Saturn in IR

[Kon]

I have come to the conclusion that with the UK skies I will not improve my colour Saturn images any time soon. I like processing images so I had a go at Saturn last night with the asi462mc and an IR pass filter. I think it has come out quite nice considering a few hours later there was a downpour; Cassini division nearly fully visible. 8" Dob, manual and 2.5x TV powermate. This was processed in Astrosurface as in registax it was getting rather messy.

[Laurieast]

Good clear image.

I wonder if you could layer it on top of a colour version?

 

[Buzz Parsec]

That's a cracking image.

[Kon]

8 hours ago, Laurieast said:

Good clear image.

I wonder if you could layer it on top of a colour version?

 

Thanks. I have done this in the past, but my colour image was absolutely awful last night as if I were completely out of focus.

[Laurieast]

14 minutes ago, Kon said:

Thanks. I have done this in the past, but my colour image was absolutely awful last night as if I were completely out of focus.

I took the liberty of taking your IR image above, and combining it with the colour from your image of the 22nd. 

So I layered onto your IR with 30% opacity, increased the saturation, to compensate for that, rotated the image to match as best I could, then the photoshop built in Snap feature completed that alignment. Flattened and saved. Not adjusted in any other way. 

[Kon]

14 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

I took the liberty of taking your IR image above, and combining it with the colour from your image of the 22nd. 

So I layered onto your IR with 30% opacity, increased the saturation, to compensate for that, rotated the image to match as best I could, then the photoshop built in Snap feature completed that alignment. Flattened and saved. Not adjusted in any other way. 

 

Thanks! That looks nice and tidy! I thought I would have to merge the IR data on the same capture time window (with maybe winjupos)  to be more accurate.

[neil phillips]

20 hours ago, Kon said:

Thanks! That looks nice and tidy! I thought I would have to merge the IR data on the same capture time window (with maybe winjupos)  to be more accurate.

In Theory you do Kon. But unless there's spots on show. Or seeing and resolution will resolve them. It doesn't matter a great deal. But I know what you mean. Purists would probably do it all in one night. Still looks good though

[neil phillips]

On 29/09/2022 at 12:21, Kon said:

I have come to the conclusion that with the UK skies I will not improve my colour Saturn images any time soon. I like processing images so I had a go at Saturn last night with the asi462mc and an IR pass filter. I think it has come out quite nice considering a few hours later there was a downpour; Cassini division nearly fully visible. 8" Dob, manual and 2.5x TV powermate. This was processed in Astrosurface as in registax it was getting rather messy.

Gutted I can't try it no more. With a football  stadium bright LED Light installed right over my garden. Your still getting some good results. Looks great

[Kon]

2 hours ago, neil phillips said:

Gutted I can't try it no more. With a football  stadium bright LED Light installed right over my garden. Your still getting some good results. Looks great

Oh no, that sounds awful. 

2 hours ago, neil phillips said:

In Theory you do Kon. But unless there's spots on show. Or seeing and resolution will resolve them. It doesn't matter a great deal. But I know what you mean. Purists would probably do it all in one night. Still looks good though

I know it looks nice but I personally prefer to have it under the same time period.

Saying that, since Saturn doesn't have additional  features/spots but just the rings and banding, why don't we shoot let's say a 10-30min video without derotation and pick the best 1-2%. Would that really impact quality? I don't know the answer but it would be interesting to hear opinions on in. Mars and Jupiter is obvious why.

[neil phillips]

1 hour ago, Kon said:

Oh no, that sounds awful. 

I know it looks nice but I personally prefer to have it under the same time period.

Saying that, since Saturn doesn't have additional  features/spots but just the rings and banding, why don't we shoot let's say a 10-30min video without derotation and pick the best 1-2%. Would that really impact quality? I don't know the answer but it would be interesting to hear opinions on in. Mars and Jupiter is obvious why.

Or do video de rotation after a long capture. Even dob imaging could do this once stabilized on Pipp

[Kon]

5 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

Or do video de rotation after a long capture. Even dob imaging could do this once stabilized on Pipp

That's my question, why would you need to derotate Saturn if there are no features to worry to align/smear?

[neil phillips]

1 hour ago, Kon said:

That's my question, why would you need to derotate Saturn if there are no features to worry to align/smear?

The only potential issue is sometimes spots can be delicate easily smeared out. Having said that at our elevations unless the spot was prominent it may not show anyway?  Especially with our seeing, So I agree worth trying. And de rotation could still be done at a later date just for interest maybe. As someone who lived through and did some of my early imaging on the great storms of 2011. I am always mindful. How active Saturn can become. Examples from the UK below

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by neil phillips

[Kon]

8 hours ago, neil phillips said:

The only potential issue is sometimes spots can be delicate easily smeared out. Having said that at our elevations unless the spot was prominent it may not show anyway?  Especially with our seeing, So I agree worth trying. And de rotation could still be done at a later date just for interest maybe. As someone who lived through and did some of my early imaging on the great storms of 2011. I am always mindful. How active Saturn can become. Examples from the UK below

 

 

Very good points. I will try next time and see if it makes a difference.

Stunning images again and these storms are excellently captured.

[neil phillips]

1 hour ago, Kon said:

Very good points. I will try next time and see if it makes a difference.

Stunning images again and these storms are excellently captured.

I suppose the point I am making we have to be observant in case it happens again. The beginning won't be as obvious. But other than that, of course it's not a problem

Cheers