Saturn 03/29/2006

Hi all. This is my first post in this category.
First of all, I am impressed with the amazing, beautiful and detailed planetary images that you folks make.
Most of these images posted are from scopes 8" and up.
Mine is a AP155 f7 and I am having a hard time comparing images from simmilar scopes since very little are posted. I would like to compare and know if I can attain better quality than the humble one I currently imaged and attached to this post, or is this the limit for this type of scope.
Thanks for all your input; Kaz

Attached Image:

Hi Kaz -

That's a very nice Saturn - though I wouldn't say you've reached the limit of potential for your A/P 6". Saturn is dimmer than the other planets and this proves a challenge for the smaller scope. You didn't mention the camera you are using - I would recommend considering a b&w camera for its increased sensitivity. You can capture the luminance with the b&w camera and combine it with an image from a color camera, or use a filter wheel to capture RGB. The color will take significantly longer shutter speeds to get good signal/noise ratio - but this will not be a problem in an LRGB image since the RGB supplies only the color - it does not need to be sharp and detailed.

Hope these thoughts are helpful - look forward to seeing more images from your A/P refractor (I have one too!)

Alan

Welcome aboard Kaz! 8)
That's a great shot you got there, even though I can definitely say that you should be able to get even more out of your scope...

What camera and how many frames did you stack? what program are you using?


Thanks for sharing, and keep it up!

Excellent image Kaz. I'm sure you haven't reached the limits of that scope.

Regards,
Ed Roach