Mars & Saturn, 21 Aug, 8" & 5" scopes

[Cosmic Geoff]

For once I set up my two catadroptic imaging scopes together to see how they compared, and how well the smaller one cut through the crud.

C8 SCT on SE mount, ASI 120MC, ADC, processed in Registax6, 3000 frame video.

Celestron 127mm Mak on Nexstar SLT mount, wood tripod, ASI120MC , ADC, processed in Registax6, 3000 frame video.

The 127mm images are slightly smaller, placed second.   The bigger scope seems to do better.  I thought that Saturn did not change much and was just a seeing test target, but the shadow of the planet on the rings is now distinctly asymmetrical.   The dark smudges in the C8 Mars images correlate well with real features.  Mars altitude about 11 deg. The dust storm seems to be over.

The seeing was better than it's been for a while. 

[MarsG76]

Good comparison but yeah, the 8SE wins.... although that's what you'd expect from a bigger scope.

[Yawning Angel]

Those are great comparison shots, well done Geoff! I'll bet your ADC is earning it's keep ?

[Chris]

Really good comparison, both scopes do a great job for their size, but yeah the C8 certainly fulfils the goals of apparent size, brightness, and resolution. 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice comparison. Imaging is really hard with the planets so low

[Demonperformer]

I did something similar when I upgraded my 6SE to an 8SE and was really impressed with how much better the images were.

[Pete Presland]

Some nice detail there.