Mars is on the wane while Saturn is on the rise, images

Hi All,
I was out again last night until 2.30 when the clouds rolled in, all the same it was a grand night with many objects to be seen. I've been keeping an eye on Mars and Saturn, here is a pic of each from last night.


www.irishastronomy.org/user_resources/fi...saturn_19-12-2b7.jpg


www.irishastronomy.org/user_resources/fi...2-mars_19-12-1f3.jpg

The saturn is 1900 frames stacked in registax, I used the 12" SCT + 2x barlow and I also did abit of processing in photoshop. This is an uncropped image with the webcam, so you can see how much of the FOV it took, the seeing was average, the belt details are not that prominent, also flakes of dirt of the barlow shows up as artifacts in the image, I didnt know they were there until afterwards. The image is abit grainy as believe it or not, the image was faint in the webcam !

The Mars image clearly shows the gibbious phase, and just how small the globe is getting, detail was harder to see, this time next month it will be well past it. I was unable to get a "2x barlow" image of it as the clouds rolled in before I got a chance. 600 frames were stacked in order to get this.

Those are FANTASTIC Dave!!! :shock:

Nice images Dave.

I'm no expert on imaging technology, but I think that Saturn shot is excellent.

Johnno

As per usual Dave...............no more to say
Charles

Lovely shot of Saturn Dave. I don;t see any dust artifacts on my monitor - did you process them out? And you're right, thats some FOV :shock:

And I thought you'd be imaging some galaxies... I bagged five of them by the way...

Cheers

Dave

Love them Dave! Can even spy Saturn through its rings! Well done!