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quicksimon — Saturn 26.1.07

Published: 2007-01-29 23:26:22 +0000 UTC; Views: 1507; Favourites: 33; Downloads: 34
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Description Might sound a bit crazy but this image is best seen with the large view and if you stand a coupe of feet from the screen

The awesomeness of gas, rock and ice never ceases to amaze me! Saturn is a mass of gas and liquid and with a composition dominated by hydrogen is the least dense of all the planets. If there were an ocean big enough, Saturn would float. Saturn’s rings consist of separate pieces of dirty water ice that follow in individual orbits around the planet.

Well, I tried to image this beauty a few weeks ago when the planet was still quite low down. As a result, it was like looking through water at times, and made getting a half-decent image very difficult. So, as there were a few gaps in the clouds on Friday 26th, after a night out, I thought I’d give it a go. Conditions were much better, but were still far from perfect. Still pleased that the cassini division can be seen, along with the different coloured bands on the planet.

I hope that as Saturn gets closer over the coming weeks, as I get used to Registax and if the conditions get better, I’ll improve on this one.

Image details:

C9.25 scope with 3x Barlow
2 minute AVI captured with Atik 2c camera and K3CCD Tools (I thought 2 mins was quite a lot until I read someone on the uk astro imaging forum used a 15 minute AVI!!
Registax 3 used to stack the best approximately 450 frames and tweak wavelets
Levels decreased slightly.
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Comments: 39

DarkRaven1 [2007-11-14 11:07:50 +0000 UTC]

Awesome pic bud, as always

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TopARO [2007-05-23 20:33:40 +0000 UTC]

wow

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quicksimon In reply to TopARO [2007-05-23 22:16:20 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much for your wow!!

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AyaneShinobi [2007-02-07 22:54:25 +0000 UTC]

Wow, what a great shot of Saturn! I still find that you are lucky to be able to see it through a telescope. Have you seen Mars lately? It has looked very crimson lately, instead of the usual soft red glow. It looks neat. Can you see Mars well through your telescope?

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quicksimon In reply to AyaneShinobi [2007-02-07 23:35:31 +0000 UTC]

Hey! Thanks very much!! I haven't seen mars in a while. I think you have to be around really earlt to see it now. It will be better in a few months A year ago, when mars was pretty close, I had a look with a smaller scope than I have now and I could see the dark features , but no polar caps as it was martian summer in that region then. This picture was taken with my new scope which is good for the planets- when the conditions are good, the air has to be really steady. So I can't wait to capture mars and jupiter with it. Jupiter is going to be low down this year, so it won't look great Not sure how high mars will be, the higher the better as there's less atmosphere to look through. Take care star gazer

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secret1 [2007-02-06 21:25:14 +0000 UTC]

thats is fantastic! welldone simon im amazed, look^ you can see the coloured bands and everything!

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Larah88 [2007-02-06 05:12:51 +0000 UTC]

Amazing shot!

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quicksimon In reply to Larah88 [2007-02-06 11:28:48 +0000 UTC]

Thanks a lot and thanks for the too

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Larah88 In reply to quicksimon [2007-02-08 06:47:58 +0000 UTC]

You are very welcome

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FoxMaq [2007-02-04 11:54:06 +0000 UTC]

Nice work!

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quicksimon In reply to FoxMaq [2007-02-06 00:01:15 +0000 UTC]

Thanks a lot mate!!

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Darksamu [2007-02-01 22:21:52 +0000 UTC]

Amazing picture! We've recently got a telescope, and we were overjoyed to be able to see Saturn's rings. Nothing as stunning as this, but the sight is still beautiful to behold in real life.

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TerraRhapsody [2007-02-01 02:22:07 +0000 UTC]

wow! awesome pic. nicely defined

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TerraRhapsody [2007-01-31 23:39:59 +0000 UTC]

wow! awesome pic. nicely defined

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uNiverSus88 [2007-01-31 18:39:01 +0000 UTC]

fantastic ! wonderful ! amazing ! impressive !

respect dude

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quicksimon In reply to uNiverSus88 [2007-01-31 23:15:16 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much!!!! I'm really glad I can show these images to someone like-minded and as enthusiastic as me about the heavens
Take it easy m8!

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RyuuseiShinda [2007-01-31 15:41:36 +0000 UTC]

soo awesome! wonderful shot

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quicksimon In reply to RyuuseiShinda [2007-01-31 23:15:56 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much Megan!!!!!!

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christfirst [2007-01-31 03:37:02 +0000 UTC]

Well done!!

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quicksimon In reply to christfirst [2007-01-31 23:22:43 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much!!!

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christfirst In reply to quicksimon [2007-01-31 23:26:33 +0000 UTC]

Your welcome

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Hector42 [2007-01-31 02:53:49 +0000 UTC]

Very nice capture!
I've read your reply to Dunadan's comment, deconvolution is for removing the blurry effect of bad seeing.

