Saturn attempt 3am SW Pro 150

[Aussie Dave]

This was my second attempt of Saturn but my first serious attempt at the planet. My first was with a compact digital camera, EP projection with a SW 10" Dob.

This time was with the Xbox 360 cam, UV/IR cutoff filter, 2x Barlow, SkyWatcher Pro 150, f24, manual tracking, around 3am about 1 week ago. Although Saturn is still too low in the sky, it's getting higher each morning and I had to give it a go, just wanted to see what I could capture. I could not resolve any detail in the planet with my webcam settings as I can not adjust some of the slider settings any more and it's image on live view was wobbly through the atmosphere. I was surprised to get this result.

AS!2, RS6, PDN, RT

 

 

[Stargazer33]

You can definitely tell what it is Dave. The first two look a bit over exposed. The last one looks much better. It is so easy to be tempted into getting the brightest image you can on the screen. It is always better however to be under exposed rather than over exposed. You can always pull detail out in under exposed images in post processing, but once you have burnt detail out by over exposing you can never get it back.

I'm sure your images will only get better and better as Saturn climbs in the sky.

[Stargazer33]

Oops! Double post removed.

[Aussie Dave]

36 minutes ago, southerndiver357 said:

You can definitely tell what it is Dave. The first two look a bit over exposed. The last one looks much better. It is so easy to be tempted into getting the brightest image you can on the screen. It is always better however to be under exposed rather than over exposed. You can always pull detail out in under exposed images in post processing, but once you have burnt detail out by over exposing you can never get it back.

I'm sure your images will only get better and better as Saturn climbs in the sky.

Yep, couldn't mistake it for anything else Bryan.

I would of dropped some of the cams slider settings but some were at their minimum, I couldn't set them any lower. The Xbox 360 cam is ok for lunar but little else, it's filter is removed.

[Stargazer33]

What capture software were you using?

[Aussie Dave]

Using AMCap on a minimum spec netbook.

I also have wxAstroCapture but fps are very low even on 640x480.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

A bit overexposed, and focus may be a touch off (always difficult). Still a nice capture.