Object: Saturn
Planet
| Origin: | ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0 |
| Visual impression- Capture notes:
Excellent seeing was forecast for a brief 3 hour period after sunset
and before a drop back to average seeing.
Fought equipment issues but got tons of great data, including a mutual
moon event. I wasn't sure what settings to use so I ran my regular routine
hoping for something.
Processing notes:
Initially I thought I had caught the dimming of Tethys, but I think that
because I start captures at dusk the brightness of the sky washed out the
fainter moons like Tethys.
I'm still not 100% happy with my routine and feel that with great
seeing there's always more tweaking to be done! Take good notes
everyone!
Observing notes:
I didn't spend anytime visually observing as the equipment issues with the
laptop and being excited for great seeing kept me distracted until the
seeing went back to the usual average.
|
References
Sessions: 2009-06-08 um 20:30:00-05:00
| Begin: | 2009-06-08 um 20:30:00-05:00 |
| End: | 2009-06-08 um 22:30:00-05:00 |
| Weather: | Seeing: Perhaps 8-9/10 judged on Saturn only, the collapsed to 5+/10
Transparency:4/5 with a small T-storm cell ~15 mi away and HUGE one 45mi away which was VERY visible despitenot having any haze or clouds nearby. STRANGE
Forecast: Small window at dusk of 5/5 Seeing! |
| Equipment: | Ubuntu 9.04 Linux and custom coriander on Lenovo T61 (Cepheus)8" Celestron C8i SCTLymax Cat CoolerDMK 21AF042.5x PowerMateAstronomik LRGB filtersTrue Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag |
| Comments: | Great weather locally, but horrible in surrounding areas (see Transparency report!).I made great work of some of the local seeing on Saturn and was excited for a mutual moon event of Tethys and Mimas.I am not sure I captured it or not.Then the inevitable happened I ran out of disk space on the laptop! Wait that was after the crash, yes linux crashes too!Sill no remote control of the laptop via the computer or long HC cable.I grabbed an external USB drive (formatted fat32) but recording at 15fps was not an issue.Moral of the story is even a short window of great seeing is worth the threat of storms and always be preparedwith a clean hard drive or spare usb drive nearby! |
>> Observations <<
Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.
>> Observations <<
Site: Home
| Longitude: | 35.682° |
| Latitude: | -78.743° |
| Timezone: | UT-300 min |
>> Observations <<
Optics: C8i
| Type: | SCT |
| Vendor: | Celestron |
| Aperture: | 203.0 mm |
| Focal length: | 2032.0 mm |
>> Observations <<
Eyepiece: PowerMate
| Vendor: | TeleVue |
| Focal length: | 2.5 mm |
>> Observations <<
Filter: Astronomik LRGB
>> Observations <<
CCD Camera: DMK21AF04
| Vendor: | The Image Source |
| Pixel: | 640x480 |
>> Observations <<
wow , best one yet
ReplyDeleteIs this your best saturn ever? The second image you posted on the forum was awesome!! What's your opinion on peltier cooling?
ReplyDeleteBigger the mirror/scope the more cooling you'll need. I think it 'could' be effective, but I can't say for certain as I've never used it... I also think that you need an 'open' tube for it to really be effective. This would mean a BIG hole in the back of your SCT.
ReplyDeletePaul used to post to CN more, but here's his C14 mod: http://paulhaese.net/peltierstoSCT.html
and Anthony Wesley's:
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/cooling/ballarat/
he's also got his own homebrew cooler for his Newt, if you fish around his site for it... Bird kicks it hardcore!
Saturn is my favourite~! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting Jen!
ReplyDelete