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Kokone [2007-01-30 18:54:31 +0000 UTC]

Nice -big- capture! I know IRIS has a new feature which can give quite sharp results from an unsharp image, but that's only possible with RAW files, so no AVI files...
Anyway, just jealous because you got clear skies

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quicksimon In reply to Kokone [2007-01-31 23:39:19 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much!!! I've got the C9.25 now, so the longer focal length is great for bigger images of the planets I'm going to try Iris, thanks. Processing of the AVI can be done in registax and then the stacked image can be tweaked in IRIS. What do you reckon? I think registax give the option of tiffs but not RAW. Will a 16 bit tiff do the trick?
Cheers

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Kokone In reply to quicksimon [2007-02-01 18:33:44 +0000 UTC]

Iris can work with TIFF, but the main job is done with PIC files, quite heavy stuff, as your workfolder can get at least a few GB big...but that's for stacking in iris. One image is no problem. [link] (hope your french is still good )

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Shir-Olorna [2007-01-30 14:17:00 +0000 UTC]

I always watch the sky, and I see a big star. I think it's Mars, one day in TV have been said, that the Mars is more closer Earth than before

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Dunadan-from-Bag-End [2007-01-30 10:06:04 +0000 UTC]

nice capture! have you tried some more severe deconvolution? maybe you can gain more sharpness?

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quicksimon In reply to Dunadan-from-Bag-End [2007-01-30 11:39:16 +0000 UTC]

Thanks m8! I've not tried deconvolution ever. I'm willing to give it a go though! I remember Sven suggested it to me. Not sure it will help with this one though, as the seeing conditions were not great. Any idea of any software I can download. I'll have a quick google now.

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Dunadan-from-Bag-End In reply to quicksimon [2007-01-31 15:06:44 +0000 UTC]

'Iris' - is very good, free, and on the webpage of this programme there is giant manual so everything is described very well - decnolution there is easy even for me I don't use it anyway because of my veeerrryyy slllooowww computer :/
Try it!
It's here: [link] - look at the foto 'before/after'

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quicksimon In reply to Dunadan-from-Bag-End [2007-01-31 23:22:23 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much mate! I've actually downloaded a IRIS before. I've used it on a wide-field milkyway image with lots of light pollution. I was very impressed with the results! Didn't know decon was on it too. I've got so many programmes running around my head at the moment. I'll be looking into IRIS very soon, as it is very good. Hey man, if you ever want any RAW images or planet AVI's to have a go at tweaking yourself, let me know. I can send th large files via 'YOU SEND IT'
Cheers

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Dunadan-from-Bag-End In reply to quicksimon [2007-02-01 12:43:24 +0000 UTC]

well, as I said my comp is really slow so any twaeaking is impossible ( I mean huge files or a stack of images )... that's also why I decided not to loose time on astrophoto - at leats not now, maybe in future. I want to concentrate on birdphotos
Anyway thanks and I'm witing for results!

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Tyran-T-Briggs [2007-01-30 03:21:34 +0000 UTC]

Lucky bastard with clear skies. I'm over here getting ass-raped by snow, and you've got clear skies.

Good shot of one of the greats, though. Loving it.

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quicksimon In reply to Tyran-T-Briggs [2007-01-30 11:42:40 +0000 UTC]

Ha ha! Thanks man Don't feel too jealous. The last few months over here has seen nothing but clouds, except the odd couple of clear nights. I can recall 2 sessions in weeks! One was clear all night, and this session, it was 50% clouds. I was taking pictures as saturn poked through the gaps

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saphoto [2007-01-30 02:43:06 +0000 UTC]

Great shot, good luck on the upcoming photographs! I hope you'll have clear skies then...

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quicksimon In reply to saphoto [2007-01-31 23:36:01 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much mate!! I've got my fingers crossed

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subearanhuman [2007-01-30 01:28:03 +0000 UTC]

that's amazing you could capture it at all from here!

did you happen to see the pictures published in magazines of the two new outer rings that were discovered from the cassini mission. amazing!

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subearanhuman [2007-01-30 01:27:55 +0000 UTC]

that's amazing you could capture it at all from here!

did you happen to see the pictures published in magazines of the two new outer rings that were discovered from the cassini mission. amazing!

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quicksimon In reply to subearanhuman [2007-01-31 23:34:50 +0000 UTC]

Thanks a lot!

I do remember something about that. Also the discovery of new small moons hovering over the rings! Love the planets. Especially Jupiter! It's going to be low-down again this summer, so it won't be good for viewing and imaging Gotta wait another 10 months or so for mars. What's interesting about saturn is the gradual tilit of its rings. Notice on my avatar- although it is the other way round- the top of saturn can't be seen, and on ths image it's poking through behind the rings. In 2009 the rings will be exactly side on from our perspective and won't be seen. How crazy is that?!!!!!!! Time for a new avatar I think

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subearanhuman In reply to quicksimon [2007-02-01 11:11:38 +0000 UTC]

indeedly so.
i heard that one of the rings that was recently discovered is actually ice being sprayed off of one of the newely found moons. enough to make a ring, but barely enough to be seen unless the sun's behind it

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