Saturn from last night - 2019-08-25

[Stargazer33]

Hi, can't remember the last time I did some serious imaging. This is a stack of four images from four .ser files of about 1400 frames each, using the best 10% of each.

Equipment:

C9.25, CGEM, ES 3x teleconverter, ZWO ADC, ZWO ASI385MC, Baader neodymium Moon skyglow filter.

 

Processing:

AS!2, RS6, PS CS4

 

Not my best, but not my worst either! 🤔

 

Edited August 26, 2019 by Stargazer33

[celestron8g8]

Still nice capture .

[Stargazer33]

Thanks Ron! I'm quite pleased with it as I've been having loads of trouble getting time under the stars and when I do things haven't been going too well. It was nice to get Saturn on the chip. Being able to make out the Cassini Division on the laptop screen, I knew I had some video that I could work with.

[knobby]

Nice image, it's really tough shooting through the low down murk, you did well.

[Stargazer33]

Thanks Knobby. For once proper planning prevented 🙊 poor performance. The next thing on the agenda is an observatory so I don't have to spend an hour or so setting up and the same again packing everything away!

[Stub Mandrel]

Nothing wrong with that at all Bryan, it's so low down and much less detailed than Jupiter. Cassini division is clear and hints of the D ring which is tough to get at the moment. I've only ever managed to get a single storm on Saturn, otherwise no more than the sort of banding you have there.

[Stargazer33]

Thanks Neil. I've got some more .ser and .avi files to process. I was using FireCapture, SharpCap and ASICAP, trying to find the one that works the best for me.

I also need a good clear night to check my collimation; my scope rolled off the bed a few months back when I was moving stuff about! I just about managed to stick my leg out to reduce the impact, but I have noticed a small crack about 30mm long in the aluminium collar on the front of the 'scope! I didn't remove the cap for ages as I didn't want to see a cracked corrector plate. Then I thought, 'well its not going to change anything if you look or don't look. So you might as well look!'

[Pete Presland]

Very nice, some decent detail visible there despite the low altitude.

[Stargazer33]

Thanks Pete, I'm just really pleased to have actually managed to get outside and do some imaging. At the moment, to get any usable data is a bonus! 

Here are a couple more images. They are from 2 videos, 4 videos and 4 videos respectively. These were run through PIPP, AS!2, RS6 and then de-rotated in Winjupos. A final bit of tweaking was done in PS CS4.

    

Posting these, I've just realised; I can stack these three images too. Hopefully that will increase the SNR even more

Edited September 3, 2019 by Stargazer33

[Stargazer33]

Final reprocessing of this data!

The three derotated images above were resized to the smallest image (307 x 307 pixels). They were then stacked in AS!2 with a drizzle of 1.5. Wavelets tweaked in RS6 and then PS CS4 for final manipulation.

I think I've now done this data to death, but I learnt about Winjupos (thanks to YouTube video tutorials) and I refreshed my memory re: processing. So all in all a happy bunny with my first serious attempt at imaging for a long time. 😀

[geoflewis]

4 minutes ago, Stargazer33 said:

Final reprocessing of this data!

The three derotated images above were resized to the smallest image (307 x 307 pixels). They were then stacked in AS!2 with a drizzle of 1.5. Wavelets tweaked in RS6 and then PS CS4 for final manipulation.

I think I've now done this data to death, but I learnt about Winjupos (thanks to YouTube video tutorials) and I refreshed my memory re: processing. So all in all a happy bunny with my first serious attempt at imaging for a long time. 😀

Bryan,

That turned out pretty nice, so well done for persevering with it. I gave up on the planets this year after just a couple of tries, in fact I think I only took one run at Saturn......

Geof

[Stargazer33]

Thanks Geof, unfortunately I think I'm a planetary kind of guy, so it's either persevere 'till the planets reach a more sensible elevation or do nothing. I have dabbled in DSO imaging, but the planets are so much easier to find! 😀

[geoflewis]

3 minutes ago, Stargazer33 said:

Thanks Geof, unfortunately I think I'm a planetary kind of guy, so it's either persevere 'till the planets reach a more sensible elevation or do nothing. I have dabbled in DSO imaging, but the planets are so much easier to find! 😀

Bryan, I completely get it as I too love imaging the planets and can get a bunch of data in minutes rather than hours or days reuired for DSOs. Planetary is pretty much all I've done the past few summers. With them so poorly placed I decided to try for some summer DSOs this year, but family stuff got in the way for much of June through mid August. I'll be ready for Mars next year hopefully without a huge dust storm 🤞, then by 2021 Jupiter is once again gaining altitude.... 😀

Geof