December 30, 2003. Saturn just one day away from opposition. Saturn is now near perihelion and so is at it's closest to Earth at "only" 1.2 billion km. Seeing was only fair for this image.

Saturn, November 15, 2003, 10:38 UT. Saturn occulted 8.4 magnitude SAO 78867. Here the star has just slipped behind the inner edge of the C ring to the left of the planet.

Saturn and two satellites; Tethys (mag. 9.9, below) and Dione (mag. 10.1, below and to the right). This image was obtained on November 7, 2002, 10:11 UT with a  203 mm f/7 newtonian and Philips ToUcam Pro Webcam with Edmunds IR cutoff filter @ f/27. 480 frames (out of about 1200) from 2 minutes of AVI file aligned and stacked with Registax. Processed in Registax and Adobe Photoshop 7.0. 

    Saturn is girdled by a spectacular ring system. The axis of the planet is tilted over 26 degrees so that the planet presents the rings at different inclinations as it orbits about the sun over its 29 earth-year long year. The rings are currently (2003) being presented at nearly their maximum inclination.

    Saturn, like Jupiter, has a high spin rate, rotating at about 10 hours, 49 minutes. Because Saturn has less mass and consequently a lower gravity, the planet is even more oblate than Jupiter. Also, the upper atmosphere is less compressed than Jupiter's resulting in a thicker high-altitude haze that partially obscures its lower cloud layers making the banding and other markings more diffuse. Occasionally, bright spots appear and can be followed about the planet. I have yet been unsuccessful at imaging any of these more rare and usually smaller features.

November 26, 2000. This image was made with my 203 mm f/7 newtonian @ f/73 using eyepiece projection (a Sirius 7.5 mm Plossl projecting 86 mm) and a PC-23C B&W CCD video camera (unfiltered). This is the result of 169 stacked frames.

December 4, 2001 . Taken using a PC23C @ f/70 (unfiltered) with eyepiece projection. Result of 143 frames selected from a 60 second AVI file (video camera was connected to Intel Webcam to import video into laptop via USB port). Frames stacked and combined using Astrostack. Image processing with Astrostack and Adobe Photoshop. This image captures subtle cloud banding in Saturns polar regions.

January 5, 2003, 5:53 UT. 203 mm f/7 newtonian and Philips ToUcam Pro Webcam @ f/32.

    Above is a series of three images taken over three apparitions that show the aspect of the rings slowly open to near their maximum in January 2003.

    Usually, even a small telescope will show the Cassini Division in the Ring system, a dark temporal belt and the dark polar regions. Under good conditions, I have been able to record more subtle cloud and ring features.

    The rings of Saturn can show  a variation in color and brightness due to back-scattering of light?

December 14, 2002, 05:24 UT. 5:53 UT. 203 mm f/7 newtonian and Philips ToUcam Pro Webcam @ f/32The rings show subtle color variation. The A (outer) ring is red on the left and blue on the right.

    Saturn casts a shadow on its rings and this shadow shifts as our viewing angle between Saturn and the Sun change through the year. During evening or morning quadrature, the shadow is at its extreme extent and can give the planet and ring system a more 3-dimensional look. During opposition, no shadow is visible behind the planet.

Apparition of 2000-2001.

    At least six of Saturn's satellites are visible visually in an 8" scope ranging from about 8th magnitude (Titan) to about 12th magnitude (Enceladus). Enceladus is difficult to detect because it is so close to the Saturn's glare. My PC-23C video camera is sensitive enough to detect satellites down to about 10th or 11th magnitude. The Philips ToUcam Pro is able to reach deeper with a longer exposure time to at least magnitude 12.5. I have been able to image Mimas (magnitude 12.6) which is in close proximity to Saturn. I have not been able to accomplish this feat visually.

Moons of Saturn, November 19, 2002, 07:00 UT. 203 mm f/7 newtonian and Philips ToUcam Pro Webcam @ f/20. The ToUcam Pro was set on Automatic mode giving it a shutter speed of about 1/5 second allowing my setup to reach at least to magnitude 12.6. I've never been able to detect Mimas visually with my 8" scope because of its proximity to Saturn.

Links

Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO), Saturn Section

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