Saturn June 5th Good seeing until....

[Space Cowboy]

Damned cloud!

Set up under a cloudless sky after the day had been cloudy so no problem with ground thermals and sure enough there in the eyepiece was a sharp clear Saturn so I slammed in the colour QHY cam and sure enough on screen was a rock solid image and I rubbed my hands with glee at the prospect of a fabulous night....until....looking over my shoulder that dreaded beast had appeared!

Managed just 8000 frames before the cloud blanket smothered my fun. After 45 mins it cleared again but seeing had dipped though it did improve later on although I don't think as good as the start.

Here is a quick netbook process of the pre-cloud image. I don't think trans was quite as good as Sunday night as the globe needed extra sharpening.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great image, despite the difficulties. Looks like the polar hexagon is showing nicely

[Space Cowboy]

Thanks Michael. I was lucky to grab what I did if I'd been 5 mins later I'd have missed it. Here is the polar projection :

[Alan]

Great stuff Stuart and the polar hex is clearer than your previous shot.

[Space Cowboy]

Cheers Alan. Sun is beating down now so I doubt tonight wont be as good with all the thermals but you never know!

[si@nite]

Nice one Stuart, I know what you mean about the cloud it never even cleared this end!

[cgarry]

Hi Stuart,

You got a great image out of the session even if the clouds stopped play. You should try imaging with RGB filters if you really want to know about the frustration that the clouds can bring, nothing quite like having quality R and G captures in the bag only to see the B channel fade away on the laptop screen as you hit record.

Cheers,

Chris

[SnakeyJ]

You should try imaging with RGB filters if you really want to know about the frustration that the clouds can bring, nothing quite like having quality R and G captures in the bag only to see the B channel fade away on the laptop screen as you hit record.

I was in this boat late Tuesday night, all was going great guns until Green started to fade out, then blue all but dissapeared despite increasing exposure and gain to silly levels. The sky was beautifully clear, but I had forgotten to turn the astrozap on and was heavilly dewed up. Last night I had the dew tapes running before turning the mount on to align.

[theo]

Another loverly image Stuart.

Hopefully some decent seeing remaining to us all without the cloud demon making an appearance

Pete

[Space Cowboy]

Thanks Simon! & Pete! Sky looks superb this evening!

Cheers Chris, yes I do kiss my colour cam when it snatches a good image from a few fleeting mins of good seeing or clear sky though I have now got a red filter to use tonight so I'm 33% there!

Ok, I've stacked more frames (6000) and whacked up the wavelets and image scale. Maybe a little OTT but think I can see subtle detail on the globe?

[Freddie]

Looking good there Stuart. Last one a bit too much for my tastes but as you say maybe some more detail with the noise. Good luck tonight with your new filter.

[Space Cowboy]

Thanks Freddie. Yeah probably gone too far with this one. Using my netbook so its difficult to judge.

[Ewan]

Very nice Stuart, what Red filter did you pick up ?

Here's hoping weather stays good for tonight & everyone who's going after Saturn or anything else for that matter.

[Space Cowboy]

Thanks Ewan its an Astronomik. Yep warm summer evening with crystal clear sky doesn't get much better!