Saturn 29th April

Hi Guy, thanks for all the kind comments.

Dave, yeah for sure going to do a comparison with the Philips Webcam on the next clear night, but as this was my first real attempt with my new camera I needed to play with settings and to get to know it.

Aubrey,
Thanks for noticing the faded hex pattern I captured albeit barely visible, this is what I was hoping to achieve with this run of images.

Neil,
Yeah I think this a very capable camera, considering Saturn just barely clears my neighbour’s rooftop and my collimation was not spot on. See two new photos below. I collimated my scope on Arcturus and notice afterwards that I was slightly off.
New photos a bit more colour I hope you like.
Thanks for looking
Tony

Wow, I'm really impressed with this cameras performance, that's a great saturn image you captured with it, welldone !

That's an impressive little camera! I was thinking of saving up for a DMK but I'll have to give one of these serious consideration.

Thanks Dave/Albert,

Albert, Yeah I considered getting a DMK camera myself for some time but after a little research I decided on the ASI120MC colour as it is about half the price. I really wanted a mono version but with limited sky conditions and the added expense of filters and filter wheel I opted for the colour version but may consider a mono version later as I really like this camera.

In an earlier post I may have muddled up and got confused with some information regarding hex being imaged from land based scopes. I have edited and deleted where I got confused.

Here is a batch from 5th May, poor seeing maybe less than 2 out of 5.
Four images showing a very rough comparison of ASI 120mc and a Philips 900spc.
Scope 200mm Newt, 2 taken with Meade 3x barlow and 2 with Televue 5x powermate
Nothing scientific or very accurate, times and setting are all as close as I can get and all limited by my own lack of skills in processing and everything else.

1st image Philips 900spc 3x barlow10fps , 180 seconds=1800frames

2nd Image Asi120mc 3x barlow34fps, 180 seconds = 6000 frames

3rd image Philips 5x powermate 5fps 120 seconds=600 frames (very hard to focus and adjust colour jumping all over the place)

4th image ASI120mc 5x power mate 33fps 180 =6000 frames


To be fair you really need great skies to image the Planets.

Thanks for looking.

Tony

Really nice images Tony, among the best Saturn images I can remember on this forum. The comparison between the two cameras is very interesting. Did you buy the ASI120MC through a dealer or directly from ZW Optical? I bought a helical focuser directly from Sam in ZWO and he was very helpful and quick. The package arrived from China within a week!

Cheers, Mike.

Hi Mike, yeah got the camera from Sam at ZW Optical super-fast delivery something like 3 days and he responds to email queries fast, a real nice guy.

Tony