Uranus...

[Starman]

...oh ok - Saturn!

Here was a chilly first capture from this morning's run. Quite reasonable seeing in amongst the thin hazy cloud.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

I'd call that "all the way there" Pete. Stunning image.

BTW What's the CM I 179.5 bit at the side about?

Captain Chaos

[Starman]

Hi Captain,

Saturn, like Jupiter has zones of rotation. CM stands for central meridian and represents the longitude at which each of these zones is currently at. Basically it helps to show them so that any spots which appear on the image can be given a longitude. Here's a big hint for anyone who wants to look these things up (and loads more) - do a search on WINJupos. It's also free

[maroon bells]

That is stunning!! :shock:

[The Warthog]

Fabulous image!

[Andrew*]

Damn! I got all worked up for a "seventh planet" (would rather avoid using it's real name...) pic.

Seriously though. That's about as good as Saturn pics ever get. Thoroughly superior stuff.

Andrew

[maroon bells]

Can you add what equipment you use, I'm sure people would be interested to know?

[Starman]

Can you add what equipment you use, I'm sure people would be interested to know?

Erm - I always put this at the bottom of my images :?.

[Andrew*]

it's there MB at the bottom of the image. It's difficult to interpret (no offence, but how many people in Britain know what to make of "C14 @ f33, Lumenera SKYnyx 2-0M"??? All I know is that it's equipment I can't afford!

Andrew

[Starman]

It gets a bit tedious to write everything out in full but I would say that anyone who took images of the planets would know what the bits are. To clarify the C-14 is a Celestron C-14 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope. It has a native focal ratio of f/11 but here I've used a 3x Barlow to push this up to f/33. The Lumenera SKYnyx 2-0M is basically an industrial strength equivalent of a Toucam webcam. C-14s and C-11s are fairly commonly used for serious planetary imaging because they have good optics and long focal lengths. The C-14 has an aperture of 350mm (14") so f/33 means that it's working with an effective focal length of 11.55m.

[Andrew*]

Thanks Starman. I was wondering what the Lumenera was.

The C-14 has an aperture of 350mm (14") so f/33 means that it's working with an effective focal length of 11.55m.

That's impressive!!

Andrew

[maroon bells]

Sorry! I was looking for the info on the bottom of the post, I did'nt see it on the image. My eyes were too drawn to the fantastic pictures. It was very kind of you to go into all that detail anyway.

[Starman]

Not at all. I haven't been imaging with the C-14 for very long and sometimes forget to explain things. If there's anything you need to know about the image then please don't hesitate to ask.

[Kain]

And there was me thinking it was going to be Uranus!

Nice one Pete. I can only dream about getting images like that.

Kain

[SteelRat]

Superb as aways Pete. The rings look amazing.

The cloud bands are much more visible this year I think - and your pic shows em well.

Quality stuff 8)

[MartinB]

Beautiful Pete. Wonderful colour and detail with encke showing up clearly. I've tried to have a look at these Lumenera cameras. Where can I read about them/ who's selling them

[Starman]

Take a look at www.framos.co.uk Martin.

[MartinB]

I know I shouldn't but I will. Thanks Pete