I took this image of Saturn last Saturday night using my friend Dave Lassiter's 14" f/10 Meade LX200, Meade DSI Pro, and Mogg focal reducer. The shot is comprised of 31 stacked images and was touched up slightly in Photoshop. It was a cold and windy night and the seeing was approximately 5/10 or perhaps a bit worse.

Dave Mitsky

Attached Images

Saturn Cropped 2006-3-18.jpg (18.9 KB, 71 views)

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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Dave, I think this tilt is some what different than the common photo.
you have nicely captured the image.

sunil

The tilt merely reflects, so to speak, the attitude of the telescope and the camera during the image capture. Rotating the shot in Photoshop so that the planet appears "horizontal" can be done but it means a little more work.

Dave Mitsky

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Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

that's fine, but it looks an original tilt in the photograph.

Now that's pretty.

Thanks.

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Sunset

Die Sonne scheidet hinter dem Gebirge. In alle Täler steigt der Abend nieder
mit seinen Schatten, die voll Kühlung sind.

And that's because of the way the telescope and camera were oriented as I explained previously.

Dave Mitsky

__________________
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Hi Sunil,

I don't think Dave understands your comment. Yes, it is "original" in the sense that it's how it was seen through the telescope. Many people here display the horizontal view--yes--so it's nice to see its "original" view at times. Saturn's tilt will always look different in different kinds of telescopes, and depending on the type (and the telescope's attitude, as he said).

Here's some upcoming info on Saturn from NASA:
http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/viewing.cfm

Also, don't forget Saturn's rings' natural tilt or attidude. This picture from NASA shows how the rings change:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/12feb_rings.htm

And if you scroll down this page, you can Saturn's view from different sized telescopes:
http://www.rocketroberts.com/astro/scopeview.htm

__________________
Sunset

Die Sonne scheidet hinter dem Gebirge. In alle Täler steigt der Abend nieder
mit seinen Schatten, die voll Kühlung sind.

Sunil,

Thank you for your compliment. I hope that you understand my explanation of why the image is configured the way it appears.

Dave Mitsky

__________________
Chance favors the prepared mind.
De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.