First Saturn - 23.05.2009

[Dr Dixon]

These are my first go at saturn, or any planet, only imaged the moon before.

Two images of one B&W, one colour taken on 23rd May with ToUCam Pro II x2 Barlow on my ED80.

Each was 500 frames in wxAstroCapture and then PSP X2 to add a bit of post processing.

Pleased with results for a first go as you can see the ring side on, though i need to practice the settings on the webcam to get the balance right for exposure as i noticed on some tries i could get some of saturns moons but saturn itself was blown out.

Any tips to get a better shot next time, i was thinking 4x barlow to get the scale up a bit?

[Kokatha man]

You should be pleased with these as first-ups Dr D......and yes, a bit more image scale will definitely help, going from 2X to 4X barlow will quadruple the area size of Saturn's disk.

Extension tubes are also a simple way to enlarge scale.....as you "pull back" the camera from the barlow the scale increases: you should be able to find graphs that calculate said increases on the web.....

Processing moons seperately enhances them - if (say) in Registax you align on the planet or a feature on it, it (most) often precludes any moons being within that alignment area so they often end up ill-defined.....you can go through the avi again and process with a small box on the moon exclusively.....then open the final planet and moon tiffs in P/shop for selecting, copying and pasting as a new layer.....check some of the tutes around!:D

[dweller25]

Very nice sharp images. Look forward to your next pics.....

[drummerp]

Extension tubes are also a simple way to enlarge scale

Can I use my camera adaptor same as below ?

Cheers

Neil

[greenkat]

Nice images, better than my first attempts

[Kokatha man]

Can I use my camera adaptor same as below ?

Cheers

Neil

Neil - from what I hear people use all sorts of material for extension tubes, from pvc piping to vacuum cleaner hoses etc.....I use a GSO 2.5X barlow that I've unscrewed the lens element from - you can also buy 1&1/4" extender tubes.....but if you have something you can fit your cam in one end, and the other into the barlow you're on a winner....!

The TeleVue site shows graphs for distance and magnification of their products but I believe you can assume similar figures for other manufacturers barlows.....certainly cheaper this way than having "x" number of barlows and much better than adding more glass to the equation by doubling up on barlows....!:)