Burnt out Saturn, with moons

[brianb]

Managed to get some images of Saturn last night: I have a processing backlog but here's an interesting one.

2011 Apr 08, 0048 UT. CPC1100, prime focus, UV/IR blocking filter, DMK21.

Heavily overexposed to show the satellites. Enceladus shows faintly just to the left of the rings. To the right, Tethys, Dione, Rhe and Titan. The faint object directly above the planet is a background star USNO J1253342-024530 mag. 11.85 according to "Starry Night Pro".

Stack of 100 from 300 x 1 sec exposures, maximum gain.

[russ]

very interesting photo of the moons Brian. I take it the disk sizes are due to overexposure rather than their actual relative sizes?

[brianb]

I take it the disk sizes are due to overexposure rather than their actual relative sizes?

Yes ... my kit is just about capable of showing that Titan is not a point but there would be no chance of seeing any of the other moons as anything other than a starlike point & naturally no chance of seeing any detail on Titan.

[brianb]

And here are my definitive Saturn images for the night.

2011 Apr 08, 0018 - 0022 UT. Celestron CPC 1100, prime focus, Astronomik type 2c colour seperation filters, DMK21 camera. Red channel used for luminance. 150% resize.

2011 Apr 08, 0031 UT. Celestron CPC 1100, prime focus, Astronomik Planet Pro 742 IR pass filter, DMK21 camera. 150% resize.

There seems to be something going on in the NTZ....

[bigal1]

Superb set of images well done

[AztecastroMcJ]

Hi Brian nice collection of pics, hope u dont mind me posting this

but i've taken interest in Saturn's Moons recently and was out capturing last night too, was a nice line up

all 8 main moons were visible but i only managed 6/8

was trying to get Hyperion esp as it was in a favourable position

and i thought it was noticeable just on capture but stacking has revealed nothing, but i think u have got it ?

think mimas being so close to rings meant it was very hard to see aswell ?

anyway i use stellarium and winjupos to check positions and the star u mention isn't showing on stellarium ?

also u may have got Iapetus as it wasn't too far away either

see pics taken by me and winjupos simulation a hr or 2 after yours

any thoughts appreciated, thx for posting

James

[brianb]

was trying to get Hyperion esp as it was in a favourable position

and i thought it was noticeable just on capture but stacking has revealed nothing, but i think u have got it ?

Hyperion seems to be easiest when it's near elongation & Titan is nearby to act as a pointer. But it's really hard - unless you can get the planet out of the field the glare makes it impossible to see a mag. 14 object! The object I've recorded is a field star which is at least a couple of magnitudes brighter than Hyperion! Mimas was easy for me last year but the extra glare from the rings has made it harder this year.

Iapetus is no problem to me, my image missed it because it didn't fit into the small field of view.

[brianb]

Here's my effort at using a barlow ... my "1.5x" actually gives closer to 2x & deteriorating seeing meant it wasn't very successful. Only the red channel was good enough to use & even that is very little if any better than the prime focus image. Still, I've managed to capture the crepe ring fairly successfully.

2011 Apr 08, 0057 UT. CPC 1100, 1.5x barlow, Astronomik red colour seperation filter, DMK21.

Transparency good, seeing moderate with significnt boiling. Temp +03C; wind calm; baro 1030 mb, steady.

[Newfie]

What mount are you using with your cpc 1100 ! I have recently bought one with original mount and wondered if it was suitable for any astro pics etc !!

[brianb]

What mount are you using with your cpc 1100 !

The altaz fork mount that came with it. It's OK for unguided short exposures.