My first image in ages and 1st Saturn of the 2024 apparition

[geoflewis]

Hi everyone,

I haven't imaged anything since 1 April and that was only a brief (DSO) test run to see how I felt after my hip surgey in February, so it was good to get out in the observatory last night, one day after Saturn's opposition. Unfortunatly the seeing was poor, most likely due to the raging jetstream overhead. Focus was real challenge, not helped by my eyes still streaming after a procedure to fit stents in my tear ducts less than 48 hours earlier. Nevertheless, I ran 2 set of 8x2 min SERs at 8ms, one for RGB and the other in IR (742nm). Data was captured with the ASI462MC colour camera, through the C14 with ADC in train, no additional amplification was used. Saturn's elevation was ~29°, so whilst it's getting better, it's still very low as seen from my 52N location. Processing was performed in AS3! (best 1000F from each SER), Registax wavelets, WinJupos to derotate and stack the 8 individual stacks, then Astrosurface for final sharpening and saturation (RGB only).

I think the Seeliger effect is (perhaps) more apparent in the IR image, which also better shows the Cassini division and surface banding.

Hopefully I'll experience better seeing conditions, for better images over the coming weeks.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Kon]

Nice effort Geof and good to see you capturing the planets again. Dreadful conditions last night with that overhead jestream. I agree that the IR is showing the Seeliger effect better.

[geoflewis]

17 minutes ago, Kon said:

Nice effort Geof and good to see you capturing the planets again. Dreadful conditions last night with that overhead jestream. I agree that the IR is showing the Seeliger effect better.

Thanks Kostas, it certainly wasn't the best conditions to rediscover my observatory....😁

Edited September 11 by geoflewis

[CraigT82]

Nice work Geof, good to be out there I bet

[geoflewis]

7 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Nice work Geof, good to be out there I bet

Thanks Craig, yes it was good and actually a better experience than I'd anticipated. I'd somewhat lost my astro mojo over the summer months and kept putting off going out, but I wanted to try to get a 2024 Saturn opposition image for posterity, so despite the raging jetstream overhead, I thought I should have a go....

[orion25]

Great images despite the conditions, Geof. Glad to see you out there again. I can def see the Seeliger Effect in the IR image; good banding and Cassini, too! Take good care of yourself, my friend

Reggie

[bosun21]

Good to see you back out there Geof. There's nothing any of us can do when we're up against the Jetstream and poor seeing. Despite this some nice banding showing especially in the IR image.

[Space Cowboy]

Well done Geoff! Good to see you imaging again 🙂

[geoflewis]

8 hours ago, orion25 said:

Great images despite the conditions, Geof. Glad to see you out there again. I can def see the Seeliger Effect in the IR image; good banding and Cassini, too! Take good care of yourself, my friend

Reggie

4 hours ago, bosun21 said:

Good to see you back out there Geof. There's nothing any of us can do when we're up against the Jetstream and poor seeing. Despite this some nice banding showing especially in the IR image.

1 hour ago, Space Cowboy said:

Well done Geoff! Good to see you imaging again 🙂

Thanks everyone. I tried again last night as the jetstream looked to have moved slightly away from East Anglia, but the seeing was far worse, so I gave up after about an hour of hopeless struggles.

 

 

[bosun21]

22 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

Thanks everyone. I tried again last night as the jetstream looked to have moved slightly away from East Anglia, but the seeing was far worse, so I gave up after about an hour of hopeless struggles.

I know what you mean. I have a clear night tonight according to all the relevant apps however the Jetstream will be directly overhead all night. I'll give the imaging a pass tonight and do a bit of EAA and visual.

[geoflewis]

1 minute ago, bosun21 said:

I know what you mean. I have a clear night tonight according to all the relevant apps however the Jetstream will be directly overhead all night. I'll give the imaging a pass tonight and do a bit of EAA and visual.

It depends how laminar the jetstream flow is, as I've had excrllent seeing under a fast jetstream. It's a turbulent jetstream that is a seeing killer and I think I was close the margin's last night, which often is where a lot of mixing can occur.

[bosun21]

7 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

It depends how laminar the jetstream flow is, as I've had excrllent seeing under a fast jetstream. It's a turbulent jetstream that is a seeing killer and I think I was close the margin's last night, which often is where a lot of mixing can occur.

I have no clue how to read them apart from the fact that red being the fastest air currents.

 

Edited September 12 by bosun21

[morimarty]

Well done Geoff for getting out imaging again so soon after surgery. There is some very nice subtle banding showing through on the colour image.

[geoflewis]

9 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I have no clue how to read them apart from the red being the fastest air currents.

I also don't know how to read them, just wanted to say that whilst it's better when the jetstream is far away, it is 'sometimes' still possible to experience good seeing when it is directly overhead. Some years ago I had a discussion about it with a long time planetary imaging friend and mentor and his conclusion was that if the air flow is laminar than whilst fast moving, it can still provide stable seeing conditions. The only way I know to find out is to try and see what happens, which I did last night, but it was a bust....🙄🤣

Edited September 12 by geoflewis

[geoflewis]

1 minute ago, morimarty said:

Well done Geoff for getting out imaging again so soon after surgery. There is some very nice subtle banding showing through on the colour image.

Thanks Martyn, yes, the banding is there in the colour image, but rather than push the processing, or layer the IR for a sharper IR-RGB image, I just went gently with the colour data processing and am fairly pleased with it as is.

[bosun21]

1 minute ago, geoflewis said:

I also don't know how to read them, just wanted to say that whilst it's better when the jetstream is far away, it is 'sometimes' still possible to experience good seeing when it is directly overhead. some years ago I had a discussion about it with a long time planetary imaging friend and mentor and his conclusion was that if the air flow is laminar than whilst fast moving, it can still provide stable seeing conditions. The only way I know to find out is to try and see what happens, which I did last night, but it was a bust....🙄🤣

In that case I will reel off a few SER's and see how they are. This is what I have tended to do in the past anyway. Fingers crossed 🤞 

[Kon]

@geoflewisand @bosun21 you can look at windy.com and see the direction of the wind at all altitudes in their wind models. Ideally all same way so not turbulent. Looking at tonight's forecast it's not good at least for my location.

Edited September 12 by Kon

[geoflewis]

36 minutes ago, Kon said:

you can look at windy.com and see the direction of the wind at all altitudes in their wind models

Thanks Kostas, but where do I find these models, as I can't find them in either the windy app on my phone, or online at windy.com?

EDIT: Found it on the phone app...

Edited September 12 by geoflewis

[Kon]

1 hour ago, geoflewis said:

Thanks Kostas, but where do I find these models, as I can't find them in either the windy app on my phone, or online at windy.com?

EDIT: Found it on the phone app...

Yes at the bottom. I use the online version.

[siatnite]

Well caught Geof the seeings been awful lately hope it starts to pick up soon.

[geoflewis]

6 hours ago, siatnite said:

Well caught Geof the seeings been awful lately hope it starts to pick up soon.

I’ve only just started imaging again and it’s certainly not been good so far. Hopefully there’s better to come, though I would like to get a better Saturn before it starts to get too far past opposition.

[JeremyS]

Welcome back Geof 👍🏻

[geoflewis]

1 minute ago, JeremyS said:

Welcome back Geof 👍🏻

Thanks Jeremy