Saturn and Mars images

Hi,
In an uncharacteristic fit of insomnia, I was up till all hours on Saturday night / Sunday morning, while observing I went for an image of Saturn and Mars.
The thermometer read -4.1c, the dew on the inside and outside of the dome hemisphere was frozen solid, it was like been inside a freezer!


6th Jan, 5.55am Sunday morning, 12"LX200 + 2x barlow + toucam pro (webcam).
The rings have seriously closed since last April, seeing the cassini division is getting difficult.
The Saturn image is a stack of 350 frames out of 3000, the seeing was good but I had to use 5fps to get it bright enough to register correctly with the webcam, the 25fps was very sharp but too faint to result in a good image in registax. I'm just not able to get a big image scale and a high frame rate with this camera, if I could have used a higher frame rate the image would be alot sharper, 5fps kills subtle detail due to seeing.
ah well....
Anyone within 30 miles of me wanna try their Luminera or DMK camera out on this scope is more then welcome to drop me a PM. :lol:



6th Jan, 4.39am Sunday morning, 12"LX200 + 2x barlow + toucam pro.
This mars image is 312 frames out of 2500 frames, the seeing at this time was not good, I tried to get a bigger image scale but could not get it without bringing in alot of graininess. I suppose its fairly representative of what most people see of Mars through a scope.
I don't know what it is but it always looks to me that Mars should show alot more detail then it does.

You can see the polar cap just about at the 1 o'clock position and Mare Sirenum and Mare Cimmerium (the dark areas).
Here is an image from Mars previewer for the same time.

Mars previewer doesn't seem to tilt the planet, in this representation it gives the equator dead on where as the actual image seems to show alot more of the northern polar area like it is tilted towards us.

Hi dave,

i like the saturn image i got a great look at it saturday night it was beautifull....would of loved to take a pic of what i saw

Hi Dave,

Well done two great results. The images are nice and sharp and very well processed. The rings have closed dramatically on Saturn all right. I'm Planning on bringing my Cameras to the Galway star party both the Luminera and Atic so If we have power and the Weather who knows.

I admire your dedication Dave. Great pics. Well worth the sleepless night.

Thanks for the kind words lads.

I'm Planning on bringing my Cameras to the Galway both tae Luminera and Atic so If we have power and the Weather who knows.

Ahh the luminera, that would floor anything the toucam could capture. !

Well done Dave!
You're new nickname should be Iceman!


Excellent images there.
The Cassini division is very much gone alright and
your shots prove that.
I wonder what Saturn will be like to image when the rings are nearly dead on.
(am I right in saying they will not appear 100% dead on to us?)
That could make for some interesting images all the same.

Lovely crisp image of Mars.
The colour is excelent and there is a real 3D sence to the shot.
Is that a slight phase beginning on the western limb (as we look at the image)?