First Saturn of 2024

[orion25]

This is my first image of Saturn this year and you can easily see how the tilt of the rings has narrowed considerably since last opposition. I used the ZWO ASI224MC with my Orion 180mm Mak-Cass, capturing data with Firecapture, processing in Registax 6, and post-processing in Photoshop:

The rings are expected to wobble the rest of the year, opening and closing a bit before going totally edge-on next March. But Saturn will be very close to the Sun by March 2025 so from now until a few weeks after opposition may be the best times to view/image Saturn nearly edge-on. 

 

Cheers,

Reggie

[Kon]

Nice one Reggie. Good to see it back. I hope to have a go at it next week when I am back from USA.

[orion25]

7 minutes ago, Kon said:

Nice one Reggie. Good to see it back. I hope to have a go at it next week when I am back from USA.

Thanks, Kostas. Can't wait to see your images. If my Starry Night software is correct, this month Saturn will display the least amount of tilt before March 2025 as the planet wobbles throughout the rest of the year. So time may be of the essence to get maximum edge as Saturn will be very close to the Sun by March.

[Tony Acorn]

Don't forget the Lunar Occultation before dawn on 21st August. We seem to have been having such cloudy weather we may not get to see it here in the UK.

[orion25]

2 hours ago, Tony Acorn said:

Don't forget the Lunar Occultation before dawn on 21st August. We seem to have been having such cloudy weather we may not get to see it here in the UK.

Thanks for the heads up, Tony