Saturn July 1 2018: Well it's just past opposition and I finally had a fairly good seeing night. This was shot with my 8" Schmidt and Celestron 236C imager. I use the ICAP capture...

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Well it's just past opposition and I finally had a fairly good seeing night.
This was shot with my 8" Schmidt and Celestron 236C imager.
I use the ICAP capture software that came with the camera and find it to be very easy to tweak on the fly.
I was actually able to see the ring division last night for a time and shot a pretty large video.
At least it was large for me.
5 minutes and change giving me a 23990 frame file to work with.
I boasted and tweaked after stacking 10% in Autostakker2 so none of the file info is valid.
Wavelets were adjusted in Registax6 and post tweaks in Photoshop CC 2018.
I have a bit of chromatic atmosphere coloring going on but it is what it is.
Still playing and trying different things.
Jim

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Uncropped and at the native image size.

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J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

Well it's just past opposition and I finally had a... (show quote)

Nice images.

alberio Loc: Casa Grande AZ

Nice images. Looks like you have pretty steady seeing there.

gekko11 Loc: Las Cruces NM

Wow ! just wow!

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

J-SPEIGHT wrote:

Nice images.

Thank you.
Seeing kept coming and going but I managed to get 5 decent video streams.
By the time Mars came up, all I could do was try to focus on edges.. No detail visible at all.
Another morning I suppose.
Jim

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

alberio wrote:

Nice images. Looks like you have pretty steady seeing there.

Thank you very much.
Seeing was fair early on shooting Jupiter, got much better for Saturn and went to the dogs for Mars.
A mixed bag but I did get some decent video to work with.
Jim

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

gekko11 wrote:

Wow ! just wow!

Thank you very much.
Are you starting to see relief from the smoke yet?
I want to make a trip to the VLA for some night Milky Way but the weather hasn't been right when I have days off.
Soon I hope.
Jim

gekko11 Loc: Las Cruces NM

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

Thank you very much.
Are you starting to see relief from the smoke yet?
I want to make a trip to the VLA for some night Milky Way but the weather hasn't been right when I have days off.
Soon I hope.
Jim

most of the smoke has cleared ,there's a fire nearby north of san augustine pass that almost came over the mountain , I got some shots from my yard.
Last year I went out to the VLA for some night shots and security ran us off , said no-one is allowed in the vicinity without express written permision, they could not tell me who to get permision from. I would sure like to find out what needs to be done to go out there for milky way shots !
Steve

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DickC Loc: NE Washington state

A very nice capture, good job and thanks for sharing!!

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

gekko11 wrote:

most of the smoke has cleared ,there's a fire nearby north of san augustine pass that almost came over the mountain , I got some shots from my yard.
Last year I went out to the VLA for some night shots and security ran us off , said no-one is allowed in the vicinity without express written permision, they could not tell me who to get permision from. I would sure like to find out what needs to be done to go out there for milky way shots !
Steve

I’ve set up a few times in the gravel lot by the VLA sign without issues. I kept expecting security to run me off but they never have. Barring that I setup by the rest area where the tracks cross the freeway and sometimes they have a dish there just for me.

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

DickC wrote:

A very nice capture, good job and thanks for sharing!!

Thank you very much.
Jim

stepping beyond Loc: usa eastcoast

Stunner Jim, you've got some awesome data as I can see Tweak away . I 'm getting nothing but, heat and clouds with popups almost everyday . I need a miracle?

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

stepping beyond wrote:

Stunner Jim, you've got some awesome data as I can see Tweak away . I 'm getting nothing but, heat and clouds with popups almost everyday . I need a miracle?

Thank you very much.
I feel your pain.
We are starting to get the monsoon pattern setup without the rain.
Heat in the mid to upper 90’s and some humidity. I am showing clouds for the next 7 days. I’ll have to hope for holes here as well.
Hang in there. Weather is pretty fickle.
Jim

northcoast42 Loc: Puget Sound, Washington

Great shots Jim. Really nice, crisp and sharp. I wish I was as far south as you. Saturn is crossing at about 20 degrees max above the horizon from the Puget Sound. I'll have to wait a few years before Saturn gets high enough in the sky for great imaging opportunities.

Albuqshutterbug wrote:

Well it's just past opposition and I finally had a... (show quote)