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Seeing Saturn In All Its Glory For The First Time


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i don't upload it here, i upload my images in an account i made in Flickr. then i take the link from there and post it here.

Thanks for the advice abumuhannadh

I now have an account on Flickr

Your advice very much apppreciated.

Mark

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Clearly Saturn, but IMO very overexposed. When viewing the planet on the preview panel of your capture software, reduce the shutter speed until it looks 'normal', then reduce the setting by one further stop. Should produce a reasonable result.

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Hi Mark

Cool pictures, is it possible you could post magnification used to capture these?

Thanks

Shane

Hi Shane,

I did not use any direct magnification, the NexImage CCD was straight into the Eyepiece holder on my Nextstar 6SE.

I had tried using a 2x Barlow without success, so just went for raw viewing. hth

@ Deamonperformer - Thanks for the advice, I`ll give it a try tonight (looks like a 3rd clear night in a row!!).

I assumed it was proberbly down to the settings on AmCap, but was not to sure which to change.

Thanks once again

Mark

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I assumed it was proberbly down to the settings on AmCap, but was not to sure which to change. Mark

OK, using amcap. Reduce 'gain' to minimum. Set shutter speed to 1/10 second. Adjust brightness so planet on preview looks ok [the rings should be only just visible if at all]. Take first avi. Reduce shutter speed to 1/25 second keeping everything else the same. Take second avi. Try reducing it to 1/50 and taking third avi. You will probably find the middle one will produce the best result in registax. once you have adjusted the 'contrast' slider on the wavelets page [i usually head for about 200, but have a play and find what is best for you. Upping the first two wavelet sliders can also draw out more detail.

Most importantly: have fun.

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Thanks Mark

Good luck for tonight, fingers crossed should be a brilliant evening for taking some snaps of Saturn, the moon is visable already and has been for a while and the last time I checked Saturn was just to the left in the south east, be nice if there was a button to turn the sun on and off.

I took a pic with my phone lol

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heh.. i know how you feel, I caught my first glimpse of Saturn last night too - and a couple of moons :) well chuffed

It was a night where id decided to go unpowered and just "point at stuff" because the seeing wasnt good enough for guiding (and glad i did). Tonights a different story though, even though the moon is a little strong - its beautifully clear.

Working on IC1396 @ the mo, not sure how much nebulosity im going to get with an unmodded cam, worth a try anyways :D

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Mark, did you get some more pics of Saturn, will be nice to see them.

Heres the picture of the moon that I took today with my mobile at about 16:00hrs

15mk0fl.jpg

it was massive in the sky today, can't wait to get a scope and have a look for myself, Saturn that is not the moon, although that will be good too, look forward to some more pics :)

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Hi all,

Took these Saturday night

4635133925_f687b8f981_m.jpg

4635134203_ee2eef6007_m.jpg

Both were taken through NexImage without any Lense or Barlow.

I`m really struggling using the 2x Barlow at the moment, it seems to be an FOV in that with just the NexImage in I can see Saturn no problem, but as soon as I add the 2x Barlow then Saturn has gone (very frustrating)

Mark

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Nice pics man!! saturn has been fab all weekend. I think i picked out 4 moons on sunday night.

Ps if you want accurate directions fro where everything is from night to night download stellarium if you haven't already. It's free and a big help!! it runs in night mode too so it won't dazzle you whilst your at your scope.

Clear sky's man!!

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Great thread!

I took my 8 year old daughter out in the garden to look at venus and the moon a couple of weeks ago with my 3 1/2in reflector. I knew I wouldn't be able to see Saturn very well but thought I'd show her it anyway, just to show her another planet, I'd never seen Saturn before myself. When I lined it up and looked through the eyepiece I had a shock. I could see the 'ears'! My jaw dropped and so did my daughter's! The first nite she'd ever used a scope and she gets to see that!

Now she's hooked! She even got me up at 3.30am the other day to see Uranus and Jupiter! Its lovely to share it with someone and she's now also my lucky omen! I'm looking at fast tracking her into a career in astrophysics now, Lol!

Great pics by the way, I've got something to aim towards now!

Marc

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Managed to get the 2x Barlow working with the Celestron NexImage tonight and captured the following photo`s (after processing through RegiStax5

4664736250_e18cf55d9a_m.jpg

4664735990_88d1c819a8_m.jpg

Although better than my first attempts, I am now thinking of upgrading my CCD Imager, any thoughts on which one to go for as a second purchase? that will give me an improvement on quality on my current setup.

Thanks

Mark

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Great improvement.

Speaking as someone who always wants to run before he can walk and obtain perfect pictures (like those others on the forum produce) from the start, can I advise restraint before paying out loads on a new ccd camera. Fully explore what you can achieve with the neximager, all the while learning the art. Then you can have a better idea of exactly what you want to achieve with the new camera and get something tailored to that purpose.

My 2p...

