A really tiny Saturn

[Newtophoto]

In case anyone was wondering about what Saturn will look like through an 80X600mm telescope I took a few pictures of it the other night. These are both roughly 100% crops. Still looks tiny, but the rings are visible. Right now the rings are turning on edge toward the Sun so they appear very thin. Soon they will be almost invisible. I will be trying my 900mm scope soon to see if I can do any better. I didn't catch any detail on the planet, nor did I expect to with only a single exposure. Pictures of planets are better left to stacked avi's with a tracking mount which I don't have at the moment.

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj397/rick0980/IMG_3863.jpg

I think I may have also captured the moon Titan in this image. To the right of Saturn. Didn't want to go above .6 sec exposures, due to increased noticeability(<Not sure if that's a word) of CA and trailing.

http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj397/rick0980/IMG_3859dpp.jpg

I know these are nothing special but considering Saturn is over 800 million miles away I'm still happy I can even see it at all. Thanks for looking.

[BSBXTi]

These are very cool!!! Thanks for posting them!!!

[Adrena1in]

Nice shots, it's a shame about the rings at the moment. I shot Saturn last year with my 1200mm scope, and also with 2X and 3X barlows, but I couldn't get much surface detail myself. Managed to see the split in the rings though. Was the first planet I ever properly observed, and what a great experience it is when you do that for the first time.

[HaroldC3]

How did you get that much detail? I tried with my 150x750mm scope, eye-piece projection and mine don't look as good as yours.

Here's my best shot taken last year.

[RadAL]

in the 2nd photo, whats that dot to the right?

[Newtophoto]

How did you get that much detail? I tried with my 150x750mm scope, eye-piece projection and mine don't look as good as yours.

Here's my best shot taken last year.

I think yours actually looks better. Maybe it's the way the rings are, IDK. Yours could use some noise reduction. Maybe up the blacks and increase the highlights to remove some of the noise. What camera did you use? What focal length eyepiece and lens? Also depends of what kind of glass you have in your scope itself. ED, flourite, etc. My scope contains one ED element to help with the color correction but it's still has CA. I think the main source of my CA is the eyepiece I use. It's not known for it's sharpness or color correction.

RadAl, the dot to the right of Saturn, in the second pic, I believe is one of Saturn's moons Titan(the biggest/most luminous one).

[Newtophoto]

If Mike Salway happens to read this, could you tell me what I need to achieve focus on my scope using prime focus. It's a Celestron 80ED, I think I remember reading you have the same scope. Do I need an extension tube? Thanks in advance for any help.

[jm4ever]

Awesome shots, thanks for sharing these.

[MidnightSun]

Not bad at all for what you did.:cool: Don't get discouraged, it only gets better.....My first shots with a tracking mount and a CCD camera weren't any better....Keep at it.;)

[Newtophoto]

Got a better one tonight. "Seeing" was a lot better than the other night. Actually caught a slight shadow from the ring. This will be my last attempt with this scope/lens combo (At least until the ring tilt changes). Can't go any higher with the magnification. Scope is at it's usable limit or beyond. Anyway here goes.
http://i553.photobucket.com/albums/jj397/rick0980/IMG_4090.jpg

[HaroldC3]

I think yours actually looks better. Maybe it's the way the rings are, IDK. Yours could use some noise reduction. Maybe up the blacks and increase the highlights to remove some of the noise. What camera did you use? What focal length eyepiece and lens?

I'm not sure what I used but maybe I'll try again tonight and see what I can get.