Saturn 15th March-good seeing

[johnh]

SPX350 F34.7, PGRFlea3, Astrodon filters, 1438hrs UT.

Seeing was misty with cloud patches and slow moving but detail in red filter looked really good at times but seeing would deteriorate. Managed to steal a decent set before permanent cloud came in, so am pleased as result is better than day before but green and blue let it down somewhat. Storm shape seems to be changing from 3 weeks ago when I last imaged this.

Thanks, John.

[SkyJamie]

Awesome picture John, the detail and colour is brilliant

All the best

Jamie

[neil phillips]

I just love the detail, brightness, and lack of grain. Only big scopes can have it all on saturn at the moment i think. No artifacts, nothing, just smooth detail. so natural John. class.

[bigal1]

Superb image John a wealth of detail there

[rawhead]

Wow

An amazing pic

You can clearly trace the Cassini all the way round....

Very impressed.

Cheers

[astroimpulse]

Superb. Focused super well too.

[callisto]

Exellent, well done

[Space Cowboy]

Thats pretty tasty!

[shallowskies]

Amazing. Great image.

[astroman001]

Great image, love the smooth detail. Was that RGB or IR RGB? Do you re focus between filters, especially IR to R?

Best regards

Peter

[oldfruit]

Now that one is a bit special, and the detail is amazing on the disc and the rings.

[johnh]

Thanks for comments, just to remind some of you I am in Brisbane where Saturn reaches 67deg alt so a little easier than you guys in the UK.

Thanks Peter, this is RGB, I find seeing has to be vgood for IR to work well. I don't refocus between filters but occassionally I find Blue needs a tweak.

Thanks again, John.

[King]

Excellent Saturn. One of the recent best I've seen around, and you caught the storm.

[neil phillips]

Thanks for comments, just to remind some of you I am in Brisbane where Saturn reaches 67deg alt so a little easier than you guys in the UK.

Thanks Peter, this is RGB, I find seeing has to be vgood for IR to work well. I don't refocus between filters but occassionally I find Blue needs a tweak.

Thanks again, John.

Im Glad Peter asked that question, its something ive been wondering about, i think Mike salway, might tweak focus between colours ( might just be blue), Blue is so bad in the uk it would be hard to tell if it needed re focusiing. and the time aspect doesnt make re focussing desirable. But im sure if its being done by some guys, they have already got into the habit of how much to focus, what side ect, and probably just move a tiny bit. I think Mike salway actaully watches the improvement on screen, Which seems remarkable to me, under pressure of time. But i guess once youve learned how much to re focus it becomes second nature.

Johns results suggest it doesnt need a lot of tweaking to me. Maybe scope and filter differences can affect this im not sure. My Astronomiks seem pretty even on all 3. But i thought thats what Mike uses. Maybe higher elevation makes the difference easier to see in Oz than here. But ive not experimented and maybe i should ?

Your comments about IR surprise me John, as Riks Shots seem to consistently pull more ( and sharper frames ) out. under poor seeing. the RGB cassini, and IR cassini seem miles apart. So that surprises me John, i wonder why this is ? cant fault the RGBs though, totally un forced natural, sharp detail.

[frewi808]

Again, a nice recording John !!

[johnh]

Thanks everyone.

Tweaking focus between filters is done by some, I have an electric focuser and a brief reflex press of the in or out button after practicing brings the Cassini back for the blue, sometimes green needs a tweak but mostly not. I found using a 5xPowermate vs a TVx3 vs the 2xPM+2xCultima require different tweaks for filters mostly blue. The best seeing usually means I dont fiddle with focus. Seeing can alter during the RGB run too.

The 5xPM is mostly pretty good but I will tweak after starting the avi as image remains still and improvement can be seen or corrected if made worse. Regarding parfocal aspect Astronomik filters were much worse and demanded tweaks, the Astrodons are excellent.

Clouded out till Sun/Mon here.

[neil phillips]

Thats something that has been hard for me to study John, with both jupiter and saturn so low this year, if thats your observation of the Astronomiks maybe when jupiter is higher i will experiment with the rgbs to see what tweaking does between channels, might even be worth trying to do this on saturn, but its really hard to tell so might make things worse. i dont know. but thanks for the input. Something to think about there. just waiting here too. fot the damm clouds to clear

[astroman001]

Interesting discussion, My Pro 742 IR filter has just arrived, so I will soon know, clouds permitting that is. I agree that from what I have seen IR is less affected by the atmospheric turbulence, which is why I bought one. Soon find out...........

regards

Peter