Saturn - 171206

[russ]

Out again at 5am this morning. Freezing cold, couldn't feel my fingers or feet. But it was well worth it. Saturn looked amazing!

Grabbed a couple of images before the clouds rolled in. This was the best one. Taken with the Intes-Micro M603, 2x Celestron Ultima barlow, Toucam Pro II, UV/IR block filter. 636 images stacked with Registax 4. 2x resampling, wavelets, RGB shift etc

[JohnC]

Very nice Rus,i chickened out at 2 am.

It was cold!!

john

[Chubster]

Wow.....Great images....dont know how you do it. Was out lastnight myself till around 3.30 but could only get a tiny image of saturn. How do you manage such a large image ?

[SteelRat]

Nice stuff from the IM again Rus - wish Saturn was that clear out our way last night. Put my scopes to bed around 4am - was wobbly up there. Stayed out with the bins though - cold it WAS. Great pics matey 8)

[geppetto]

Smashing images Russ 8)

Can't wait to have a go at Saturn myself

[CELESCOPE]

lovely set of images there Rus , bet you pleased with those mate , first class

Rog

[Rob]

Wow mate!... good work. Better than the one we grab down the forest... the 603 is a fantastic MAK!!.

Rob

[FLO]

You gotta be pleased with those Russ

[russ]

Thanks all. Really chuffed as I clouds rolled in before i really got myself going. The third image was actually my last AVI and I think i had just nailed the focus. So was pretty annoyed i didn't get the chance to run a 1500 frame avi. But pleased now.

Chubster, it's all about image scale. The Intes is an f10 scope with a focal length of 1500mm. To get a decent image scale need to aim for at least 3000mm focal length or f20 with my scope. Hence why i use a 2x barlow. I used to own the Explorer 200 and it worked well as planetary imager. But you need to boost the image scale with a high powered barlow. To get f20 with your scope you need a 4x barlow but a 3x barlow would suffice. You could get one of the following barlows to use with your Explorer 200:

TeleVue 3x = £50 secondhand

Antares 3x = from SnS for £35

Antares 5x = from SnS for £35

TeleVue Powermate 5x = £90 secondhand

I've owned the 3 of the above and would recommend all of them.

You could look at one of these:

BCF Imagemate 4x = £50 but i personally couldn't recommend it. Had one briefly and it was a poor by comparison to the other barlows mentioned.

Regards

Russ

[Caz]

Shows pure dedication being out a such an early hour, worth those frozen fingers and toes though Rus, shes a beauty... Well done! 8)

[Chubster]

Cheers for the info Rus. So with a 3x barlow that would make my toucam roughly equivalent to a 2mm EP, would I really be able to get good focus on that......really struggling now with the Toucam in a 2x barlow

cheers

Chubs

[russ]

Chubs, I just read your Saturn thread and the trouble you had with the barlow. Are you saying you physically can't get close to focus or just that you can't get a good sharp focus? I don't remember having any issues bringing the Toucam and barlow to focus. But i do remember having issues getting a good sharp focus :? I found the focuser was always working against me. It was sticky/stiff which made focus tricky. Best ever accessory I bought for the Explorer was the Skywatcher/Orion Accufocus add-on for the focuser. The motor in the Accufocus had anough Torque to move the focuser very slowly and very smoothly. It transformed the scope. And it was cheap!

This was my best image of Saturn with the Explorer and a 2x barlow.

[russ]

Oh btw try using the 2x resampling option in Registax to increase image scale. You need to have a reasonable of frames to stack but it does work well.

Russ

[GordonCopestake]

Fantastic shots Russ! Very impressive. It's interesting to see how the rings have closed since last season

[MartinB]

That's a superb shot Rus. Perfect scope for the job. Can make out Encke on that one. Nice banding as well without it looking over sharpened. Lovely image

[russ]

thanks for the comments Martin. If only i hada few more frames to play with

I've had a go at reprocessing the third image, not sure if i've improved or not?

[JohnC]

To my eyes there is an improvement in thet shot.

Well done Rus.

John

[Ant]

Those images are well worth the effort and cold toes / fingers mate.

Jst goes to prove what a good scope the Intes is. It looks like you've done a great job at the processing as well.

Nice one

Ant

[Jamie]

I do like those Saturn images Russ.

Spot on mate.

[daz]

Superb Russ!! Saturn has eluded me so far this season, but I WILL get it!!