I only have a SPC900 webcam with a 1/3” CCD – I use wxAstroCapture but others use SharpCap so give them a try.

[nytecam]

Focus does seem problem. If you get a avi video of say 10s-20s duration and run it through freeware Registax it should improve things - good luck ;-)

[northcanadian]

Hi:

Nice one!

I'm just wondering....if you have your ccd set up and are using a 3x barlow.....if you slew to a bright star, then focus with Bahtinov mask....how do you then find/center Saturn again?

I haven't tried that yet but not sure how to get it back on the chip

Cheers

Roger

[leelee970]

Hi:

Nice one!

I'm just wondering....if you have your ccd set up and are using a 3x barlow.....if you slew to a bright star, then focus with Bahtinov mask....how do you then find/center Saturn again?

I haven't tried that yet but not sure how to get it back on the chip

Cheers

Roger

Hi Roger,

I myself use Cartes du Ciel which has a sync button - so first I find Saturn and get it dead centre (no barlow) and sync my mount, then slew to nearby star, sync again, slew back to Saturn just to make sure.

Then slew back to the star, add the barlow etc and Bahtinov mask and focus.

Remember to remove mask and slew back to Saturn - you should have it in field of view.

[Pete Presland]

or maybe you could focus on the star, lock the focuser in position, replace the webcam with a eyepice slew back to satrun and put the webcam back in

[cgarry]

Although they work great for DSO imaging, I find Bahtinov masks are not much use for planetary imaging at long focal lengths. There is no substitute for for focusing on the detail of the planet itself (the Cassini division helps with Saturn) as the focus point shifts around with slight changes in seeing, though I will agree that it is far from easy and can take quite some time. This is especially true when using RGB filters with a mono camera as slight tweaks to the focus are often required between filters.

It is also worth noting that sometimes the seeing will be bad and that you are not going to get a sharp image.

Cheers,

Chris

[leelee970]

Although they work great for DSO imaging, I find Bahtinov masks are not much use for planetary imaging at long focal lengths. There is no substitute for for focusing on the detail of the planet itself (the Cassini division helps with Saturn) as the focus point shifts around with slight changes in seeing, though I will agree that it is far from easy and can take quite some time. This is especially true when using RGB filters with a mono camera as slight tweaks to the focus are often required between filters.

It is also worth noting that sometimes the seeing will be bad and that you are not going to get a sharp image.

Cheers,

Chris

True Chris, seeing can be a the biggest issue. I've had nights that i thought would be great but were not, and other nights that turned out far better than expected.