Saturn with the C8i

[Aussie Dave]

I'm starting to image Saturn in the wee hours of the morning when the clouds part. Early days yet but it looks promising.

Taken with the Celestron Nexstar 8i, focal extension tubes, ZWO ASI224MC with UV/IR cut filter.

A 5 minute video was taken. PIPP for getting the better 5000 frames from a 10000+ frame video, then 1000 of the best frames stacked in Autostakkert.  Registax for wavelets and the final edit in PaintDotNet.

[Sierra Golf Mike]

Stunning image Dave, it's going to be years before we get decent imaging opportunities up here!

[johnfosteruk]

Terrific capture Dave, very sharp, the hexagon clearly defined and lots of detail in the atmosphere. Well done that man.

[Aussie Dave]

Thanks John, the plan is to get the hex plus more rings. Would you know the maximum time to capture and if I need to use WinJupos?

[Aussie Dave]

Cheers Steve. I've been wondering why there's not many Saturn posts. It's just clicked

 

[johnfosteruk]

4 minutes ago, Aussie Dave said:

Would you know the maximum time to capture and if I need to use WinJupos?

WinJupos will be invaluable, regards maximum time to capture no, not exactly. I'd imagine it's similar to Jupiter, a few mins at most before you need to derotate. 

Someone will have the exact answer answer though I'm sure.  

 

[Aussie Dave]

Well I hope the answer isn't WinJupos lol as great as that piece of software is. There's something I'm not doing correctly in the settings but can't figure out what it is.

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great capture!

[Craney]

Great image.    What would be your effective focal length with the "extension tubes" ?   Do you use Powermates and the like ??

 

Sean.

[Pete Presland]

A "stonking" image! Very well captured and processed, you must be very pleased with the end result.

[laudropb]

Lovely image Dave.

[bob-c]

smashing photo dave.

                                 bob.

[Aussie Dave]

@michael.h.f.wilkinson @laudropb @bob-c  cheers

@Craney thanks Sean. I didn't use a Barlow or Powermate. I used 1.5X Drizzle in Autostakkert and in the final image edit I enlarged the image by a further 20%. I'm unsure of the focal length now, not sure how to work it out, it's well over 2000mm. I'm using a Bintel 2" SCT visual back adapter plus a Bintel 2" 2x Barlow with the lens removed plus the 1.25" diagonal. The ASI224MC camera has a Celestron UV/IR cutoff filter on the adapter which raises the camera out from the diagonal by about 5mm plus the 2 tubes of about 140mm in length. So do I just add this to the focal length of the scope which I think is 2032mm and take away the original 1.25" visual back length? I'd be very interested to know.

@bunnygod1 Cheers Pete, I'm very happy with this result but would still like to do better

 

Here's one I did early this morning, just the one video, 750 frames and the quality wasn't as good, no Barlow or Powermate used. 1.5x Drizzle used in Autostakkert and reduced the final image size by 20%. I tried with a Tele-Vue Powermate 2.5x but the live view image was very dim at around f25, the frame rate was under 10fps but I didn't adjust any capture settings apart from exposure so I'll need to work on it with the Powermate when I have more time. For us in the south it's high in the sky, prime imaging target.

 

[Craney]

Thanks Dave.  I have pretty much all those components in some shape or form.   So you use the Barlow just as a focal extended tube??  I will give this a go.  I have a 5x Edmund Scientific  focal booster thingy, but it tends to magnify the murky wobbliness which is there in the 1X image......as you would expect and dim the intensity quite substantially.  Saturn is a low, early morning object for us at the moment.

The  detail on the your Saturnian cloud belts is epic.  Keep them coming.

 

Sean.

[Swoop1]

A couple of lovely images there!

I can't wait for Saturn to arrive in decent observing skies up her- I haven't had my scope long enough to play. I will try and hunt it down with my binos when I visit South Africa in June.

[Aussie Dave]

5 hours ago, Craney said:

Thanks Dave.  I have pretty much all those components in some shape or form.   So you use the Barlow just as a focal extended tube??  I will give this a go.  I have a 5x Edmund Scientific  focal booster thingy, but it tends to magnify the murky wobbliness which is there in the 1X image......as you would expect and dim the intensity quite substantially.  Saturn is a low, early morning object for us at the moment.

The  detail on the your Saturnian cloud belts is epic.  Keep them coming.

 

Sean.

I'm not sure on the Edmund Scientific focal extenders Sean, a quick search says that they are a Barlow design, but I could be wrong, they may have another design. I've never had any luck with Barlows visually or in imaging like you say. I have seen some great shots from people using Barlows but they just don't do it for me so I don't use any of mine apart from the 2" I currently use on the C8 as a focal extension tube, I just unscrewed the lens. I almost bought an Explore Scientific focal extender and have read good things about them but again I think they are the Barlow design too. I ended up paying extra for a 2.5x Powermate although I've hardly used it. It will be something I will use when I upgrade to a larger aperture SCT.

I can just make out some subtle extra rings when I zoom in on my Saturn images on the sides. For me to get them would be the icing on the cake.

 

5 hours ago, Swoop1 said:

A couple of lovely images there!

I can't wait for Saturn to arrive in decent observing skies up her- I haven't had my scope long enough to play. I will try and hunt it down with my binos when I visit South Africa in June.

Thanks Swoop1. When Jupiter and Saturn get lower in the sky here in the southern hemisphere (I'm in the bottom corner of Western Australia) it will be better for everyone in the northern hemisphere. I think Jupiter is starting to get lower here from what I've noticed, so your chance is coming

[A budding astronomer]

Wow, you Aussies are lucky to have Sagittarius rise up so high in the sky! Fantastic image. Is there a Nexstar 6i? I'm looking at a 6-8 inch scope for sale.