Saturn and Moons

BubbleTelescope

BubbleTelescope

Active Member
I was encouraged to post this photo here on Focal World, so here it is, my first post!

This photo arises from a long imaging session on the morning of August 19th, 2023. I took 40 minutes of video, stacked it, derotated it, and then made an exact copy but with the gamma turned wayyyyy up to bring out the moons. I masked out everything but the moons and then layered it onto the first photo and added the labels. What you see is the final result.

Special Thanks to Jim Fox

1000011893.png


1000011893.png


Equipment:

12" Dobsonian Telescope
TeleVue 2.5x Powermate
ZWO ASI224MC
ASIAIR
PIPP
AutoStakkert
Register
Topaz DeNoise AI
Photoshop
 
JimFox

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
Welcome Josh! It's really awesome to have you join us.

This view of Saturn is a view I hope to capture in the next year or so. Right now I don't have a long enough scope, so that will hold me up for a while. But in the meantime I am soaking up work like yours. If I can pick up tips and tidbits by viewing, perhaps the transition from wide field Astro to planetary won't be as hard as I have read.
 
BubbleTelescope

BubbleTelescope

Active Member
Thank you for the warm welcome. If you or anyone else has any questions about planetary astrophotography, I'd be happy to try to answer them as best as I can.
 
Mike Lewis

Mike Lewis

Staff Member
Well, THAT is the way to introduce yourself to the group! That is a killer composite image, lovely to see and thanks for the info on how you made it happen for those of us (myself definitely included) who are Planetary Imaging newbies. Just stunning to see details on both the disk of Saturn and all those wonderful moons. How long have you been imaging the planets? Very inspirational stuff.

I image remotely here in Colorado with my gear down at a friend's house in AZ, and as such it is a bigger deal for me to get my gear configuration changed over to shoot planetary so as of yet I really have not tried it out much, but I would like to. I have an Edge 9.25 and I think a 1.5x barlow that I would pair with an as of yet unpurchased 585C based OSC. That type of setup would get me to the theoretical 5x value of pixel size for my f number.

Anyway, great to 'meet' you and welcome to FocalWorld! You are going to love it here. Lots of great and helpful folks with constructive feedback for you or looking to learn from some of your expertise.

ML
 
BubbleTelescope

BubbleTelescope

Active Member
Mike Lewis said:
Well, THAT is the way to introduce yourself to the group! That is a killer composite image, lovely to see and thanks for the info on how you made it happen for those of us (myself definitely included) who are Planetary Imaging newbies. Just stunning to see details on both the disk of Saturn and all those wonderful moons. How long have you been imaging the planets? Very inspirational stuff.

I image remotely here in Colorado with my gear down at a friend's house in AZ, and as such it is a bigger deal for me to get my gear configuration changed over to shoot planetary so as of yet I really have not tried it out much, but I would like to. I have an Edge 9.25 and I think a 1.5x barlow that I would pair with an as of yet unpurchased 585C based OSC. That type of setup would get me to the theoretical 5x value of pixel size for my f number.

Anyway, great to 'meet' you and welcome to FocalWorld! You are going to love it here. Lots of great and helpful folks with constructive feedback for you or looking to learn from some of your expertise.

ML
Click to expand...
Thank you for the warm welcome Mike! I've been doing planetary imaging for just shy of a decade now, and it's been a long but fun & fulfilling road. The idea of imagining remotely sounds amazing and I almost have enough equipment to be able to run everything from inside my house.

A 1.5x Barlow will give you about the same FL as I'm getting with my 2.5x. The 585 at that Focal Length will oversample - something you WANT to do with Planetary Astrophotography. My understanding is that's a big no-no with DSOs, but the modern advice for Planetary is that you can go all the way down to .1 in excellent seeing!! I currently have an ASI224MC with a pixel size of 2.9, and I really plan on pushing the limits with a 678MC (in the mail!) and it's 2.0 pixel size. I will let you know how things turn out 😁

Anyway thanks again for the warm welcome, and I look forward to being part of this community. Here's to clear skies and good luck!

-Josh
 
Mike Lewis

Mike Lewis

Staff Member
BubbleTelescope said:
Thank you for the warm welcome Mike! I've been doing planetary imaging for just shy of a decade now, and it's been a long but fun & fulfilling road. The idea of imagining remotely sounds amazing and I almost have enough equipment to be able to run everything from inside my house.

A 1.5x Barlow will give you about the same FL as I'm getting with my 2.5x. The 585 at that Focal Length will oversample - something you WANT to do with Planetary Astrophotography. My understanding is that's a big no-no with DSOs, but the modern advice for Planetary is that you can go all the way down to .1 in excellent seeing!! I currently have an ASI224MC with a pixel size of 2.9, and I really plan on pushing the limits with a 678MC (in the mail!) and it's 2.0 pixel size. I will let you know how things turn out 😁

Anyway thanks again for the warm welcome, and I look forward to being part of this community. Here's to clear skies and good luck!

-Josh
Click to expand...
Josh,

Thanks for the excellent info - great to have another planetary imaging expert in the fold here at FW. You will have to exchange notes with @chuckp who is a very accomplished planetary and solar imager here, as well as being an all around nice guy who has been very helpful to many of us in regards to understanding the nuances of planetary imaging.

Will look forward to more cool stuff from you in the future!

ML
 
BlackRockArt

BlackRockArt

Staff
BubbleTelescope said:
I was encouraged to post this photo here on Focal World, so here it is, my first post!

This photo arises from a long imaging session on the morning of August 19th, 2023. I took 40 minutes of video, stacked it, derotated it, and then made an exact copy but with the gamma turned wayyyyy up to bring out the moons. I masked out everything but the moons and then layered it onto the first photo and added the labels. What you see is the final result.

Special Thanks to Jim Fox

View attachment 64779

View attachment 64779

Equipment:

12" Dobsonian Telescope
TeleVue 2.5x Powermate
ZWO ASI224MC
ASIAIR
PIPP
AutoStakkert
Register
Topaz DeNoise AI
Photoshop
Click to expand...
Josh, welcome to Focal world !

Love the final shots.

PS: I name my hard drives with Jupiter and Saturn's moons.

Oliver
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom