| Image Links | |
| Published image | Full resolution |
| Annotated image | Full resolution |
| Target Information | |
| Main Target Designation(s) | Saturn |
| Companion Object(s) | High latitude storm |
| All Exposures | |
| Date(s) of acquisition | 2018Jul24 at 05:25UT |
| Location | Defiance, MO |
| Capture resolution | 640x480 |
| Target Altitude | 26.3° |
| Luminance Exposures | |
| Total capture | 3376 x 53.3ms at 62% gain |
| Stack source | 25% of 720" video at 18 fps (avg) |
| Red Exposures | |
| Total capture | 1000 x 142.4ms at 62% gain |
| Stack source | 1000 frames of 600" video at 7 fps (avg) |
| Green Exposures | |
| Total capture | 750 x 217.7ms at 62% gain |
| Stack source | 750 frames of 450" video at 4 fps (avg) |
| Blue Exposures | |
| Total capture | 750 x 264.7ms at 62% gain |
| Stack source | 750 frames of 450" video at 3 fps (avg) |
| Equipment | |
| Imager | ZWO ASI174MM |
| Filters | ZWO 1.25" RGB |
| Telescope/Lens | Celestron C14 XLT SCT |
| Magnifiers | Tele Vue 2x Powermate |
| Correctors | ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector |
| Effective Focal Length | 7820mm (f/22) |
| Mount | Celestron CGE Pro |
| Focuser | Moonlite 2.5" CSL |
| Software | |
| Acquisition | FireCapture 2.5 |
| Guiding | None |
| Processing | AutoStakkert 3, Registax 6, WinJUPOS 10, PixInsight 1.8 |
Aiming to improve on my previous Saturn, I set out this time with a plan to acquire longer color videos (between 450" and 600" as compared to 90") and also take a long set of luminance data (720") to use as true luminance instead of relying on the red exposures to provide the detail. The added data used in combination with a lower gain has resulted in more noiseless frames, while the shorter exposure lengths of the luminance data resulted in "beating the atmospheric seeing" a little better. The result: My best Saturn yet... and a surprise!
High in the northern hemisphere in this shot is a bright streak. This unanticipated feature is a massive storm! With Saturn's diameter coming in at about 9.5x that of Earth's, it's a pretty easy estimate to say that this storm is larger than our own planet. It's a good thing though -- any smaller and it'd be a lot tougher for me to act as a meteorologist from 750 million miles.
As Saturn begins to sink lower into the evening sky, I feel pretty comfortable marking this image as my Saturnian prize for the season. Next up are more Mars attempts!
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