Saturn, March 5th

[Starman]

C-14 compromised due to moisture inside the tube. The seeing was good in parts but kept fuzzing up as if the scope had been defocused. There were also annoying 'kicks' in the atmosphere causing noticeable image shift at irregular intervals. Anyhow, here's my first Saturn of the season...

[brianb]

Tremendous, Pete; I find it hard enough just focusing Saturn at f/20 (in fact last night I cheated & used Mars then slewed the scope round ... )

[neil phillips]

Hi Pete im amazed at how often your local seeing conditions seem to mimic mine, being so far apart in the country, I was mentioning to my missus this morning how the image would seem to suddenly defocus then slowly tighten up to quite sharp for a few seconds, then bang all fuzz, then slowly getting tight again,

for a few seconds very sharp again, just out of interest heres the time i noticed that effect the most Pete Around 2:10 GMT just prior to lots of cloud coming over

Also i noticed the very odd jumping, that i thought was my mount struggling as the scope was leaning, with lots of builders weights balancing the large spx, and or the extreme cold.

But now i think it must have been atmospheric, ive not seen this effect ever before i dont think, even the defocussed image then suddenly real sharp was a little different, the effect similar to camera or camcorder on auto focus struggling to lock on, then finding its focus then losing it again.

Thought you might try Saturn last night, Nice capture, but i know you will be getting much better when the condensation problem isnt there.

[arad85]

Thumbs up from me too Pete

[barkis]

Some very suble pastel shades I see.

Just magical.

Ron.

[resonator77]

wow

what was your focal Pete?

Do you remember how many frames you stacked?

[AztecastroMcJ]

very nice Pete

like colour and detail

James

[chrisrnuttall]

i thought my mount had a problem too on monday night, mars was jumping about an arcsecond or two, it eventually stopped doing it..... Silly air!

[Clayton]

Nice stuff Pete. Interesting how the red channel seems clearer than the 740nm IR.

Have you tried making an L channel from the red or green or red+green? Registax V5 lets you do this very easily.

[brianb]

Interesting how the red channel seems clearer than the 740nm IR.

If seeing wasn't an issue, it always would be - the resolution is worse at longer wavelengths. But the seeing tends to be steadier at long wavelengths, which is why IR can be worth borthering with to us poor earthbound mortals.

Not sure about Pete's camera, but mine (Imaging Source) tends to need longer exposures with IR pass filters than red, the CCD is less sensitive to the longer wavelengths, tailing off to zero by 1100 nm. The reducing sensitivity & better seeing act in opposing directions & the "best" compromise isn't always the same. Neither are you always aware when imaging at the scope what is going to work after processing & what isn't. Just concentrate on getting right what you can't fix later (i.e. exposure & focusing).

[beamish]

I have read a few disparaging comments regarding Saturn and how there's little to appreciate cos the rings are closing BUT HEY !!! This is great Pete. Even when conds. are dodgy a fine image can be pulled out, with loads of detail .

Well done Pete !

[MidnightSun]

Beauties.....