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"can I advise restraint before paying out loads on a new ccd camera"

Blow that!! If you've got 2 grand to spare there's a couple of great ccd's going in the for sale section - get it now before you regret it lol :D

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If you've got 2 grand to spare there's a couple of great ccd's going in the for sale section - get it now before you regret it

Mark

If you do, and get great results I will be cheering with the rest:). If you do, and, through inexperience (no offence intended), in six months are disheartened that all that money is not producing the wonderful pictures that much money deserves ... :D

Have you taken any astro-pics with your 450D through the scope? Might be a good next step ...

That makes 4p ...

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@Deamonperformer/brantuk,

Really great to get replies from both ends of the spectrum (excuse the pun)

I guess it`s the impatience in me that makes me seek an alternative solution to `perciverance`, but I guess as I`m still only 6 weeks into this I ought to give NexImage a bit more time.

To get better clarity of vision (and a bigger visual) would it be worth investing in a 3x/4x Barlow? as I`m assuming that it would get me closer to the planet? albeit that I would lose some FOV as a result? or are there any further tips you can give to point me in the right direction.

Thanks again guys

Mark

Great improvement.

Speaking as someone who always wants to run before he can walk and obtain perfect pictures (like those others on the forum produce) from the start, can I advise restraint before paying out loads on a new ccd camera. Fully explore what you can achieve with the neximager, all the while learning the art. Then you can have a better idea of exactly what you want to achieve with the new camera and get something tailored to that purpose.

My 2p...

"can I advise restraint before paying out loads on a new ccd camera"

Blow that!! If you've got 2 grand to spare there's a couple of great ccd's going in the for sale section - get it now before you regret it lol :D

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I haven`t tried with the 450D yet, although I have brought the T-Ring Adaptor and T-Ring for it. I guess deep down I really want to get it right with the NexImager first.

I brought a motorised focuser from FLO which arrived today, so I thought I could give that a try as it would give me one less thing to worry about (no more vibration on the scope as I fumble about looking for the focusing knob).

I saw this post last night -

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-planetary/104176-2-more-saturn-captures.html

And I thought that has got to be my next target, bigger visual and finer detail... how I go about achieving that though is another matter.

Mark

Mark

If you do, and get great results I will be cheering with the rest:). If you do, and, through inexperience (no offence intended), in six months are disheartened that all that money is not producing the wonderful pictures that much money deserves ... :D

Have you taken any astro-pics with your 450D through the scope? Might be a good next step ...

That makes 4p ...

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3x/4x/5x will increase size of image, but the light from it will only be 1/9, 1/16, 1/25 as bright and you will not necessarily see more detail.

Another consideration is that the point of focus will be sharper with the higher barlow values - basically you will need to be ever-more accurate on the focussing knob to achieve focus. OK, I know that strictly there is only one point of focus at any magnification, maybe I should say 'acceptable' focus.

6p ... this is getting expensive:D

Just read your second post ... the motorised focusser will probably help in that

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Just read your second post ... the motorised focusser will probably help in that

Another question (one of many I know :D)

If I undo the 3 small screws that surround the focusing knob on the back of my 6SE, am I going to do any damage to the scope? or are they just holding the focus knob in place.

Nervously - Thanks

Mark

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We've been concentraing on Saturn too for the last few days.

Managed some very basic video of it too. But last night was very clear for us and I was able to get nice focus and my 6 year old Daughter was still awake (I'd let her stay up just in case) So she saw it for the first time last night and was totally thrilled!

Though her initial comment was amusing "It looks like a toy" At least I was also able to point out to her it was also actually visible with the naked eye.

For your information was using Orion 6" reflector, 2x barlow and 10mm eyepiece.

Wayne....

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We've been concentraing on Saturn too for the last few days.

Managed some very basic video of it too. But last night was very clear for us and I was able to get nice focus and my 6 year old Daughter was still awake (I'd let her stay up just in case) So she saw it for the first time last night and was totally thrilled!

Though her initial comment was amusing "It looks like a toy" At least I was also able to point out to her it was also actually visible with the naked eye.

For your information was using Orion 6" reflector, 2x barlow and 10mm eyepiece.

Wayne....

Wayne

That`s excellent that your 6 year old got to see it.

The other evening my eldest son came over to visit (he`s 28) and his reaction was a picture, to say he was `gobsmacked` is an understatement "Priceless"

Mark

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Wayne

That`s excellent that your 6 year old got to see it.

The other evening my eldest son came over to visit (he`s 28) and his reaction was a picture, to say he was `gobsmacked` is an understatement "Priceless"

Well Mark, if it was not for my daughter we would not own a telescope and be enjoying this together. Although she's only 6 she has shown an interest for a while.

I told her only tonight that even at 43 I'd not seen Saturn or even the Moon through a telescope until about 3 weeks ago. When I was her age it was just not going to happen for mainly financial reasons. Also she really has it lucky in regards to school coverage of the subject. Had a mobile planetarium visit the school, had live video conferences with the bods at NASA and that was when she was 5!

Exciting times.

Her friday "Show and Tell" presentation when she goes back after half term should be good as we are planning on doing a powerpoint presentation on our exploits with the telescope.

So I'm as thrilled as she is and enjoying using the scope and also making gadgets to go with it. We got straight into imaging although we are very much making do with stuff we can modify, make or bodge up at the moment.

Wayne....

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