Images of Saturn 2010/11 Home

These images cover the 2010/11 season. Saturn reaches opposition on 6th April 2011.

The rings are slowly opening again now, and they will continue to do so until mid January after which they will close slightly, reaching a minimum in May.  Each year they will open a little more until 2017 when they will reach their maximum.

The images are in chronological order, so the best may well be in the middle.

My first picture of the season.  Saturn was low in the early-morning sky (34°) when this picture was taken only 45 minutes before sunrise.  It only cleared the trees around my observatory about an hour earlier. Saturn was 1,490 million kilometres (9.97 AU) away and subtended an angle of 16 arc-seconds.  The inclination of the rings was 9.7 degrees.
The main picture was taken at prime focus and then magnified times two.  As a comparison, in the mouseover, you can see an equivalent picture taken about 30 minutes earlier with my X2 SLR lens attached to the LX200.

Date and Time: 12th December 2010 07:14 UT
Camera: ToUcam 840K
Telescope: LX200 at prime focus (or with X2 lens)
Capture: K3CCDTools. Low gamma, high saturation, 1/25", 21% gain, 1047 frames
Processing: Registax. 114 frames stacked, wavelets 1-2 = 10, gamma 0.8
    PhotoImpact. Magnification X2, Focus Magic 1,100.

I seem to have neglected Saturn so far this season.  7 weeks since I last imaged it.  Saturn is now getting closer at 1,319 million kilometres (8.81 AU) and subtended 18 arc-seconds.  The inclination of the rings was 9.8°.  (The rings had opened somewhat during the interval and were beginning to close again.)

The upper picture here was taken with my new DFK 21AF04 colour camera and I hope this picture does not do the camera justice.  Judging from the exposure I had to use, the sky was not as clear as it appeared to be.

The lower picture was taken with my monochrome DMK camera in the hope that that might be more sensitive and get better images.  It did manage with shorter exposures and I was able to use almost its full frame rate, but the image is much the same (but I didn't get my camera lined up the same way.)

Date and Time: 27th February 2011 02:26 (colour) and 03:05 (mono) UT
Camera: DFK 21AF04 (colour) and DMK 21AF04 (monochrome)
Telescope: LX200 with X2 lens
Capture: ICCapture. Colour - Exposure 0.356 sec, gain 1023 (maximum), gamma 10 (minimum), 600 frames
      Mono - Exposure 0.017 sec, gain 1023 (maximum), gamma 10 (minimum), 3160 frames
Processing: Registax. Colour - 108 frames stacked, wavelets 1-2 = 10, histogram 0-170
      Mono - 111 frames stacked, wavelets 1-2 = 10, histogram 0-160

Taken 2 months later, just after Saturn reached opposition, this is my best picture so far this season.  At the time Saturn was 1303 million kilometres (8.71 AU) away and subtended 19 arc-seconds.

Date and Time: 27th April 2011 22:46 UT
Camera: ToUcam 840K
Telescope: LX200 with X2 lens
Capture: K3CCDTools. Low gamma, high saturation, 1/25", 42% gain, 622 frames
Processing: Registax6.  2 alignment points, 186 frames stacked, wavelets 1-2 = 10.

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