Saturn at Opposition 2014

The early hours of the 25th of May dawned clear and transparent, so out I tiptoed into our backyard taking care not to wake our neighbours and four of our grandchildren who were sound asleep upstairs in our house.

Having tested my new power supply in daylight, I was pleased to connect my mount in the dark and find it up and working.

Carrying out my telescope tube, eyepieces, cameras, laptop and all the other bits and pieces in complete darkness and silence is quite a skill!

I quickly located and identified Saturn low above my southern horizon and realised that I would have to work fast as Saturn was soon to be lost behind our holly tree. Luckily, my camera and laptop functioned efficiently and I quickly captured a number of avi-clips.


I processed the video clips using the software: PIPP, AutoStakkert, Registax 6 and Photoshop.

The top image shows Saturn more or less as I saw it through the eyepiece of my Meade 127mm Apo refracting telescope. I was pleased that my image has recorded both the shadow of the rings on the surface of the planet and the shadow of the planet on the rings. There is also a hint of the hexagonal storm at Saturn's North Pole. The dark Cassini Division separating Saturn's A and B rings is very obvious in this image.

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Saturn&Display=Rings

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Saturn

The composite image 'Saturn's Seasons' shows how, over the last three years, the angle at which we view Saturn from Earth has changed. In 2014 Saturn's Rings have 'opened out' as we view them less obliquely.

What is also both obvious and pleasing, is that the quality of my images has improved significantly since 2012.  I think we can put this down to; improved kit (it never hurts throwing more money at a problem) and to some improvement in my astro skills both at the telescope and in post capture processing.

Thanks for all the advice I have gained from Stargazers Lounge, and the magazines: 'The Sky at Night' and 'Astronomy Now'.

My best  image