First Ever Saturn 07/04/2013

[catman161]

The seeing was like pea soup but I persevered and got the below images of Saturn. First time I have see Saturn this year and my first ever time imaging it-it looked great in the EP (TV Ethos 13mm) with moons clearly visible. Enjoy. Advice welcomed.

All captured in sharpcap and processed in registax 5.1

Equipment: SW 200p, NEQ6 Pro, SPC900NC with 2 inch adapter straight onto 2 inch 2x TV Powermate. All images best 80% of 1500 frames

[SnakeyJ]

Catman,

Looks very good and nice colour/surface detail - better conditions and you should be able to stack a pair of 2x barlows, perhaps giving you around F25 for a bigger image scale. These ccd cameras really are very good. How far did you have to push the gain and exposure settings for the capture?

[catman161]

Hi thanks for comments. Exposure was -6 and gain was 12. Was extremely difficult as Saturn sat literally just in a roofline behind my house. I was pleased to get any image at all

[SnakeyJ]

Hi thanks for comments. Exposure was -6 and gain was 12. Was extremely difficult as Saturn sat literally just in a roofline behind my house. I was pleased to get any image at all

Tell me - I had to get the ladders and saw out to butcher a couple of oversized conifers to get any more than 20 minutes un-interrupted viewing in on Saturn at current elevations. I could just about get setup and focused and do a couple of runs before it edged behind the trees. Much better after the hair cut though as I've currently have Saturn from around 00:15 to 04:30hrs (clouds and seeing permitting). I might have to offer my gardening services to my neighbours (FOC) to get any better, though I now capture it at peak between 25 and 27 degrees elevation. Seeing has not been pretty poor since, so I've not managed to get anything worthwhile beyond F15 and even at this fl achieving focus has been very difficult particularly at Green and Blue wavelengths.

I do have an as yet unused TS Planetary Imager, which is supposed to be the same CCD chip as the SPC900 (though the drivers are very poor) - if I can get a good LRGB run out of the way I will try and get a couple of runs in with this as a comparison (using the Baarder CCD Luminance for UV/IR cut). This way I can keep the same barlow and filter wheel in train and get the very similar image scale, so should be a good comparative test of sensitivity.

[Kokatha man]

Small but very nice images nonetheless..!

Please don't stack barlows if you want greater image scale because it is far better to use a single barlow with an extension tube before the camera!!!

This is the TeleVue chart but you can use it as a general guide for most decent barlows... http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?id=52&Tab=_photo

[Fivost]

I do have an as yet unused TS Planetary Imager, which is supposed to be the same CCD chip as the SPC900 (though the drivers are very poor) - if I can get a good LRGB run out of the way I will try and get a couple of runs in with this as a comparison (using the Baarder CCD Luminance for UV/IR cut). This way I can keep the same barlow and filter wheel in train and get the very similar image scale, so should be a good comparative test of sensitivity.

Please update us on the TS planetary imager when you try it out.

[SnakeyJ]

Please update us on the TS planetary imager when you try it out.

Fivost, not terribly optimistic on this but will have a go and post any results I can get.

When I came across this camera, I thought great SPC900 CCD (icx098bq) with a USB2 interface and purchased with out doing any proper research. What could potentially be quite a good planetary camera is let down by poor drivers (buggy and limited functionallity) and a lack of support in Sharpcap and Firecap. I posted a thread here back in January, though think my camera may have been faulty. I subsequently got a replacement (and excellent service from Bernard @ MA), but have not tried this to date. The camera manufacturer is Do3think and the model is DTCS033 - I have tried to search their website for updated firmware and drivers, but they do not do an english language version of the website and functionallity is a bit limited with Google Translate.

TS optics resell this camera as TS Astro Webcam TSS1. They offer a link for the latest drivers, though these are dated Apr-May 2010.

If you haven't already purchased this, my advice would be to get a genuine SPC900 or Toucam or save a little more and go for the QHY5L-II colour!

[Stephen Green]

Nice images

Stephen

[Stargazer33]

Nice images Catman! The Cassini Division is really clear and the colours are clearly defined.

Jake, does your pruning service include peoples building extensions?

Please don't stack barlows if you want greater image scale because it is far better to use a single barlow with an extension tube before the camera!!!

This is the TeleVue chart but you can use it as a general guide for most decent barlows... http://www.televue.c...d=52&Tab=_photo

Thanks for the link Kokatha man - that is a big help. I'm going to give this a try when I can get back outside.

[SnakeyJ]

Jake, does your pruning service include peoples building extensions?

Um not quite, you could turn to Blaster Bates for radical inspiration

Or perhaps try Japanese Knot Weed - which may be a longer term approach. Anonymous call to the police suggesting present or former occupants may have been serial killers - though possibly a bit beyond the bounds of common decency.

Otherwise it's probably a case of moving or grinning and bearing it.

[sologuitarist61]

Very good indeed.

[Stargazer33]

... Anonymous call to the police suggesting present or former occupants may have been serial killers - though possibly a bit beyond the bounds of common decency.

Hmmm, all I can see happening from this is them getting their garden dug over for free! ...now there's an idea!!!!

[Letchy]

Amazing images! I have yet to see Saturn, but I can't wait to try and catch a glimpse!

Well done.

[Fivost]

Fivost, not terribly optimistic on this but will have a go and post any results I can get.

When I came across this camera, I thought great SPC900 CCD (icx098bq) with a USB2 interface and purchased with out doing any proper research. What could potentially be quite a good planetary camera is let down by poor drivers (buggy and limited functionallity) and a lack of support in Sharpcap and Firecap. I posted a thread here back in January, though think my camera may have been faulty. I subsequently got a replacement (and excellent service from Bernard @ MA), but have not tried this to date. The camera manufacturer is Do3think and the model is DTCS033 - I have tried to search their website for updated firmware and drivers, but they do not do an english language version of the website and functionallity is a bit limited with Google Translate.

TS optics resell this camera as TS Astro Webcam TSS1. They offer a link for the latest drivers, though these are dated Apr-May 2010.

If you haven't already purchased this, my advice would be to get a genuine SPC900 or Toucam or save a little more and go for the QHY5L-II colour!

Thhanks SnakeyJ. I haven't bought it, but it sounds like trouble to be honest. The camera aslo must be the same as the one skysthelimit advertises on its website; it looks just the same in the picture and they have it listed as an unbranded Neximage. You could try Celestron drivers from their website: http://www.celestron.com/astronomy/celestron-neximage.html

The QHY you posted looks great. I will look into that!

[DrRobin]

Very nice images, wish I could get something as good.

Robin